22 February 2018 - While newspapers will herald the budget as ‘good’ and ‘brave’ and ‘striking a balance’ between competing objectives at a difficult time, it is none of these things.
22 February 2018 - While newspapers will herald the budget as ‘good’ and ‘brave’ and ‘striking a balance’ between competing objectives at a difficult time, it is none of these things.
RURAL Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti says of proposals to restrict land ownership by foreigners that "we won’t do anything foolish". No doubt we are all reassured by this. But it does seem foolish to suggest a cap of 12,000ha on farm sizes irrespective of whether locals or foreigners own the farms.
Will tighter gun laws prevent crime in SA?
Speaking after his budget speech, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan reminded us that the private sector was responsible for generating 70% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The IRR has warned that if the Rand and oil prices remain at their current levels motorists could expect a fuel price hike of 41c/litre in April. On top of that the increase in the fuel levy announced by the finance minister in his recent budget speech could see motorists paying between 70c/litre and 80c/litre more for fuel.
In his fortnightly column in Business Day, the Institute's CEO, John Kane-Berman, argues that the government should stop wasting money on land reform because it will not fix the wrongs of the land acts.
A comprehensive audit of black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership deals since 2001, recently compiled by Intellidex, a consultancy, shows that R317bn, free of debt, has been transferred to black South Africans by the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
No health care service can be ‘free’, and the overall costs of implementing the NHI will undoubtedly be high. Just how high is difficult to tell, as the White Paper on the NHI published in December 2015 lacks necessary detail on the medical benefits to be provided.
Employment figures released on Monday show that the mining sector shed 4 000 jobs in the first three months of the year. A further 30 000 mining jobs were lost in the last six months of 2015.
This column, a new initiative between Moneyweb and the IRR, has been conceived to provide theories to where South Africa could be headed. It will track the country’s progress monthly against the scenarios set out above and speculate as to which of the four futures is coming into view.
In the first edition of this column we set out four scenarios for South Africa the morning after its 2024 election. This month we reveal the key indicators to identify which of those diverse futures is coming into view.
The South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) recently published a "twelve-point plan for a better South Africa". We were accused of casting "pearls before swine" and told that "the establishment is dead set against each and every point of this pie-in-the-sky plan". Maybe. But it is not unusual for governments to adopt plans they once dismissed.
Mark Oppenheimer and Cecelia Kok write that race is no longer an accurate proxy for disadvantage.
Companies fail, markets change and new industries come into being. There are always going to be negative consequences for some employees, while new opportunities arise for others. Unions must anticipate the change and not keep insisting that the world is flat.
Giving the provincial head final authority over the admission of pupils to public schools, as well as the power to approve such schools' language policies, are among the other proposals in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, which is open for public comment until 10th November.
Since the African National Congress came to power in 1994, unemployment (on the expanded definition) has risen from 3.67 million to 9.30 million. To issue a report 23 years later blaming colonialism and apartheid for this state of affairs no doubt satisfies the needs of political correctness, but it is irrational.
John Kane-Berman says for far to long the ANC has succeeded in bullying its opponents.
Black companies will benefit from contracts swung their way. The lucky ones will get paid on time. Many will struggle, the minister of public works, Thulas Mxesi, having recently admitted that late payment by government entities "is still a big issue".
John Kane-Berman argues that conventional wisdom has it that the violence flaring up periodically around the country arises from anger over poor "service delivery".
Sara Gon says the university management's decision does not make financial or institutional sense.
