International development is dying; people just don’t buy it anymore. The West has been engaged in the project for more than six decades now, but the number of poor people in the world is growing, not shrinking, and inequality between rich and poor continues to widen instead of narrow. People know this, and they are […]
Business
Posted inBusiness, General, News/Politics
Step on the corruption scale
By Abuti Rams Say you were to step on the “corruption scale”, how much do you think you would weigh? Just like most people, I have a problem with corruption in its diverse forms. In recent years, most of our media reporting has exposed corruption on all levels of government (be it local, provincial or […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Do economic sanctions go against WTO rules?
Economic sanctions are international measures that are usually used as punitive or corrective procedures. When one hears of economic sanctions countries like Russia, Sudan and Iraq come to mind, with the US being the chief instigator of such sanctions. Economic sanctions are penalties applied by a country or countries on another country or countries. Economic […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Media, News/Politics
Numsa: Is this the left’s moment?
The announcement that Numsa would form its own socialist party should come as no surprise. Numsa’s battles within Cosatu (most notably with its historical rival, the Jacob Zuma-aligned NUM) and the ruling alliance (particularly with the Zuma faction, ostensibly on questions of ideology) have served as a generous forewarning that this was coming. Further, in […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, News/Politics
Two sides of a racist coin: White privilege and cadre deployment
The appointment of Lesetja Kganyago as governor of the South African Reserve Bank provides an excellent opportunity to examine both cadre deployment and white privilege. Race reductionists from both side of the racial divide confirmed the inherent problems with their thinking when the announcement was made: the white privileged types who bemoaned another cadre deployment […]
Posted inBusiness, General, News/Politics
Is it time to nationalise the Reserve Bank?
Every time the Monetary Policy Committee announces interest rate cuts, unions and some sectors of the population immediately jump up calling for the “nationalisation” of the Reserve Bank. One wonders if they do actually have a point. The recent appointment of Lesetja Kganyago as the Reserve Bank governor-designate has re-ignited the debate. During my studies […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
Crunch time for educational publishers
It’s rare that a national industry is confronted with a single threat to its future. That just happened to South African publishing. A few days ago, the South African department of basic education (DBE) released a policy document, for public comment, that explains how the DBE would like to handle textbooks going forward. (If you’re […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Can the NDP be anything more than a fuzzy dream?
For South Africa the triple structural challenges of poverty and high unemployment (25% of the workforce is without work, using the narrow definition) and racial inequality will continue to define our socio-economic profile for the foreseeable future unless we make a radical shift in our growth strategy and trajectory. The reality we must face and […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
My kids are my retirement plan
I sit here alone wondering what my future holds. Wondering about my days as a grandparent when I’m 70 or so, no longer working. The picture looks like this: I will be an old lump and probably still writing articles, opinion pieces for newspapers (in those days online will have overtaken print). My wife and […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, News/Politics
Exposing the great ‘poverty-reduction’ scandal
The received wisdom comes to us from every direction: poverty rates are declining and extreme poverty will soon be eradicated from the face of the earth. This narrative is delivered by the World Bank, the governments of rich countries, and – most importantly – the UN Millennium Development campaign. Relax, they tell us. The world […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
African Bank — the untold story of the true fallen heroes
The African Bank story is bizarre. And it invokes feelings ranging from initially being incredulous to downright anger. And more than a little sadness and bitterness. But not for all the reasons so nauseatingly reported to death in the press. No, for the simple reason that in all of this we seemed to have forgotten […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Illicit capital flowing out of Africa often benefits foreign investors
By Antonio Macheve Jr The US-Africa Summit in Washington DC has built enormous expectations for the development of Africa, particularly in what concerns economic ties, trade relations, investments and business between the nations of the African continent and the US. Despite enormous human-rights violations, conflict, widespread disease and other ills commonly known to Africa, the […]