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Move comes after US President boycotted Johannesburg meeting
United States President Donald Trump’s administration is intensifying its diplomatic feud with South Africa, inviting Poland to next year’s G20 summit in Miami and excluding South Africa. President...
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Vol 66 No 24 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
A ratings upgrade and stronger fiscal projections boost optimism, but job cuts and slow investment still haunt the ANC
Political sentiment in South Africa is among the most febrile on the continent – if that is any comfort to President Cyril Ramaphosa. After the G20 Leaders’ Summit...
Vol 66 No 23 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Legal setbacks, stalled offshore projects and a looming supply crisis threaten both industry and climate targets
The Integrated Resource Plan pushed through cabinet by Minister for Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa last month is ambitious in scope and financing – envisaging a 2.23 trillion...
Vol 66 No 22 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Business leaders sound the alarm over the country’s economic drift, despite signs of fiscal recovery
South Africa is caught in a classic debt trap, with the economy growing more slowly than the interest the government pays on its rapidly expanding debt. In recent...
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Vol 66 No 20 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
African efforts to lobby at UN meeting for extension of US trade deal were unsuccessful
The expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) at the end of September is another headache for African states already counting the costs of the United...
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EU seeks to deepen trade relationship with South Africa in response to US protectionism
President Cyril Ramaphosa faces crunch trade talks with United States President Donald Trump’s administration next week, with talks expected on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly...
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A former African National Congress (ANC) Mayor of Johannesburg, Parks Tau’s career was in jeopardy after losing the mayoralty to the Democratic Alliance’s Herman Mashaba in 2016 after...
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Vol 66 No 18 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
President Cyril Ramaphosa appears unwilling to risk any action that may further anger the Trump administration
South Africa has scrapped plans to hold a naval exercise with China and Russia in November in a bid to avoid diplomatic embarrassment as it would have coincided...
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Concessions to Washington are likely to ramp up opposition to levy
South Africa has stepped up its demands for concessions from the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) after Brussels’ recent deal with Washington. In a letter to the...
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The defence chief’s foreign policy pronouncement in Tehran exposes President Ramaphosa’s waning authority
The most serious problem with South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya’s visit to Iran from 12 to 14 August was that President Cyril Ramaphosa...
Pretoria warns of long-term economic damage as the US weaponises trade for political pressure
There is little prospect of short term relief from the United States increasing tariffs to 30% on a wide range of South African imports, with the new rates...
Vol 66 No 15 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
After explosive claims of cartel-backed infiltration, Ramaphosa suspended key officials and launched a judicial inquiry but risks losing control of the coalition
On 6 July, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi accused Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of colluding with criminal elements to...
Vol 66 No 15 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Ramaphosa says the forum will produce a social compact for jobs, power and security – critics dismiss it as political theatre
As accusations about top politicians’ colluding with people traffickers and drug dealers dominate public debate in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has been trying to refocus attention on...
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Vol 66 No 15 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
- G20
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s G20 agenda was boosted by agreeing a consensus communique at Finance Ministers meeting in Durban on 18 July
The text itself is low on substance: its references to the importance of multilateral cooperation, the World Trade Organization and ‘rules based’ trade are hardly radical. Nor are...
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Vol 66 No 14 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Instead of removing ANC ministers, allies of former President Zuma have been arrested
Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama, both deputies for former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party will appear in court in October after being arrested on multiple corruption...
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Vol 66 No 14 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The latest crisis in the government of national unity points to its fragility and questions about how much longer it can survive
The Government of National Unity (GNU) was on the brink of collapse following the Democratic Alliance’s reaction to the sacking of Deputy Trade Minister Andrew Whitfield. The ostensible...
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Despite Trump’s bullying, South Africa may receive positive US response after generous offer
Despite leaving the G7 summit in Canada without a meeting with United States President Donald Trump, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is hoping to kickstart trade talks with...
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Two South African billionaires have cleared the path for a business accord to unfreeze the diplomacy
Until a month ago, the chances of President Cyril Ramaphosa getting a constructive meeting with his United States counterpart Donald J Trump appeared vanishingly small. After a barrage...
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has been weakened after the three-month budget dispute that brought President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity to the brink of collapse. Ramaphosa is...
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Vol 66 No 9 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The ANC and the DA are both battered by the budget delay but more fights over spending are likely
The latest compromise on rates for value added tax in the much-delayed budget has kept the Government of National Unity in power – but at the expense of...
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Vol 66 No 8 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Both the ANC’s Ramaphosa and the DA’s Steenhuisen are fighting to preserve power-sharing – but for vastly different reasons
When Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana failed to secure backing within the Government of National Unity (GNU) on 12 March for his proposal to raise VAT from 15% to...
President Ramaphosa wants to soothe tensions with the Trump administration but Washington has appointed a hard-liner to South Africa
The choice of the United States’s new Ambassador to Pretoria – Leo Brent Bozell III – dispels any notion that President Donald J Trump’s administration might dial down...
Washington’s tariffs, visa bans and aid cuts are pushing Brussels and Pretoria into a stronger partnership
As the new United States administration targets South Africa on policy and the European Union on tariffs, it has triggered an opposite reaction – bringing President Cyril Ramaphosa...
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Vol 66 No 6 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Centre-right Democratic Alliance is using its muscle in coalition to assert dissenting economic agenda
After a majority in parliament failed to back Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s amended budget on 12 March he still has more drafting to do to get it over...
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The failure of the SADC mission sounds alarms about the future of multilateral attempts to resolve conflict on the continent
By agreeing that its deployment will be ‘terminated’ as part of a ‘phased withdrawal’ at a summit on 13 March, the Southern African Development Community has at last...
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International support for South Africa’s renewable plans will on the agenda at EU summit
In line with his opposition to renewable energy projects, President Donald J Trump’s decision to revoke and rescind the United States International Climate Finance Plan will mean cancelling...
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Vol 66 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The Government of National Unity’s credibility is on the line as finance minister Godongwana prepares to return to parliament with an amended budget
When finance minister Enoch Godongwana told the cabinet on 19 February of his plan to raise value added tax to 17% from 15% just hours before he was...
An internal coalition spat was resolved just hours before the President’s State of the Nation address
The government’s determination to hit its 3% GDP growth target and to push its policy agenda as it chairs the G20 this year dominated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech...
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The hostility of the Trump presidency towards Ramaphosa’s government, has given Europe an opportunity to strengthen its ties with Pretoria
EU High Representative on Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas will hold talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa and ministers on 19 February, ahead of a G20 foreign ministers meeting the...
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The White House has halted funding to Pretoria but Ramaphosa has downplayed the move’s impact as speculation grows about Musk’s influence
South Africa is the first African country to be specifically targeted by the new United States President, Donald J Trump. On 3 February, Trump announced the halt of...
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Vol 66 No 3 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The ANC faces a careful balancing act as Ramaphosa signs the controversial ‘expropriation without compensation’ bill
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to sign a controversial Expropriation Bill into law is likely to be the first major test to his governing coalition. Signed on 23 January,...
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Vol 66 No 2 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
A fresh bout of optimism about the prospects for economic recovery isn’t helping the venerable ANC
From key note addresses to international investor conferences, nation-boosting speeches to the UN General Assembly to grassroots rallies in the township, President Cyril Ramaphosa knows how to tailor...
Disunity among leftists, trade unionists and the populists of the EFF and MK has weakened opposition to the centrist GNU
Cyril Ramaphosa’s grand political coalition has survived its first six months with modestly rising investment levels, lower inflation, and energy reforms. As the first African country to chair...