AGAIN A TWO-HORSE RACE
By Carol Paton
The month of October, famously associated with the political upheaval of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, is going to be hot in SA this year. It's next month that the ANC succession battle will be entering its final stages. It's in ...
FENDING OFF THE BULLY BOYS
By Claire Bisseker
The US, widely considered to be the biggest spoiler in the moribund Doha round of world trade talks, has taken the battle to developing countries, accusing SA of being one of a handful of advanced developing nations thwarting its progress. A...
THE DOHA DEAL
The US says SA is one of the countries holding up the Doha round. Is it? The position taken by SA, as part of the Nama-11 group of developing countries, is entirely reasonable in seeking to ensure the necessary policy space for deve...
PICK AND CHOOSE
By Duncan McLeod
Zolisa Masiza was enjoying himself. The 300-plus people gathered at a Sandton hotel last Wednesday were hanging on to every word uttered by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) councillor. Teasing his audience, he ...
POSITIVE UNDERLYING TRENDS
By Claire Bisseker
Despite SA's worrying near-term inflation outlook, several positive trends that inspire confidence in future growth are building up in the economy. The first, revealed in the Reserve Bank's September Quarterly Bulletin, is ...
ON A LOSING FREQUENCY
By Shoks Mzolo
State-owned Sentech is becoming a predictable and expensive soap opera. But despite the same story for years - red ink splashed across its income statement - its supporters in Pretoria remain as loyal as ever. Since 2003, Sebilet...
IT'S TOUGH TRACKING DIRT
By Peter Honey
Nearly five years after it started work, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) remains something of an enigma. It is practically impossible to gauge the full worth of this cumbersome, costly regime dedicated to rooting out money la...
HELD BACK, HAND IN HAND
By Stephan Hofstätter
Albert Makhoba was a typical small-scale cane grower farming on a parcel of communal land, with the skills and market access to turn a modest profit. But rising input costs and stagnant producer prices put pressure on his margins. He...
