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HEAT IS ON
By: Darlene Creamer 10th May 2024 Reaction to BHP’s bid price for Anglo American may be cool, but it has definitely ignited renewed interest in mega mining mergers. It has also brought to the fore the importance of copper to the emerging energy transition and, more worryingly, investor weariness of South Africa as a mining... →
COALITION MATHS
By: Darlene Creamer 3rd May 2024 With the polls suggesting that the African National Congress is unlikely to secure an outright majority in this year’s election, much attention is being given to coalition politics. While this is arguably an inevitable outcome of our proportional-representation system, many voters are rightfully... →
STILL FLYING
By: Darlene Creamer 26th April 2024 Years of State capture, corruption and ongoing crime and violence have left deep scars and have taken most of the gloss of any celebrations marking 30 years of democracy. Nevertheless, South Africa is still a significantly better place than it was before 1994 and has made some strides towards... →
STORM WARNING:
By: Darlene Creamer 19th April 2024 The storms that lashed the Cape earlier this month caused devastating damage, with many still picking up the pieces. One can only hope that the coming election storm is far more benign, but some of the pre-election rhetoric is cause for concern, while some pre-election coalition pacts seem to be... →
UNDERWHELMED
By: Darlene Creamer 12th April 2024 While voters will receive three quite different looking ballots on May 29, this seeming increase in choice is not necessarily translating into greater excitement. Yes, some independents will feature for the first time and, yes, there are some interesting new parties. But with some form of... →
SHOCKING
By: Darlene Creamer 5th April 2024 As expected, stakeholder responses to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s gas-heavy Integrated Resource Plan 2023 has been far from complementary. While still a draft, some commentators believe it should simply be recalled, given its outlandish assumptions, lack of transparency and... →
WATER WORRIES
By: Darlene Creamer 29th March 2024 Gauteng’s three metropolitan councils are now failing regularly to ensure that their residents and businesses have a constant supply of water. The massive outages in March brought to the fore not only the poor state of the province’s water infrastructure, which is prone to leaks, but also... →
EXTREME PRESSURE
By: Darlene Creamer 22nd March 2024 The Competition Commission’s Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry has thrown some light on the existential crisis being faced by South Africa’s media. Part of the problem lies in the weak economy, but a large portion arises from the disruption associated with the rise of giant digital... →
GAS CLIFF
By: Darlene Creamer 15th March 2024 Warnings of a gas day zero in 2026 are alarming, but not new. There has however, been very little progress on possible remedies. Disputes over gas pricing have arguably made cooperation difficult, but that is what is desperately needed. All eyes are now on the government-led task team set up to... →
LOADSHEDDING GRIEF
By: Darlene Creamer 8th March 2024 There is grave peril in forecasting any improvement to the loadshedding outlook, as President Cyril Ramaphosa found recently when Eskom declare Stage 6 days after he suggested in his State of the Nation Address that the worst was over. Likewise, the credibility of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho... →
OWN GOALS
By: Darlene Creamer 1st March 2024 The 2024 Budget has, once again, highlighted what happens when government scores one own goal after another. True, there have been some disruptive external shocks, most recently the Covid lockdowns and the energy shock associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, far too many of the... →
HANGING ON 
By: Darlene Creamer 23rd February 2024 HANGING ON: There was a near audible sigh of relief when ArcelorMittal South Africa announced a six-month deferral to its plan to close its loss-making long-products business. While the group sees a plausible case for salvaging the business, it stresses that the path relies on many moving parts,... →
BUDGETARY MAZE
By: Darlene Creamer 16th February 2024 It is now almost impossible to remember a time when commentators were not describing the South African Budget as the most difficult ever for a post-apartheid Finance Minister to navigate. Given the backdrop of worsening fiscal balances and looming elections, however, it is sadly no cliché this... →
ADDING CAPACITY
By: Darlene Creamer 9th February 2024 Concerns over under-investment into South Africa’s electricity grid have come to the fore strongly in recent years, with the lack of connection capacity having already prevented the construction of much-needed new renewables generation. While the new curtailment framework will release some... →
ADMINISTRATIVE KNOT
By: Darlene Creamer 2nd February 2024 The continued growth and development of South Africa’s mining industry is stated policy. Sustaining the sector’s jobs, tax and export contribution requires ongoing exploration and development. This, to replenish resources and reserves ahead of the rate of depletion and to create new sources of... →
THE WORLD VOTES
By: Darlene Creamer 26th January 2024 Countries making up over 60% of the world's economic output and more than half of its population hold elections this year, including South Africa. While this should be a sign that democracy is thriving, these elections come at a time when democratic values are under extreme pressure. In many... →
LONG SHADOW
By: Darlene Creamer 19th January 2024 It is difficult to argue against the principles underpinning the National Health Insurance Bill, approved by lawmakers late last year. As with all legislative interventions, however, the devil is truly in the detail. On this score, the Bill fails to offer assurances in the areas of affordability,... →
NOWHERE TO HIDE
By: Darlene Creamer 15th December 2023 2023 has been a difficult year for South Africans. Besides being the worst-ever year yet for growth-sapping and jobs-destroying loadshedding, the years of corruption and mismanagement at Transnet are now being felt not only in the collapse of the rail service on key corridors, but in a port... →
GRIEF & ANGER
By: Darlene Creamer 8th December 2023 The most recent bout of Stage 6 loadshedding by Eskom was not only a reminder that South Africa is far away from truly tackling the scourge, with the current focus on fixing Eskom in preference to adding new capacity proving itself, yet again, to be a high-risk strategy. It was also a tipping... →
COSTLY CONGESTION
By: Darlene Creamer 1st December 2023 The pile-up of ships outside South African ports is a costly reminder of the risks associated with mismanagement and corruption at a State-owned monopoly. Some vessels have been left at anchorage for more than two weeks, leading to the imposition of congestion charges and various other direct and... →
UNJUST EXECUTIONER
By: Darlene Creamer 24th November 2023 While politicians often have an uncomfortable relationship with the truth, there was once a time when their commentary at least arose from a common set of facts. No longer. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is but one of a growing list of politicians using some of the “alternative facts” that... →
FESTIVE CARTON
By: Darlene Creamer 17th November 2023 With millions of chickens having been killed over the past few months in response to an outbreak of avian flu, supplies of eggs have run low and prices have spiked. So precious have eggs become that some may well be hoping for a carton or two as relatives and friends break out their purses in a... →
FIGHTING FIRES
By: Darlene Creamer 10th November 2023 As has been the case for several years and with several of his predecessors, South Africa’s poor growth rate continues to act as the main constraint in enabling Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to release the resources needed to ensure social fairness, while maintaining fiscal balance. Until the... →
FOUR THE PEOPLE
By: Darlene Creamer 3rd November 2023 Given how divisive both rugby and the Springboks were in the not-so-distant past, it is quite remarkable that the national team has become such a unifying force when divisions are growing in so many other areas. During what turned out to be a most stressful tournament for South African... →
DOG WHISTLER
By: Darlene Creamer 27th October 2023 With no sense of irony, Minerals Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe continues to champion gas exploration and development while fighting internal Cabinet power struggles using the analogy of the warning that mice offer when running away from dangerous levels of methane underground.... →
RED CARD
By: Darlene Creamer 20th October 2023 The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), which is meant to support workers who lose their jobs, stands accused of serious foul play, with organised business and labour having both called for the fund to be placed under immediate administration. Besides alleged operational dysfunction, there is also... →
FALLING SHORT
By: Darlene Creamer 13th October 2023 The day after the National Development Plan was officially launched on August 15, 2012, was one of the darkest in South Africa’s history and the darkest since the advent of democracy. On August 16, 2012, 34 miners were shot and killed in what became known as the Marikana Massacre. The period... →
EXTREME FORECAST
By: Darlene Creamer 6th October 2023 As South Africa’s 2024 election approaches, the is a huge incentive for the incumbents to ramp-up spending and to announce new projects and initiatives. The problem they have this time round is that there is insufficient money available to sustain existing programmes, let alone embark on new... →
PRESSURE COOKER
By: Darlene Creamer 29th September 2023 South Africa’s national accounts are facing pressures from every angle. With growth still flatlining on the back of extreme loadshedding, a collapse in freight rail and many municipal services, revenue collection is naturally underperforming. Borrowing has been ramped up to compensate at a time... →
TRAIN WRECK
By: Darlene Creamer 22nd September 2023 The collapse in the performance of Transnet is well documented. The State-owned freight logistics group has been left broke and broken and there are growing indications that it too will be seeking some form of bail-out at some point. However, given that government’s fiscal buffers have also all... →
IRRESISTIBLE FORCE PARADOX
By: Darlene Creamer 15th September 2023 With elections looming, the governing party is unlikely to want to pull in its spending horns. However, the National Treasury is warning that it needs to do just that to avoid a looming debt crisis. In a letter seen by Sunday Times, the department outlined several drastic spending reduction steps... →
SANDS OF TIME
By: Darlene Creamer 8th September 2023 The Koeberg life-extension project is running years late and, with ongoing contractor claims, its final budget remains uncertain. For the nuclear plant to operate beyond July 2024, many more physical and licence-compliance steps are still required, including the separation of the unit licences to... →
RELUCTANT REFORMER
By: Darlene Creamer 1st September 2023 Government continually finds reasons, real and imagined, for failing to follow through with the structural reforms that have been identified as urgent to place the country on a growth pathway. The most recent high-profile delay has related to the mishandling of the Electricity Regulation... →
HEAT IS ON
By: Darlene Creamer 25th August 2023 The Copernicus Climate Change Service has confirmed July to have been the hottest month on record, with a global average temperature of 16.95°C surpassing the previous record set in 2019 by 0.33°C. July is estimated to have been about 1.5°C warmer than the average for 1850 to 1900. In several... →
UPHILL STRUGGLE
By: Darlene Creamer 18th August 2023 While Some Eskom coal power stations are operating more stably and various private generation projects are offering some relief, loadshedding continues to weigh down the real economy. Manufacturers, farmers and miners don’t only face production disruptions but those reliant on domestic sales are... →
STOP GAP
By: Darlene Creamer 11th August 2023 In many of Gauteng’s affluent suburbs it has become common to see banners highlighting resident-funded works programmes to fix potholes, cut grass and repair pavements. At a national level, similar schemes have developed around the country’s power, logistics and crime crises. As with the suburban... →
EXPLOSIVE DECLINE
By: Darlene Creamer 4th August 2023 Residents and businesses that fall within the boundaries of the City of Johannesburg have always known that the council’s old slogan ‘a world-class African city’ was more aspirational than factual. Nevertheless, the recent explosion below Lilian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street), which killed... →
BURNING PLATFORM
By: Darlene Creamer 28th July 2023 The torching of more than 20 trucks in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga brought back nasty memories of the July 2021 riots, which shook South Africa to its core. The motives are not immediately clear, but it appears that the actions go beyond toxic xenophobia and mafia-style muscle flexing... →
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