Media
A friendly frigate and a lesson in choosing partners
21 October, 2026
On Monday 19 October I stood on the deck of INS Tarkash in False Bay as the ship’s Chetak helicopter hovered overhead. Brazil’s BrNS Barroso steamed nearby, and South Africa’s submarine SAS Manthatisi was in the same waters – as well as SAS Amatola. The Indian crew were impressive: professional, welcoming, and friendly. They were keen to talk about all kinds of things, from their ship to naval strategy and tactics, to cricket. The weather was perfect for the exercise, and I came away thinking about a different naval exercise held in the same waters nine months earlier.
SA’s foreign service is becoming a retreat for failed ministers
08 October, 2026
Political appointments aren't inherently bad, but using South Africa’s diplomatic corps as a pension fund for ousted politicians undermines our global standing when expertise matters most.
Ronald Lamola is worsening relations with Washington
02 October, 2026
SA deserves a foreign minister who grasps that his first duty is to the nation, not the ANC
Mangaung’s next government: Coalition by default, not by design
21 September, 2026
If Mangaung is forced into a coalition after the 4 November local government elections, it will not replace a working administration, but a failing one, writes the author.
Is South Africa serious about its sovereignty?
21 September, 2026
Speaking at Waterkloof Air Force Base, defence and military veterans minister Angie Motshekga opened the 13th Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition with a message worth taking seriously. She told delegates that July’s Defence Industry Lekgotla had produced a roadmap built on “localisation and sovereign capability, ensuring South Africa designs, manufactures, and sustains its own defence technologies.” She pointed to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent visit to Denel as proof that government backs the sector, and she framed the exhibition’s drones, aerospace platforms and cyber systems as engines of industrialisation.
Springbok diplomacy runs into a visa wall
18 September, 2026
Private investment thrives but government ties falter under new US restrictions
We have the taps, but we don’t have the water
07 September, 2026
For the past two decades, South Africa has made significant progress in improving access to water. Data from the recently published Living Conditions chapter of the Socio-Economic Survey of South Africa from the Centre for Risk Analysis indicates that in year 2002, about 8.9 million households in South Africa had access to piped water. That number has since increased to 17.6 million.
South Africa’s hidden tax: why crime is now a line item
29 August, 2026
Every business operating in South Africa already pays a tax that never appears on a South African Revenue Service assessment.
South Africa’s growth problem isn’t a story problem
26 August, 2026
Discovery CEO Adrian Gore’s latest statement on South Africa’s economy makes a case that has become all too familiar: driven by anaemic growth and structural unemployment, the country has spent a decade in societal crisis, but the tide has turned. Load-shedding has ended, state logistics are recovering, credibility has been restored, and what South Africa now needs is a shift in narrative – from perpetual decline to what Gore calls “realistic optimism.”
This is the flaw in SA’s great-power pivot
24 August, 2026
China and the US offer different mechanisms but the same structural risks
