My articles share my insights. Sometimes it is about policy and at other times about entrepreneurship.
Category Public sector reform in South Africa
AllInequality in South AfricaNotesPolitics of development in South AfricaPublic sector reform in South AfricaSmall Business Development in South AfricaSouth African Fiscal Policy
Using open contracting to connect the dots
We are a nation of dot connectors, yet some dot connections are more equal than others. The Public Procurement Bill (PDF) released by the National Treasury should connect the dots from the State Capture Commission and use this experience to propel a…
Open to talents not capture
Are the talented ones  appointed?  An important question, because corruption  thrives on rigging selection and appointment processes. In keeping with the French saying, carrière est ouverte aux talents (positions are open to those with talents), the answer to the question requires accepting…
Six Reasons Why Rushed Cadre Deployment is Bad for the Cabinet and for the Country
The African National Congress has recently launched its Imvuselelo (Revival) Campaign. At the launch, President Jacob Zuma indicated it means a “back to basics campaign”. The campaign aims to reconnect with voters and drive membership. The campaign requires new members to…
Making Sense of Public Service Wage Negotiations
Wage negotiations in the public sector have reached an impasse. Unions have rejected a 6.5% wage increase offer from government, holding out for 8% and as well as a housing subsidy of R1500. Commentary on the state of negotiations is…
It’s Not Too Late to Reconsider South Africa’s Commitment to Nuclear Energy
Whilst it is early days in the costing of our government’s infrastructure investment programme, ballpark figures suggest R800bn will be spent over the next 20 years. The numbers are still to be tallied, but it appears that the proposed nuclear…
Community-Driven Development Makes People More Important than Capital
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) had as one of its core principles the idea of “people-driven development.” This is all about the “social ownership of decision making,” which imagines new ways of development with and for poor communities. People-driven…
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way: How the Corrupt Arms Deal Could Have Been Avoided
Two successful bidders – SAAB and Ferrostaal – have provided damning evidence of corruption in South Africa’s arms deal. As South Africa focuses on the unfolding evidence of possible corruption, we must however pause and ask how it came…
Improving Education in South Africa: Projects that Start Small, Scale Quickly and Drive Systemic Change
Take your pick in the national education blame game. Your choices would include teachers’ trade unions, an ideological curriculum unsuited to South Africa, the National Treasury because it does not adequately fund schools or even just the principal at your…
Intervention in Soweto Education Crisis Could Chart Way For National Solution
Every so often, while on the way to the office, I would stop at the department of education’s district office, which covers Lenasia, Soweto and surrounds to ask the assembled workers why they were protesting. I would quiz the workers…