South African president Cyril Ramaphosa (L) and his deputy Paul Mashatile (R) flank new agriculture minister John Steenhuisen.
Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images.
A sea change in the system of governance is needed to fix South Africa and rebuild an economy plagued by serious crises.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his eighth State of the Nation Address at City Hall in Cape Town.
GCIS
The president’s speech couldn’t cover up for the fact that the last five years have been among the most difficult for ordinary South Africans.
In general, an ageing population puts added pressure on the working-age population to be more productive – just to maintain total output – amid growing fiscal constraints.
Apartheid ended in 1994 in South Africa, but ‘race’ remains politically salient.
Photo by DEA / A. Vergani/De Agostini via Getty Images
Critics of the 1994 political settlement largely hail from the black middle class, even though it has been one the principal beneficiaries of South Africa’s social democracy.
Extreme poverty has seen shack settlements mushroom in South Africa.
Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images
On the positive side, good progress has been made on gender equality and fewer people are dying of unnatural causes.
Informal trading is one way grant recipients use to supplement their income.
shutterstock
As much as 31% of grant beneficiaries engage in informal work to ‘grow’ their income.
A charity in Westbury, Johannesburg, hands out food parcels during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images.
Social grants are the largest source of support for many vulnerable groups. They are the government’s primary response to poverty, food insecurity and inequality.
South Africa’s democratic era presidents, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.
Penguin Random House South Africa
Mandela, the first president of a democratic South Africa, made big strategic choices – not necessarily the right ones, but certainly ones that were befitting of the times.
Street vendors ply their trade in Johannesburg.
EPA-EFE/Kim Lubrook
The city’s street trading management approach is mainly restrictive. Relocations, harassment and confiscation of of traders’ stock are common.
South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor hosts US secretary of state Antony Blinken for a strategic dialogue.
Jacoline Schoonees/Dirco
It’s unclear what practical purpose the drafters of South Africa’s foreign policy document envisaged it serving, and who its intended audience is.
Typical day in low-income communities in the Strand, Western Cape, South Africa.
Hazel Swanepoel/Building Bridges
The network collectively applied ingenuity to provide essential care and support to vulnerable people.
Looters make off with supplies during the unrest that hit parts of two provinces in South Africa in July.
EFE-EPA/Stringer
The democratic transition in 1994 was the result of an ‘elite pact’ that changed the country’s politics, but did little to undermine the foundations of white economic power.
Children play on a trampoline in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Parents and caregivers are central to promoting child safety. Improving their ability to prevent injury to children is key.
Looters grab items from a vandalised mall in South Africa.
Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
South Africa can’t possibly remain the same country in the aftermath of this mayhem. There are just too many storms ahead to simply continue unchanged.
Many poor families in South Africa’s informal settlements survive on welfare grants.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Some caregivers reported seeing improvements in their children’s schoolwork and behaviour at school.
The Democratic Alliance wants an end to race-based affirmative action policies.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Each black person and woman may be an individual but, because they are black and women, they face obstacles which whites and men don’t.
Per-Anders Pettersson.
GettyImages
While small businesses will be partially cushioned by government support measures, there’s no support for the most vulnerable workers.
Social grants provide an important cushion amid poverty in South Africa.
shutterstock
Government policies need to acknowledge individual agency as a mechanism for change, while reducing barriers to income-producing activities.
An electronic toll gantry on a Johannesburg highway.
Shutterstock/Beate Wolte
Politicians oppose toll roads on Johannesburg’s highways, yet they are textbook example of progressive taxation that favours the poor.
A view of Sandton City, the richest square mile in Africa, towering over Alexandra township, in Johannesburg.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
In matters of policy-making and governing, understanding the systemic complexity of interrelated forces is crucial to avoiding failure.