When talking about the role that higher education can play in developing Africa, it’s important not to forget the continuing and crucial role of the continent’s flagship universities.
Thousands of civil service employees gather during a protest march for higher pay at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 2010.
EPA/Jon Hrusa
South Africa’s government should urgently announce a moratorium on civil service employment growth. The country has reached its upper limit in the number of civil servants that can be sustained.
A carbon tax could help South Africa increase research and development in more renewable projects.
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South Africa’s fee exemption system is at the heart of a deepening divide in the country’s school sector. It’s time for a major relook at how this policy is applied.
Nelson Mandela with his predecessor FW de Klerk. Tough questions are being raised about the compromises Mandela made for South Africa’s transition to democracy.
Reuters/Peter Andrews
South Africa’s transition into democracy involved compromises that left white privilege intact and black poverty undiminished. Here are a dozen of Mandela’s economic deals that need to be undone.
The Chinese and South African governments, led by presidents Xi Jingping and Jacob Zuma, cement ties during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Reuters/Wang Zhao/Pool
When it comes to the global political economy, no one “talks left and walks right” more than China, a dominant player in global capitalism. South African and Chinese aspirations have much in common.
Jacob Zuma’s position has been weakened after an avalanche of criticism forced him to reverse his decision on a new finance minister.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
South Africans are all poorer as a result of Jacob Zuma’s decision to replace his finance minister. But there maybe benefits too. The debacle suggests his grip on power has been weakened.
Pravin Gordhan is considered an independent mind. His return as South Africa’s finance minister will boost investor confidence.
EPA/Dai Kurokawa
South Africa has had three finance ministers in four days. President Jacob Zuma will live with the fall-out for the rest of his term. Markets have a long-term memory and won’t easily forget.
South African academics are extremely worried about President Jacob Zuma’s axing of the finance minister.
Reuters/Stefanie Loos
Academics from several South African universities say that in the current world economy decisions about any country’s finance minister cannot be made “lightly or capriciously”.
Nhlanhla Nene, South Africa’s former finance minister. President Zuma’s decision to fire him is irrational.
EPA/Nic Bothma
It is difficult to analyse political developments in South Africa. Decision-making does not fit any neat political science theory. President Zuma is unpredictable and his policy thinking is woolly.
The South African currency, the rand, fell to its lowest level in four years after President Jacob Zuma removed the country’s finance minister.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
University protests in South Africa have showed that the countries students are hungry for real change. This desire can be harnessed to create a generation of “citizen scholars”.
China has experienced deforestation in some parts of the country placing valuable biodiversity at risk of extinction.
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Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand