Budget 2026: Between reform and reality
/ 27 February 2026

Budget 2026: Between reform and reality

South Africa has been given a narrow window to turn the ship around. Whether this Budget becomes a footnote or a foundation depends on what happens next — in Cabinet, in the SOEs, in municipalities and in the daily grind of governance

Seeking to profit from privatising prisons misses the point 
/ 25 February 2026

Seeking to profit from privatising prisons misses the point 

The only evidence Muller presents that “Prisons abroad are being run efficiently and humanely with much clearer accountability” are the examples of the GEO company and the unrelated privatisation of cemeteries. Let us be clear about GEO – it is an example of what we do not want our prisons to become

SA’s anti-corruption needle stalled
/ 20 February 2026

SA’s anti-corruption needle stalled

Over a decade after the Glenister judgments, it remains an indictment of the so-called post-state capture moment that we are not further along as a country in settling the institutional architecture required to reverse endemic corruption

Editorial: Tongaat Hulett must be saved
/ 20 February 2026

Editorial: Tongaat Hulett must be saved

At a time when rampant unemployment — one of the country’s biggest crises and a national emergency — takes root, the looming jobs bloodbath will decimate not only the sugar industry but also blight efforts to reduce jobless numbers and wreak havoc on the region’s food security

Blind to the facts on global issues
/ 6 February 2026

Blind to the facts on global issues

The uncritical cheerleaders for the West cannot be taken seriously until they acknowledge that the West supports and collaborates with authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt

The World Cup reset: Markram’s Proteas and the ghost of Barbados
/ 3 February 2026

The World Cup reset: Markram’s Proteas and the ghost of Barbados

As the Proteas touched down in India on Monday afternoon, the heavy, humid air of the subcontinent served as an immediate sensory departure from the highveld summer they left behind. But for captain Aiden Markram, the physical journey is secondary to the psychological one.  As South Africa embarks on what the squad has officially termed […]