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The new apartheid is decentralised, encrypted in algorithms, and cloaked in the language of economic rationality and legal formalism and it’s not only in South Africa. Photo: File

The mask of apartheid – privatisation

The state once enforced exclusion through law, now racial inequality is decentralised and enforced by private actors through economics, technology, the law, capital and technology

For the many who rightly feel abandoned by the government, and are sick of the state’s failures, the private sector stepping in to solve problems with energy, water and logistics might appear rational and necessary. (John McCann/MG)

The privatisation agenda will not save South Africa

The state has tried the neoliberalism model in various forms for 31 years, and it has not worked

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. (Photo: Mlungisi Louw/Gallo Images)

Sustainable budget solutions over tax hikes, please

Operational inefficiencies and infrastructure neglect have led to logistical challenges costing the economy R1 billion daily in lost economic output

The national carrier SAA emerged from three years under business rescue in April last year, thanks to a R10.4 billion bailout. However, it is still grappling with the effects of a turbulent history marked by financial distress, operational problems and allegations of mismanagement. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

‘Team privatisation’ continues to score despite SAA own-goal

Despite what some say about the Takatso deal’s collapse, the private sector has made strong inroads at public enterprises

Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Unions threaten legal action over jobs at Durban port

Dock workers are demanding transparency over Transnet’s partnership with the Filipino container company and an assurance there will be no retrenchments

A restaurant owner counts money by candlelight. Photo: Leon Sadiki/Getty Images

Department of Public Enterprises

State capture is often cited as the the reason for the department’s ongoing failures, but its problems run far deeper

Transnet faced intense scrutiny in Parliament as MPs raised concerns about rising debt, weak governance and persistent audit failures in spite of signs of recovery

Transnet and the state’s new spin on privatisation

The government’s draft plan for the beleaguered port and rail operator advances the ideal of an entrepreneurial state

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. (Gulshan Khan/AFP)

The Fiscal Cliff | State-owned entities: A war zone between political and economic elites

The corporatisation of SOEs has disempowered the South African public and benefited corporate power and private finance

Photo by Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Creaking economy must be reformed for the better

Structural reforms are often offered as the solution to South Africa’s growth problem, but we should be wary when they are code for privatisation

Projects like the Medupi and Kusile (above) power stations, which experienced extended timelines and higher-than-planned costs, highlight the complexities involved in large-scale infrastructure delivery within parts of South Africa’s public sector

Public ownership of the electricity system must be defended

We cannot allow the planned handover of Eskom coal power stations to the private sector to go ahead

Thabo Bester escaped from his prison cell — by faking his death in the form of a mysterious burnt corpse specially brought in for the purpose. Photo: Supplied

Thabo Bester’s escape shows how privatising harms crime control

We should question the issue of prison outsourcing when the motive is profit and not public safety

Prisons, profits and privatisation’s perils

We are bound to run into trouble when the private sector is given free rein to determine who is deserving of being treated as human and who is not

Tutuka power station. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Fix Eskom, because the energy revolution won’t be privatised

We should not be fooled into giving up on the public sector which can – and should – look out for our best interests

(Dean Hutton/Bloomberg via Getty Image

After 100 years of Eskom, SA’s energy future hangs in the balance

The country’s dalliance with privatisation threatens to push up electricity costs, undermining energy security

Three party leaders who previously spoke to M&G said they expected Ramaphosa to announce replacements for Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula

It’s clear that state-owned entities can’t be turned around by politics

With Eskom and most other entities in states of disrepair, the relevance of the department of public enterprises is questioned

Disruption: Soweto residents protest in front of Maponya Mall against the wave of violence and looting that affected Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July last year. Photo: Luca Sola/AFP

Can the private sector help to fix ‘a fragile state’?

Privatisation stands to deepen inequalities. But some experts say collaboration between business and government can work in everyone’s interest

Commuters drive in the city centre of Ouagadougou on January 23, 2022. – Gunfire broke out at several army barracks in Burkina Faso on Sunday, prompting the government to deny that the military had seized control of the notoriously volatile Sahel state. “Since 1 am, gunfire has been heard here in Gounghin coming from the Sangoule Lamizana camp,” a soldier in a district on the western suburbs of the capital Ouagadougou said. (Photo by Olympia DE MAISMONT / AFP)

Coup season in the Sahel raises uncomfortable questions

Beset by political instability, the region is also the canary in the climate change coal mine

(John McCann/M&G)

Agriculture eyes rival to Land Bank

The state-owned institution’s financial woes have led farmers and agribusiness to consider making an offer on the bank, starting a cooperative bank or partner with global…

Edinburgh University students protest against the false promise of “hybrid learning” to new and returning students on October 24, 2020 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The uberfication of the university

The pandemic is hastening neoliberal universities’ moves towards platform pedagogy, where lecturers become participants in the “just-in-time” gig economy and students become…

Speaking after the match

Gigaba: ‘We’ll work within the law to transform SA’

Malusi Gigaba says the land issue must be resolved speedily to avoid Zimbabwe-style invasions.