Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
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QINGDAO, CHINA – MAY 09: Aerial view of shipping containers sitting stacked at Asia’s first fully automated container terminal of Qingdao Port on May 9, 2022 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by Zhang Jingang/VCG via Getty Images)
CHINA

Commodity prices buoy South Africa amid China’s slow growth blow

South Africa’s fate is tied to China’s, but war-related disruptions in the global energy market keep exports going

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
No new coal: Unemployed men such as Bonginkosi Mhlanga scrape a living from abandoned mine shafts. Analysts warn that commodity prices, which have over the years sometimes papered over South Africa’s economic woes, will not keep the country going forever. (Emmanuel Croset/AFP)
ZUMAUNREST

Commodities ‘bail out’ South African economy, but chronic structural woes remain

The mining industry is riding a wave that will eventually crash, analysts warn

  • Sarah Smit
8 min read
Pillaged: Workers clean up the Shoprite supermarket at the Naledi Mall in Vosloorus, Gauteng, after looters emptied the shelves. The mall was set on fire after shops had been emptied and vandalised . (Andy Mkosi)
ZUMAUNREST

Destruction hits business confidence

An already low sentiment will be set back by the Covid-19 pandemic, thin reforms and this week’s violence

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read