South Africa’s governing ANC has always seen economic growth as the driving force for change. This was wishful thinking as the damage done by apartheid will take far more to undo.
The bad news keeps piling up for South Africa’s economy.
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The focus will now be on how the social democratic and left-leaning members of South Africa’s cabinet – the “constitutionalists” – will respond to the reshuffle.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma during his State of the Nation Address in February 2017.
Reuters/Sumaya Hisham
South Africa has made some progress in fixing problems identified by ratings agencies. But there are a number of outstanding issues that might mean the country is given ‘junk’ status.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan presenting the medium term budget. The country’s economy remains in the doldrums.
Nic Bothma/EPA
South Africa’s 2016 medium term budget was awaited with bated breath amid rising political tensions, increasingly violent student protests and the threat of a credit downgrade.
Protesters call for the removal of South African President Jacob Zuma. Civil society has a major role to play in South Africa.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
South Africa’s ruling party has lost its moral and intellectual capacity to claim the mantle of leadership. The country’s economy won’t recover unless new political alignments emerge.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is a hunted man.
Mujahid Safodien/EPA
A row between South Africa’s finance minister and the country’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations has prompted academics to pen an open letter asking President Jacob Zuma to intervene.
South Africa’s response to the country’s economic woes has amounted to little more than band-aid treatment. Government must do more to set the economy on a solid growth path.
A radical tightening of exchange controls against corporations and wealthy individuals offers a short-term solution to South Africa’s balance of payments crisis.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Reuters/Mark Wessels
A senior public official has berated South Africans for rallying behind Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, calling the action unhelpful. The crisp question is: unhelpful to whom?
A river flows into the Indian Ocean along South Africa’s Transkei coast, where residents are resisting a titanium mining project.
Epa/Nic Bothma
A gripping soap opera is unfolding in South Africa. The two protagonists are Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the President Jacob Zuma. The jury’s out on when the curtain will fall.
Fixing South Africa’s perilous education system will involve building consensus – a time-consuming process.
Reuters/Rogan Ward
South Africa’s government should put more effort into developing concrete strategies for dealing with the factors preventing the removal of the critical constraints on economic growth.
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech has put the ANC government’s plan to fight poverty and reduce inequality back in the spotlight.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan would need President Zuma’s undivided support to drive bold economic reforms. But, signs suggest that he does not have such support and is undermined by the president.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers his 2016 budget address to parliament in Cape Town.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
South Africa’s finance minister delivered a good mix of macro and micro-economic strategies to ensure the country survives economic uncertainty, restores confidence and achieves some growth.
Research in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, shows that many young, black and poor people do not recognise themselves or their communities in the stories they see, hear or read in mainstream media.