SA’s deepest economic woes such as entrenched unemployment cannot be remedied without a broad policy reset President Xi Jinping wants to pivot China’s economy to favour domestic-led growth but recent data suggests it is unworkable. For similar reasons, our deepest economic woes can’t be remedied without a broad policy reset.  Countries avoid ultra-elevated youth unemployment as it…Continue reading Ditch localisation policy to create jobs for youth

Despite having a shrinking workforce while being the world’s top manufacturer and exporter, China’s youth unemployment challenges share similarities with ours. The economies of China and South Africa both require profound restructuring. Yet China’s leaders seem as disinclined as ours to provide the policy pivots required. China’s four decades of extraordinary growth relied on an…Continue reading China’s youth unemployment versus ours

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill famously asserted that the US had become the ‘leader of the free world’. As many people believe this era is ending, what should we want to replace it? Countless commentators have criticised a long litany of US foreign policy decisions. Yet such cataloguing can’t…Continue reading Beyond the American century

On June 16, Youth Day, one of the most prominent headlines on the Business Day website was: “SA won’t change foreign policy for trade benefits, says Pandor”. Why would the country with the world’s most severe youth unemployment crisis not make job-creating trade the centrepiece of its foreign policy? The ANC routinely prioritises its near-term…Continue reading How foreign policy kills prospects of the jobless

‘Excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason.’ Those words were spoken by Russian President Vladimir Putin to describe his feelings of betrayal toward Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin’s cadre deployment system is central to his hold on power and he had personally groomed Prigozhin to become his country’s top warlord.  While Putin’s feeling of betrayal…Continue reading Warlords or the West

Artificial intelligence’s potential for rapid disruption is unprecedented. Given our country’s trajectory, the sudden acceleration of its adoption may have begun just in time. AI could eventually make humans irrelevant. But, in the here and now, it also has the potential to overcome South Africa’s governance failures by making it easier to frame issues with…Continue reading Will SA showcase AI’s benefits

The country which best demonstrates the shortcomings of joining BRICS is the only country that has been added to this motley consortium, South Africa. When, in 2010, South Africa joined the vague amalgamation of Brazil, Russia, India and China, our youth unemployment rate was already very high but it wasn’t yet sufficiently entrenched to threaten…Continue reading Why BRICS won’t benefit South Africa

Our youth unemployment crisis is as globally unrivalled as it is deeply entrenched. This traces to our ruling party creating a patronage network which is as massive as it is reckless. Inequality-chanting long boosted support for the cadre deployment, BEE and localisation policies which have expanded patronage at the expense of economic growth. As inequality…Continue reading ‘Transformation’ or transformation

Deflated expectations for investment-led collaborations reflect punctured confidence. The ANC’s 1990s transition from its liberation movement origins to being a ruling political party did not make it easy for outsiders to understand and align with the ANC. Constructive collaborating was made more elusive still by the party subsequently spawning a pervasive patronage network whose feeding…Continue reading Is working with the ANC unworkable?

Joe Biden’s harsh labelling of national leaders makes geopolitical solutions even more elusive. The ANC’s vilifying successful societies undermines our economic prospects. Being quick to judge makes it difficult to understand others. Cooperation suffers and conflicts harden. The ANC’s criticism of successful countries mostly reflects its prioritising patronage ahead of national interests. His campaign trail…Continue reading Judging versus solving: US perspectives and SA implications