30 November 2017 - The ANC’s website describes him as “one of the key founding fathers of South Africa’s liberation and constitutional democracy. The celebrations will be used to draw lessons from his life and understand the qualities that made him succeed in uniting the ANC.”2.
Our own writing in the media
Perhaps the most interesting — and possibly prescient — comment on Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s recent medium-term budget policy statement was that of the chief whip of the EFF, Floyd Shivambu. He expressed the fear that once nonstrategic state assets had been sold, the government would do the same with strategic ones. This, he said, was why the EFF opposed any form of privatisation.
Everyone is now wondering what is meant by "radical economic transformation". Having frightened all the horses by his initial comments when he was appointed, the new finance minister seems to be avoiding the phrase in favour of "inclusive growth". Mr Cyril Ramaphosa says they are the same thing. Radical economic transformation could of course mean adopting policies to push our economic growth rate up to 6%, or 7%, or 8%, but there is little sign that such policies are on the agenda. In practice, "radical economic transformation" is simply a new term for the long-established policy of bringing about a national democratic revolution.
John Kane-Berman says the ANC govt has created system where key constituencies are financially beholden to it.
21 January 2018 - South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) no doubt regard themselves as heroes for their acts of vandalism against H&M retail fashion shops in various parts of the country, but the real hero of this episode is Terry Mango, mother of the five-year-old boy who posed for an advertisement wearing a jumper bearing the words "coolest monkey in the jungle".
18 April 2018 - The current debate around expropriation without compensation (EWC) has been phrased in an idiom of land politics – the supposed imperative of the state taking more aggressive action to advance land and agrarian reform in an effort to secure justice for those who work the soil. For this reason, relatively little attention has been paid to what this could mean for other sectors of the economy. This is a mistake, because the epicentre of the EWC impact might well be found below the ground.
This makes the recent publication of another book by Anne Applebaum especially timely. Entitled Red Famine: Stalin's war on Ukraine, it argues that four million people died of hunger in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 in a man-made famine unleashed by the Soviet state.
John Kane-Berman says the scholarships continue to go from strength to strength.
25 January 2018 - Perhaps the key idea here is not about whether land reform should take place, but its terms and objectives. ‘The “land question”,’ they write, ‘strikes a chord for many people and serves as a potent symbol of persistent poverty and structural inequality.’
During his state-of-the-nation address a month ago President Jacob Zuma declared that "mining has always been the backbone of our economy". Speaking in October 2013 at the opening of an extension of the Venetia diamond mine operated by De Beers in the north of Limpopo, he said mining was "poised for growth and expansion".
Phumlani M. Majozi says govt control lies at the root of the problem.
Until a "throw poo at your peril" invention comes along, the Rhodes statue will remain vulnerable to attack. Even so, it should remain where it is for the simple reason that moving it would be to capitulate to vandalism and intolerance. No university, least of all one espousing the ideals of academic freedom, can afford to give in to such forces without compromising its very ethos.
John Kane-Berman says the govt does not seem to particularly care about the problem of youth unemployment
Sara Gon writes on the inequality myth in South African politics.
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing South Africa’s political leaders is to develop an effective empowerment policy that can accelerate the movement of large numbers of disadvantaged people into the middle classes.
John Kane-Berman on the social, attitudinal, and economic changes this country needs.
The president is clearly reckless as to how much his vendetta against Mr Gordhan undermines the country’s growth prospects, pushes up the costs of servicing R2.2 trillion in public debt, or brings closer a ratings downgrade to junk status.
The immense power of party headquarters means that the South African political system has become “Sovietised”, in that Parliament and the Cabinet are both accountable to party headquarters in Luthuli House rather than to the electorate
18 February 2018 - Here’s a brilliant assessment of the state of South Africa by one of the country’s foremost analysts. Frans Cronje is the CEO of the respected Institute of Race Relations, which since its formation in 1929 has been acknowledged as the country’s leading political and economic think tank.
1 February 2018 - Poverty, in the conventional view, explains why township schools are at the bottom of the class – but the exceptions prove otherwise.