insert_link Uncategorized SA’s Finance Minister proposes infrastructure financing reforms in budget speech South Africa’s annual consumer price inflation rose to 5.3% in January from 5.1% in December last year, the first jump after two-consecutive months of moderation. Separately, SA’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has announced proposed reforms to infrastructure financing aimed at optimising the sectoral value chain to be effective and efficient. todayFebruary 21, 2024 8
insert_link South Africa SA’s Ramaphosa announces election date South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared 29 May 2024 as the official date for the country’s national and provincial elections. Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa, Vincent Magwenya says the 2024 elections coincide with South Africa's celebration of 30 years of democracy. todayFebruary 21, 2024 15
insert_link South Africa Load shedding & Transnet caused huge losses – SA Budget 2024 National Treasury plans to draw down from a special R500bn account for the first time to reduce debt and associated servicing costs over the next three years, according to the 2024 budget delivered by the finance minister on Wednesday February 21 2024. todayFebruary 21, 2024 8
insert_link South Africa Women in South Africa’s armed struggle: new book records history at first hand By Thoko Sipungu, Rhodes University South Africa’s young democracy was a culmination of years of sweat, blood and revolution against the apartheid regime. In the early 1960s, after decades of “non-violence” as a policy of resistance, the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) formed military wings to take the fight to the apartheid regime. Based on the living record and popular discourse, it would […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 12
insert_link Africa China’s demand for Africa’s donkeys is rising. Why it’s time to control the trade Women walk with their donkeys in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. Buena Vista Images/GettyImages Lauren Johnston, South African Institute of International Affairs In recent years, there’s been a huge, rising demand for donkey hides in China, where they are used to make an ancient health-related product called ejiao. Ejiao is made from collagen that’s been extracted from donkey hides mixed with herbs and other ingredients to create medicinal and health consumer products. […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 16
insert_link Business / Economics Jobs in South Africa: the labour market is recovering from COVID – but unskilled and less educated people are still being left behind By Derek Yu, University of the Western Cape For more than three decades the South African economy has had very high rates of joblessness. The country’s economy has been unable to create enough jobs for its growing army of workers. This has partly been because of the stagnant economic growth rate of only 1.7% during the 2010s (it was even lower at 0.9% in 2015-2019). Another factor […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 5
insert_link South Africa Green Point “Tent City”: Homeless camp’s days are numbered People have been occupying this site in Green Point for more than five years. It sprung up during the Covid pandemic when many people lost their jobs. Text by Matthew Hirsch and photos by Ashraf Hendricks via GroundUp For weeks the homeless community in the tent camp near the tennis courts in Green Point have been holding their breath, awaiting eviction. At one time there were about a hundred people living […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 6
insert_link South Africa Corruption and clean energy in South Africa: economic model shows trust in government is linked to takeup of renewables By Roula Inglesi-Lotz, University of Pretoria South Africa relies heavily on energy from coal-fired power stations, which emit large quantities of carbon. But making the transition to greater use of renewable energies, such as solar, is being hampered by a number of factors. Chief among them is corruption, which is affecting the quality of institutions. In a recent paper I set out how perceptions of corruption in […] todayFebruary 19, 2024 5
insert_link Health / Medical HIV among older South Africans in rural areas: big study shows there’s a problem that’s being neglected By Jen Manne-Goehler, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Francesc Xavier Gomez-Olive Casas, University of the Witwatersrand; Julia Rohr, Harvard University; Kathleen Kahn, University of the Witwatersrand; Nomsa Mahlalela, University of the Witwatersrand, and Till Bärnighausen, University of Heidelberg South Africa continues to have a high prevalence of HIV among all age groups. About 8.2 million people or 13.7% of the population live with HIV, one […] todayFebruary 19, 2024 17
