SA’s core problem is pervasive poverty — inequality is a symptom Might ANC infighting achieve what six elections have failed to produce: an objective economic assessment leading to effective policies? Economic threats coupled with contestation for party control pit realists against those whose ideologies or greed favour unaffordable indulgences. Updating the national dialogue will encourage…Continue reading Transformation may have to take a back seat while we figure out how to get the economy moving

Trading with poor neighbours will not yield the lucrative benefits of selling to wealth clusters around the globe Tucked between the lines of articles about tariffs is a reminder that the global economy has been subtly, yet profoundly, reconfigured. That this is underappreciated is evident from hopes being expressed of having African consumers help fuel…Continue reading Greater rewards for those who trade with the digitally distant rich

Apart from encouraging graft, prioritising transformation is unworkable even with ideal governance Progress requires framing challenges in ways that make them solvable. Instead, SA’s 1990s political transformation was predicated on the hope that a legitimate government would provoke equitable outcomes, and that hope morphed into misconceptions that became too politically combustible to confront. Meaningful economic…Continue reading Progress hinges on putting poverty alleviation before BEE

With the domestic market out of puff, locals producing services and products for foreign markets will rake in cash and boost skills Is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) a panacea or another flavour-of-the-day pseudo solution that distracts from unlocking the country’s growth potential? The short answer is that SA needs to attract a specific type…Continue reading Export-led foreign investment is the answer to SA’s economic woes

SA’s national debates are stuck on how the past affects the future, while Asian countries have thrown off the past by creating value Horrific education outcomes limit growth prospects, yet this encourages the poor to support the governing party as their reliance on the government deepens. More surprisingly, the high end of our national debates…Continue reading The focus on redistribution, rather than growth, keeps the country poor

Politicsweb.co.za | 21 March 2019 Shawn Hagedorn writes on the insights that could be brought to bear on our predicament No international expert is better qualified to diagnose SA’s multi-dimensional disconnects than Francis Fukuyama. He will give a live-streamed lecture from Johannesburg next Thursday evening. The event is hosted by the CDE which previously arranged…Continue reading Fukuyama in SA

Business Day 12 MARCH 2019 Learning from mistakes, and from others, requires objective assessments of both political and economic policies With risks intensifying as the elections near, why are none of the political parties or influential actors able to offer comprehensive, workable solutions? Or rather, how did politics crowding out evidence-based analysis become the norm?…Continue reading World has many lessons for an SA blinded by politics and prisms

SA’s ruling party interprets its electoral support as a mandate to use its resulting legislative powers to remedy historical injustices. This political interpretation is no doubt accurate but that doesn’t mean it is economically workable. The ruling party has much scope to shape the purchasing patterns of domestic businesses and households whereas Dependency theory in…Continue reading Outlining SA’s underlying disconnect: Power, poverty and aspirations