Professionalism has to start with ministers for it to stand any chance of being embedded throughout the public service.
African National Congress top six leaders. The governing party’s wishes are sometimes out of kilter with the dictates of statecraft.
AFP-GettyImages/Mujahid Safodien
Both the state of the nation address and budget speech didn’t leave a sense that there has been much reflection on the depth of the economic malaise gripping South Africa.
New ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa moments before winning.
EPA-EFE/Cornell Tukiri
Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to emphasise stability - in government and the ANC. Given his history he is likely to want to stabilise the economy rather than pursue radical interventions.
South Africa has one last hurdle to cross before it implements a sugar tax to prevent a wide-range of obesity related non-communicable diseases.
South Africa’s Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa and former finance minister Trevor Manuel were instrumental to the making of the country’s National Development Plan.
GCIS
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.
Land reform remains a divisive subject 23 years after democracy in South Africa.
Filckr
After South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, the previously oppressed and dispossessed black majority hoped for constitutional restitution of their land. This has largely failed.
South Africa’s economy was built on strong mining activity which has declined in recent years.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
The economic transformation discussion document released by South Africa’s governing party, the ANC, fails to be radical.
A defiant student sits in the middle of a road after a crowd was dispersed during a protest over fees to parliament on the occasion of finance minister Pravin Gordhan presenting his medium-term budget.
Nic Bothma/EPA
South Africa must examine how science funding is allocated to universities. It also needs to acknowledge that not all universities should be focusing on research and development.
South Africa’s land reform has been captured by elites and its strategic thrust remains unclear.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Through developing their technological skills, South Africa’s local municipalities can increase their capacity to compete with markets in neighbouring countries.
Supporters of South Africa’s governing ANC at the party’s 104 anniversary celebration in Rustenburg.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
For more than 100 years South Africa’s ruling ANC and its leaders have often been able to speak to and for the nation with resonance and moral authority, their words matching actions. Not any more.
A new book puts forward the thesis that South Africa faces a crisis of governance and leadership rather than an economic crisis.
Yalo
Justice Malala argues that South Africa faces a governance and leadership crisis, rather than an economic crisis. He argues that is not up to the ruling party alone to solve the problem.
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand
Chair of the Board of Trustees and Head of African Futures & Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies. Extraordinary Professor in the Centre of Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Senior Researcher, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, PRICELESS SA, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand