One of the dividends of the 1994 democratic breakthrough is the elevation of heritage as a national asset worth celebrating and bringing aspects of the economy to a halt for its own sake. What makes heritage real to a nation, in the end, is not just the splendid edifices at [...]
The influence of civil society bodies and movements committed to truncating the post-1994 political economy gains in South Africa is inexorably rising and on the verge of defining the 'liberation movement' complex out of relevance. These bodies have become the largest magnets of non-political party funding that has political economy [...]
When EDI Holdings was established as a company to begin the transformation of the electricity industry, the ideational construct was to 'unbundle' the industry into generation, transmission and distribution. EDI Holdings would be modelled as a company holding majority shareholding in six regional electricity distribution companies (REDS), demarcated to be [...]
The resilience of an organisation is a function of its systems. The more an organisation introduces in its working systems what can be repetitive and scaled beyond its centre, the better a resilient entity it will become. The African National Congress was formed in the wake of a deliberate exclusion [...]
The establishment of institutions is more about creating embodiments of societal leadership than having them for their own sake. The ability of a human being to travel from one end of the globe to the other with no need to ask for directions is a stark reminder that systems and [...]
In Sepedi there is a saying that goes, "modumo wa matikwane o latelela wa sekgokolo". This is then supplemented by "phousele e laolwa ke bothakga bja sebini". The Bapedi people would conclude this context by declaring, "sekgokolo se na le bokgoni bja go ba se homotše mola meropa [...]
The success or failure of a civilisation is not only a function of how innovative a society is, but how that society preserve what it already has by innovating towards sustainability. In this rendition an argument will be posited that as a society and country, South Africa has innovated one [...]
The South African Constitution establishes municipalities for the whole of the territory of South Africa. Through this it has made 'democratic and accountable government to the community' provided by local government accessible to 'all who live' in South Africa. The experience of government is felt through local government, and municipalities [...]
Democracy is supposed to be the arrangements with which society has agreed to govern itself. These arrangements are codified into laws and regulations through which society reconciles the conflicting interests of the individual members of society. How these interests aggregate into an acceptable policy position, generally coded as law, is [...]
The ANC showing in the 2016 Municipal Elections results represents its most visible repudiation by urban voters that cared to go to the polls. It redefined the political control and management of municipal budgets in South Africa's major metropolitan areas. It put on the sharp end of any analysis tool [...]
