Our constitution’s capacity to hold politicians accountable has been undermined by policies and practices SA has the world’s highest unemployment and highest income inequality. A coincidence?  These twin indictments trace to inequality empowering political elites to use patronage to dodge accountability. The ANC, MK and EFF captured nearly two-thirds of our 29 May national vote.…Continue reading Patronage, a feature, not a bug

The Left’s framing issues around oppressor-versus-oppressed narratives requires that their leaders be trusted. Politicians are rarely penalised for lying; rather, they routinely get away with real whoppers. Conversely, voters discovering they’ve been systematically duped can lead to serious electoral repercussions. Theresa May’s scruples seemed to hinder her ability to withdraw the UK from the EU.…Continue reading Caught fooling the public

Both the Democratic Party and ANC encourage supporters to promote not solutions but patronage and polarisation If US President Joe Biden doesn’t abandon his re-election bid US voters will confront excruciating introspection. SA’s government of national unity (GNU) should provoke equally intense soul-searching to unleash a burst of workable solutions. Many millions of Americans have…Continue reading Biden alerts SA to wilful ignorance

Those opposed to DA joining GNU warn, not unreasonably, that it could destroy the party The faction of the ANC aligned with President Ramaphosa needs the DA to keep him in power. The DA needs to prevent our constitution unravelling. However, SA needs major policy pivots to dodge a downward spiral. Ramaphosa could remain in…Continue reading Ramaphosa and DA need each other, however…

The concept is politically contrived, while ‘diffusion’ is central to economic development Words matter. Just as our political landscape has been abruptly reshaped, our national dialogue must now be reframed. We should start by binning “beneficiation” while embracing “diffusion”. According to Merriam-Webster, beneficiation means “the treatment of raw material (such as iron ore) to improve…Continue reading Trade in the false logic of ‘beneficiation’

The GNU founding statement reflects inconsistencies among the parties and with economic realities. Despite the depth of the challenges relative to the flimsy document that sketches the arrangement, the newfound path for overhauling our nation’s governance merits optimism. Nonetheless, our politics and economics won’t align if we don’t first upgrade our national dialogue. The public…Continue reading Our politics and economics won’t align

The NHI announcement backfired as it ridiculed aspirations while echoing earlier empty promises Voter surveys proved surprisingly accurate yet their deeper insight was that the ANC’s prospects for a late surge in support were scuppered by President Ramaphosa’s NHI announcement. Having recklessly overindulged patronage the ANC is now squeezed from all sides. Accordingly, its interests…Continue reading Did the NHI announcement change everything?

Workable solutions are needed to counter the exploitation of inequality to justify pervasive patronage How many new jobs could big businesses create if its leaders were to take on our unemployment crisis? The short answer is: not nearly enough.  With the ANC’s electoral dominance dented, we must freshly and realistically assess our core challenges and…Continue reading From debating to solving the unemployment crisis

The stage has been set for much social upheaval across KwaZulu-Natal. Solutions must go beyond merely targeting corruption and incompetence. Now would be an apt time to compare how major challenges both differ and overlap across our three most populated provinces. Spoiler alert, such comparing illuminates why this country is not on a sustainable path.…Continue reading As KZN chaos simmers

Our domestic growth potential is sacrificed to fund grants to feed millions of idled would-be workers Many believe that to overcome our unemployment crisis, SA must sustain high growth. This is not true — nor is it doable. Improving living standards requires raising a workforce’s productivity by increasing the percentage of people employed, average worker…Continue reading Calculating SA’s growth limits