In his prime, it was typical for fans of those teams in which French international footballer N'Golo Kanté played, including Chelsea, to quip that “70% of the Earth is covered by water, the rest by... 

The revised Eskom unbundling strategy announced is emerging as something of a touchstone for government’s commitment – or otherwise – to reforming the structure of an electricity industry that has... 

“We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time,”... 

As the sun sets on 2025, South Africa’s long-awaited recovery is becoming visible like the first sliver of a waxing crescent days after a new moon. While still modest, the 0.5% GDP expansion in the... 

The complex and multidimensional nature of life in any country means that more than one thing is invariably true at the same time. Moreover, these truths can be highly contradictory, or as Charles... 

When South Africa transitioned to democracy in the 1990s, and when climate constraints were not yet on the agenda, energy policy was arguably the country’s main industrial policy lever. The country... 

There are signs that the long-promised change to the composition of government spending – from consumption to capital investment – is at last taking shape. In his Medium-Term Budget Policy... 

When ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) initially announced in January that it would be closing the Newcastle mill and winding down its long-steel businesses in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and... 

Given the many moving parts in play currently within the electricity industry, there is a real risk of becoming distracted from what is truly important. Developments over the past few months alone... 

The latest edition of the Integrated Resource Plan for electricity, dubbed IRP 2025, has been Gazetted and its contents have not really come as any surprise. But that does not suggest it does not... 

It is now widely accepted that we live in a misinformation era – one where it has become acceptable, even fashionable, to be anti-science. Scientific consensus is making way for conspiracy... 

South Africans are naturally strongly opposed to any more hefty electricity hikes, having borne above-inflation increases for years while power disruptions intensified and Eskom’s finances... 

The twin crises of surging municipal arrear debt owing to Eskom and rising electricity theft have been lurking for years, and with all efforts to combat the problems having failed. In fact Eskom’s... 

When should a Minister intervene at a State-owned company or independent regulator? It’s a difficult question to answer, and will remain so for as long as Ministers have shareholder... 

South Africa is thankfully surfacing from a of period of prolonged electricity disruption that all but stripped the country of its ability to grow and create jobs for more than a decade. But this... 

It is understandable that few are fully aware of the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) and the likely significance of this complex reform, which represents an important... 

The extreme pace of the 2025 news cycle has made it difficult to remember even the most important developments. For instance, it is difficult to recall the immediate concern raised in January over... 

Developments in the South African steel industry offer a glimpse into the pressures being faced by the manufacturing sector as a whole, and the likely industrial and trade policy responses to those... 

With industrial and trade policy firmly back on the global agenda, South African industry is becoming more vocal in highlighting the threats posed to South Africa’s industrial capacity by policy... 

The message delivered by Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa that the reforms under way in the electricity sector are “irreversible”, is an important one. Doubly so, given that... 

There has been an important, yet largely overlooked, shift in South Africa’s approach to meeting its goal of providing universal electricity access by 2030. A proposed revision to the delivery... 

The idiom ‘one step forward, two steps back’ has surely arisen in the minds of those who have been monitoring developments in the electricity industry over the recent past. It is undeniable that... 

There are worrying signs that the economic reforms under way in the electricity sector are stalling, or are even facing active resistance. Arguably, this development is predictable given the... 

A picture has started to emerge of the potential economic fallout of America’s existing, as well as potentially imminent, tariffs on South African goods. Recent econometric modelling has helped to... 

The decision by US President Donald Trump to implement ‘reciprocal tariffs’ of 30% on those South African goods not specifically exempted or subject to sector-specific duties is a major blow... 

South Africa’s recent trade policy interventions have been nowhere near as attention grabbing as President Donald Trump’s April 2 Rose Garden performance that included a giant cardboard chart... 

One of the marvels of the post-Covid era is the ongoing ability to participate in live events that are many miles away. Although technology fails from time to time, there are several government... 

Memories of that ‘dim-the-lights’ Oval Office ambush have been enveloped in a fog of billionaire-bro brawls, immigrant raids and protests, the militarisation of law enforcement, vaccine-committee... 

Few would argue that South Africa’s procurement of electricity generation capacity from independent power producers (IPPs) is one of the country’s very few public procurement success stories. But... 

The fact that it takes an exceedingly long time in South Africa for policy decisions to be made let alone implemented is something of a doubled-edged sword. On the positive side, it can sometimes... 

If there were but one lesson to draw from the 2025 Budget, it must be that inadequate consultation seriously reduces the chances of navigating the new normal of coalition governance. To their... 

In a world turned upside down by the performative antics of US President Donald Trump, it is easy to lose one’s bearings and one’s cool. And while the South Africans that entered the White House...