Our own writing in the media

Jasson Urbach warns that a weak patent regime can act as a significant deterrent for innovative companies seeking to invest.

Although I am a devout advocate of free market principles, one who agitates for less government input and less regulation, I believe that entrepreneurs and the private sector can thrive where the government is strong in terms of providing a conducive environment for individuals and enterprises to thrive.

'The attitudes of those closest to us are our biggest threat. This means tackling our mores and customs'

Freedom of expression and its narrow limitations is a constitutional principle which sits uncomfortably with many, if not the majority, of South Africans. Events inform us of how well freedom of expression in South Africa holds up under pressure. Either it does not hold up and we cave in to threats of violence and attempts to censor, alternatively it holds up, and we once again nudge the needle in favour of freedom. By GWEN NGWENYA.

THE South African Post Office (Sapo) has correctly dismissed 228 employees for embarking on an unprotected strike in June. The unlawful strike was organised by the quaintly named Influential Information and Communication Union of SA (IICUOSA), to raise "concerns about the parastatal’s decision to suspend its secretary-general Gibson Ramoadi".

In his fortnightly column in Business Day, John Kane-Berman explains why he won't be paying Desmond Tutu's proposed tax for white people as reparation for apartheid.

Young whites must use every resource they have to help build South Africa into a world-beating nation. They must invest themselves in launching new businesses, building the economy, creating employment, contributing to innovation, paying tax, building new skills, and increasing exports. They must take every opportunity to create an opportunity for someone else – especially if they come from a different background.

John Kane-Berman asks whether Mantashe & Co. are suddenly concerned with media freedom, or is there another motive at play?

Wie is die ware vyande van transformasie?

3 February 2018 - In the light of increased capital flows, rand strengthening and an upwardly revised economic growth rate following Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as ANC leader, the challenge will be to rein in exuberance, and not to allow improved sentiment to lead to consolidation complacency and an over-estimation of the extent to which improved sentiment will broaden the tax base through job creation, or lead to higher private sector wage increases or bonuses.

23 April 2018 - President Ramaphosa made it clear in his statement that the investment conference planned for August or September this year would seek to involve both domestic and international investors

John Kane-Berman notes that using such a strategy to undermine the DA backfired spectacularly in the WCape.

John Kane-Berman says 3 August election results are a repudiation of those who seek to polarise SA on racial lines.

There’s a tragic-comic element to the #FeesMustFall protests playing itself out as the academic year comes to an end. A group of high-minded young adults appropriated to themselves the pursuit of a demand that they had almost no chance of achieving

The view that marches are pointless overlooks that they are a source of solidarity and ameliorate a sense of isolation from the government,

14 February 2018 - Renowned water scientist Dr Anthony Turton adds that debate around water in South Africa has become so politicised that the realities of hydrology are often subordinated to the dictates of ideology – part of which is a suspicion of private enterprise. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this was on display in Parliament.

ONE of the significant statements made by President Jacob Zuma at the fourth national general council of the African National Congress (ANC) in Midrand recently seems to have been largely ignored by the print media.

In a letter to Business Day on June 20, 2017, John Louw asks incredulously how a charter can force mining companies to pay dividends over a 10-year period to facilitate the repayment of finance extended to empowerment “partners”, with a penalty if the dividends fall short of extinguishing such debt at the end of the period?

Joshua Nott is damned either way. His former comrades call him a hypocrite and a sell-out. His detractors call him a hypocrite, and arrogant and self-righteous.

19 February 2018 - Voltaire's Dr Pangloss, the practitioner of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology, would have done a roaring trade in South Africa today. His particular brand of optimism, that this world is "the best of all possible worlds", captures something distinctly South African. And the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of both the ANC and the country has made the impulse manifest.