South Africa waits with bated breath for the 2017 medium term budget policy statement from new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, as it might reveal key signals of where economic policy is headed.
Privatisation talk in South Africa shows how state owned enterprises are being used as tools for enrichment by the connected and less as key elements of development.
South Africa’s 14 point plan to achieve economic recovery lacks detail and vision of how the country is going to get itself out the prevailing economic crisis.
The political cost of corruption is reaching unacceptable levels in South Africa. Reversing the effects of state decay on the poor will take short and long term interventions.
The scandals surrounding South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, were caused by the neglect of corporate governance rules by the board, the executive authority, and the public enterprises minister.
The drama caused by the return of Brain Molefe into South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, signals a failure of accountability and corporate governance within the public sector.
What has been lost in stating the case for South Africa’s credit rating is a tangible plan for strengthening governance and regulation of its state owned enterprises.
The leadership crisis experienced at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa reveals deep seated corporate governance failures in the management of the country’s state owned enterprises.
Airports Company of South Africa, a majority state owned enterprise, is set to be hit by a regulatory own-goal that puts further pressure on the country’s credit rating.
It is common to reduce the politics of the ANC to a battle between personalities. A closer look suggest that this is a fight between two factions, both of them products of trends in the economy.
Defects in political governance, especially President Jacob Zuma’s failure to provide leadership, have induced a crisis of confidence in South Africa’s economy.
South Africa’s parastatals are in a dire state. Instead of being the mandated sites of development and profitability, they are costing the public purse billions and have been abused.