Business should inform curricula to prepare South Africa for the fourth industrial revolution, writes Business Unity SA CEO Tanya Cohen. In any other society, a youth unemployment rate of upwards of 30% would give policymakers and administrators sleepless nights. But the slow pace of reform in higher education and the seeming absence of a broad-based, […]

Despite the low probability of power cuts today Eskom is still facing myriad challenges that have affected its ability to meet demand. President Cyril Ramaphosa pulled no punches on Thursday when he detailed what needs to be done to get the power parastatal back on track. There is a low probability of load shedding today, […]

South Africa’s efforts to curb rhino poaching continue to produce results, with 2018 figures revealing that incidents had dropped to 769, down from 1 028 in 2017. This, said the Department of Environmental Affairs, is the third consecutive year that South Africa has seen a decline in rhino poaching and the first time in five […]

A well known animal shelter in the Free State, which has received thousands of rands worth of donations from the public, is the focus of an investigation by popular South African current affairs show, Carte Blanche, this Sunday (17 Feb). The show will be available to stream from Tues 19 Feb for South Africans abroad. (14-day Free Trial). This […]

Parliament is set to schedule an urgent debate on the energy crisis amid rolling power cuts. Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete has conceded to a request from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Natasha Mazzone seeking an urgent motion for debate on the Eskom energy crisis to be placed on the Order Paper of the […]

Struggling state-run power firm Eskom subjected South Africa to the worst power cuts in several years this week, after a decade of missteps when electricity sales stagnated and costs soared. The outages expose the risks to Africa’s most industrialised economy from Eskom’s virtual monopoly and the failure of successive governments to take on labour unions […]

Fake credentials have become a global problem. The National Student Clearinghouse, a US NGO that offers a degree verification service, reports that falsified academic credentials are a serious, prevalent and ever-increasing problem. In 2015 the New York Times reported on a billion-dollar industry consisting of 3 300 “diploma mills”. These were fake universities that sold […]

“The gold is right here in the soil”. Located between Marievale military base and Nigel is an old gold mine, Vlakfontein, where informal miners extract gold from the mine dump. “The gold found at this old mine is very easy to extract and in a good month one can make R10,000 or more,” explains Mozambican-born […]

If people are not willing to invest in a country, it is almost impossible to generate new jobs, writes Professor Vimal Ranchod.   South Africa’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world. It is consistently measured above 20%. This is a national crisis that feeds two of the country’s other big socio-economic […]

South Africa’s Treasury head Tito Mboweni is likely to appease rating agencies and squeeze a tenth of a percentage point off his previous budget deficit forecast for next financial year, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. The poll taken in the past week suggests Mboweni will announce a deficit target of 4.1 percent of gross […]

Yesterday President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Competition Amendment Bill, which will strengthen regulations against anti-competitive behaviour in industrial markets. The bill, which was approved by the National Assembly in October 2018 and endorsed by the National Council of Provinces in December 2018, is a step in the right direction for SMEs, economic inclusion […]

The Department of Public Enterprises said Wednesday that South Africa’s power utility Eskom is struggling to keep its mainly coal-fired plants running due to coal shortages and poor maintenance, with 40 percent of breakdowns a result of human error. The department, which oversees Eskom, also said in a presentation to parliament that Eskom was technically […]

South Africa is not planning to privatise embattled power utility Eskom after the firm is split into three separate entities of generation, transmission and distribution, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday. “At no stage has the president said, or the government indicated, that there would be privatisation of any of these entities or […]

As South Africa joins the globe in celebrating World Radio Day, Communications Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana says the country must harness the power of radio to promote social cohesion. “There is a growing need for us as a country to harness the power of radio to promote nation-building projects. The protection of our indigenous languages […]

Stevens Mokgalapa has been elected as Tshwane mayor during a special council sitting on Tuesday morning. Mokgalapa succeeds Solly Msimanga, who is the Democratic Alliance’s candidate for Gauteng Premier. Msimanga resigned in January. In his acceptance speech, Mokgalapa said he is grateful to be given the opportunity to lead the capital city. “Thank you for […]

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says the Eskom Board will appoint a panel of experts to do an assessment of all the power supply challenges that the utility has encountered over the past few days. Gordhan said this during a debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA), as Eskom implemented stage three load […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa used his State of the Nation Address on February 7 to outline his relatively new government’s actions and plans. Ramaphosa focused particularly on economic growth, investment and job creation. He also announced substantial investments in education, health and housing. But there was very limited focus on crime. Prevention strategies he […]

“There are so many people in our community who are unemployed yet we still see rubbish lying around”. On a scorching Friday afternoon, Ayanda Kunene sits under a makeshift shelter that covers his car wash. He is waiting for customers. Despite matriculating and actively searching for work, Kunene, 30, has never had a permanent job. […]

Manufacturing — a vital industrial sector — has shed 300,000 jobs. Unemployment in South Africa increased from 23.2% to 26.7% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2018. The actual number of jobs increased from 14.4 million to 16.4 million, but the number of people wanting to work (the labour force) increased much faster, from […]

South Africa is historically a water scarce country, and prolonged droughts coupled with infrastructural decay have led us to start considering water conservation as a priority. As recent events in the Western Cape suggest, climate change is a reality and will affect us all. The question is, what can we do about it, writes Craig […]

South African media have been invited to submit entries for the 2019 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Media Awards competition. The awards are aimed at recognising excellence in journalism in print, photo, television and radio, as well as to encourage media practitioners in member States to cover issues pertaining to the region. They were established […]

If you live in South Africa, you’re very familiar with the term “load shedding.” If you’re not from South Africa, you probably have no idea what load shedding is writes Canadian expat Phil Maloney. In a nutshell, load shedding occurs when Eskom, the government monopoly that provides the country with consistently intermittent power, decides to cut off […]

South African state power firm Eskom aims to end power cuts by the end of this week and for now does not suspect sabotage is the cause of unplanned outages at some of its power stations, a senior Eskom generation official said on Tuesday. “Our aspiration is to end load-shedding by end of the week,” […]

In the near future, classrooms will be vibrant spaces where fun and acquiring knowledge blend seamlessly as the Basic Education Department wants to make play a fundamental block of learning. Following the President’s announcement at the State of the Nation Address that Early Childhood Education (ECD) centres will migrate from the Department of Social Development […]

The Western Cape’s top Engen Maths and Science Schools (EMSS) matriculant, Maajidah Arendse hopes to become a successful civil engineer and a proud representative of women in Engineering. “I want to be a part of projects that improve both the built and natural environment by making new discoveries and making the lives of my fellow South […]