Patrick Bond
latest news & developments
How the US-Israel-Iran conflict is reshaping South Africa’s coal exports
Middle East tension has pushed up energy prices and boosted demand for South African coal, raising questions about climate commitments and exports
‘No one asked us’: West Coast fishers oppose offshore oil and gas development
From Doringbaai to Port Nolloth, West Coast communities are pushing back against mining and offshore oil and gas expansion. Residents, activists and fishers say consultation…
South Africa’s credit crisis: The fight against predatory lending
The proliferation of illegal credit providers is not just a regulatory failure but a symptom of the broader inequalities entrenched in the country’s financial system
30 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY: SA’s economy neither Gear nor there
Amid directionless policy after 30 years of democracy, the country’s prospects continue to be driven by the whims of miners and their financiers
Ramaphosa’s economy and Mandela-era nostalgia
Instead of prompting us to recapture our past, our current economic plight suggests we should break from it This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get…
Will the dollar hit a Brics wall?
The architecture of the global financial system hurts emerging market economies but the alliance has yet to offer an alternative
Andile Zulu: Sisulu obfuscates the true nature of power in South Africa
Power in post-apartheid South Africa lies with the party, the state and capital. The tourism minister masks her complicity with bad governance, and being part of the economic and…
Lessons from Turkey to SA: Economic independence is a battle
Without tighter capital controls, regulating the flow of money in and out of their economies, Turkey and South Africa are vulnerable to the whims of the financial markets
Income grant: Big bang for a few rand
Corporate South Africa is rolling out the big guns to spike momentum towards a universal basic income grant that threatens to expose their sick graveyard economy
As Bolsonaro incinerates the Amazon, urgent action is needed for climate justice
As South Africans, we must support the fight to save the Amazon, but also take a strong stand on environmental concerns that are closer to home
At Brics think tank, scholars get drunk on their own rhetoric
One of South Africa’s highest-profile intellectual vehicles appears to be a victim of drunken driving by scholars
SA economist whose work went global wrote with a deep idealism
‘Terreblanche wrote with a deep idealism in a country frequently with the highest levels of inequality’
Looting of Africa calls for action
Top-down regulatory measures come to naught, so the battle must be fought from the bottom up
Only pressure on SA’s elites can ease university fee stress
Students’ fight against high university fees could be taken beyond campuses, with the final battle fought at the national treasury and Reserve Bank.
Marxists plot new course for Mzansi
The friction between different schools of socialist thinking has produced more light than heat for South Africa.