South African courts have been reluctant ‘to step into the shoes of the regulator’. But the confirmation by the Constitutional Court of the ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal has changed all that.
South Africa’s policymakers see a greater role for liquefied natural gas in the country’s energy mix, reduce the country’s over-reliance on coal and drive re-industrialisation.
Though formed by the state, Eskom and Iscor enjoyed very little state support in their infancy. To survive, they had to cooperate with the private sector companies they were meant to compete with.
South Africans may well be seduced by the prospect of Zuma appearing at the Zondo commission, but he was not alone in driving the state capture project.
South Africa’s economic reforms of the 1990s were overdone, destroying some industries and thus impacting economic growth and job creation. A re-balancing of industrial policy is called for.
A fast growing economy that creates jobs will not automatically reduce youth unemployment due to systemic barriers faced by young people, including skills shortages and malfunctioning labour markets.
Arming young people with financial capabilities does improve their employment prospects, but how exactly is still not clear. One possibility is that financial literacy boosts their confidence
Most South Africans think prices are rising much faster than is actually the case. This makes the central bank’s job of managing inflation expectations much harder.
Some areas of concern remain. These include the mobilisation of local resources, reduction of the fiscal deficit and stabilisation of the national debt.
Inequality persists in post-apartheid South Africa, reflecting the distribution of power. Reversing this will require changing the social processes and relations that underpin it.
Paid employment is no longer a guarantee that workers will earn enough to cover their basic needs and become relatively secure financially. Hence the global phenomenon of the working poor.
It’s not enough to simply promote healthy eating and exercise without considering the very real environmental and structural constraints present in South Africa.