DANGEROUS & DAMAGING

When the dust eventually settles on Donald Trump’s Presidency, Americans, and the rest of the world, will be left to survey the damage. Prospects for multilateralism and international cooperation... 

LEAKING FUNDS

The financial collapse of the Department of Water and Sanitation, together with reports of operational dysfunction, is almost as worrying as the state of the country’s water security in certain... 

FIRED IN ANGER

In the face of stiff opposition and strong arguments again, US President Donald Trump has pushed ahead with new trade protection measures for steel and aluminium. He has even gone so far as... 

ALARM BELLS

Warning lights should be flashing across South Africa in light of recent comments made by Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) commander in chief Julius Malema. Given Malema’s partiality for the... 

ART OF THE POSSIBLE

There are mixed feelings across society about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet appointments. His economic ‘dream team’ has been tainted by some nightmarish compromises. The appointments serve to... 

WANNA TURN IT AROUND

It certainly won’t last forever, but there is definitely a new mood of cooperation and optimism in the air since Cyril Ramaphosa because the fifth president of South Africa’s democratic era. His... 

NAIL THE LANDING

The first part of the Olympian task needed to restore South Africa’s position as a high-potential investment destination is complete. It took time, but the toxic Jacob Zuma presidency has ended.... 

BRIDGE TO FAR

Many South Africans expressed resigned exasperation at the announcement that the Public Investment Corporation would extend a R5-billion short-term loan as part of a larger R20-billion in emergency... 

PULLING TOGETHER

If only the real and digital ink spilled over who is to blame for Cape Town’s water crisis was rain, because then Cape Town’s impending ‘Day Zero’ apocalypse would surely be averted. What’s... 

CLEAN HOUSE

The nation breathed a collective sigh of relief on Saturday January 20 when a new board, lead by Jabu Mabuza, was appointed at cash-strapped power utility Eskom. Expectations are high that the... 

WATER WORRIES

The terrifying alert to Hawaii residents warning them about an inbound ballistic missile was, thankfully, a false alarm. However, the warning about ‘day zero’ in Cape Town is all too real. While... 

COMING WAVE

South Africans breathed a collective sigh of relief last month when the National Energy Regulator of South Africa limited Eskom’s 2018/19 tariff increase to 5.23% – the utility was seeking 19.9%.... 

HAD A GREAT FALL

The reputations of the South African government and the governing African National Congress took serious knocks during 2017. Allegations, and hard evidence, of State capture flowed stronger than... 

SMOKING GUN

Against all odds, the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises has done a remarkable job in peeling back the layers of State Capture at the country’s power utility. However, former Eskom... 

BIG DECISION

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is hoping to make its determination on Eskom’s revenue application for 2018/19 on December 7. It’s a big decision not only in light of Eskom’s... 

WRECKING CONTINUES

President Jacob Zuma’s move to foist an unworkable, and unfunded, higher education funding plan on the National Treasury is yet one more sign that he is willing to drive a bus through any... 

WORRYING DISCONNECT

Those closest to, and most affect by, the problems being experienced in the electricity supply industry are currently wringing their hands over the weak sales performance and what it could mean for... 

SUFFOCATED BY SCANDAL

The hair-raising revelations in Jacques Pauw’s latest book, ‘The President’s Keepers’, outlining President Jacob Zuma’s association with key figures in South Africa’s underworld add yet another... 

VITAL BAIL-OUT

The exit of South African Airways’ toxic former chairperson, Dudu Myeni, may have been the best bail-out news yet received by the national carrier. Nevertheless, even with the additional support... 

NUCLEAR ACCELERATOR

Whether justified or not, the appointment for former State Security Minister David Mahlobo as the country’s latest Energy Minister is seen an attempt by Present Jacob Zuma to push ahead with the... 

MISSING OUT

Largely owing to an exceptional solar resource, this country is often referred to as ‘sunny South Africa’. However, while the world is adopting solar photovoltaic (PV) technology at a record pace,... 

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Besides making ongoing losses, PetroSA is also facing an existential crisis, as its gas resources dwindle. Diminishing gas feedstock from its offshore wells, means that the Mossel Bay... 

CORPORATE CASUALTIES

The corporate body count directly attributable to the State-capture project continue to mount. Besides those companies directly associated with the controversial Gupta family, such as Oakbay and... 

POWER STRUGGLE

Amid genuine unhappiness at the state of governance at Eskom, the timing of the utility’s application for a 19.9% tariff hike could not have been worse. What’s more it comes at a time when most... 

TOUGH TO TICK

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba faces the most daunting Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement yet to be delivered by a South African finance minister. Not only has government’s credibility taken a... 

MISSING IN ACTION

The interventions made by certain corporations following the #GuptaLeaks, as well as the expulsion of Bell Pottinger by the UK’s Public Relations and Communications Association, stand in stark... 

NEW MERGER MIX

Cement producers PPC and Afrisam abandoned their most recent merger negotiations late last month. However. Afrisam insisted that it had not abandoned the consolidation plan entirely and that a... 

CATASTROPHE IN THE MAKING

A recent Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) report confirmed just how big a crisis South Africa has in the area of youth unemployment. The CDE found that, the country’s 20-million citizens... 

NUCLEAR NON-DIPLOMACY

The world in 2017 is already a troubled place, with rising inequality, uncertainty over the future of employment as technology displaces people, mass migration from conflict zones, lone-wolf terror... 

DOMINO EFFECT

The most recent no-confidence vote may have failed to unseat Jacob Zuma as South Africa’s President, but the pressure is undoubtedly mounting on him and his faction. There is no question that the... 

EATING AN ELEPHANT

The #GuptaLeaks emails have provided incredible insight into just how ambitious the Gupta family and its surrogates were in their efforts to secure mind-bogglingly large revenue steams from South... 

UNRAVELLING

News reports written since the media came into procession of the so-called #GuptaLeaks emails have been both confirmatory and alarming. Most startling has been the brazenness of the family and... 

POLITICAL HEADWINDS

On paper, many of the 14 points outlined in Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s stimulus plan appear to be supportive of the ambition lift South Africa out of it recession. However, business... 

WRONG HEADED

For South Africa to truly – and radically – address the triple scourge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, quality education is an essential ingredient. Therefore, it is more than a little... 

EXPLOSIVE INFORMATION

The court case surrounding the award, by Eskom, of a R4-billion tender to Dongfang, of China, to repair the Duvha Unit 3 boiler, catastrophically damaged in 2011, has some deeply disturbing... 

PUNCH DRUNK

South Africa’s toxic politics has left business, as well as potential investors, punch drunk. Besides the irrational ‘night of the long knives’ Cabinet reshuffle, business confidence has been... 

ELECTRIC STORM

News that electricity utility Eskom will be seeking a shocking 19.9% tariff hike from April 1, 2018, is not at all welcome, despite the fact that utility absorbed a 2.2% increase this year. To make... 

GRAVY TRAIN

One of the most startling stories to emerge out of the #GuptaLeaks trove is about how a Gupta-family surrogate inserted himself between Transnet and China South Rail (CSR) to earn startling... 

TROUBLING TIMES

For South Africans living through the current African National Congress civil war, with its associated fog, it’s hard to believe things could be as bad elsewhere. The sad reality is that the world,... 

SALE SCANDAL

The illegal sale of the country’s oil stocks by the Strategic Fuel Fund may well go down in history as one of the most brazen thefts of public resources yet committed in democratic South Africa....