Author: The Common Sense
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Dr Frans Cronjé: Why the ANC now polls at 34%, and what it means for SA
This article was first published by The Common Sense Two years into the Government of National Unity, new SRF/Victory Research/The Common Sense polling shows the ANC has slumped to 34.0% nationally — near its post-VAT-crisis low — while sitting below 20% in Johannesburg, where a rival ANC/EFF/MK bloc governs in practice. The DA holds steady at…
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The Economist: Bond markets warn Governments are making a dangerous bet on AI boom
Bond yields in America, Britain, France and Japan are near their highest since the 2007-09 financial crisis, as investors price in persistent inflation, gaping budget deficits and geopolitical risk. Governments are increasingly betting that AI-driven growth will ease the fiscal squeeze, but AI has yet to lift productivity meaningfully anywhere, and Brookings Institution economists estimate…
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Sasol cashes in on war-driven fuel price surge
Sasol, the world’s largest coal-to-fuel producer, is benefiting from higher oil prices sparked by the Iran war, while its refining output has become central to South Africa’s fuel security. With Middle East imports stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, Sasol’s Secunda plant has ramped up production to its highest level in five years. The company,…
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Fauci on trial: Will silence seal the historical record of the pandemic in darkness?
Not everyone accepts that Anthony Fauci’s Fifth Amendment testimony closes the book on Covid-19’s unresolved questions. This piece, written by Prof Colleen Aldous, a scientist, argues that dissenting voices were sidelined during the pandemic, and that Fauci’s enormous public authority carried an obligation to answer — not just a legal right to stay silent. It…
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BN Daybreak: Google DeepMind shakeup; Joburg election poll; Expropriation; Uber update
Listen here Today’s episode covers Google’s AI leadership shakeup, vishing cyberattacks targeting major Wall Street hedge funds and Meta’s AI testing breach. Locally, Jacob Zuma appoints his son Duduzane as MKP deputy president while Ramaphosa holds back an interim commission report. Plus, SRF polling reveals the ANC collapsing in Johannesburg, Kallie Kriel dives into property…
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There’s now a simpler, more cost-effective way to move larger sums of money internationally
Few financial transactions feel as complicated as moving large sums of money into or out of South Africa. Whether you’re emigrating, purchasing property abroad, receiving a foreign salary or inheritance, or managing import/export payments for your business, the process can quickly become a maze of paperwork, regulatory requirements and pricing structures that make it difficult…
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BizNews Edge: A 29% overnight jump, and CEO Alex Karp says Palantir is only getting started
Listen here Alex Karp just proved that conviction moves markets. Palantir’s overnight 29% jump has Wall Street rethinking what it thought it knew about the company, and Karp isn’t shy about telling you why. Elon Musk lays out exactly how far ahead SpaceX and Starlink already are, and how much further they’re going, while South…
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Solly Moeng: Zuma & Duduzane, Cyril & Madlanga, Bozell & Lamola…
Listen here In their latest weekly chat, Chris Steyn and political commentator Solly Moeng talk about the headline-grabbing actions of former President Jacob Zuma and the headline grabbing non-action of current President Cyril Ramaphosa: Zuma appointing his son, Duduzane, as MKP’s Deputy President while Ramaphosa has been sitting on the second interim report of the…
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Is Johannesburg slipping out of the ANC’s hands for good?
Johannesburg’s 4 November election could mark the ANC’s steepest local decline since 1994. The party has yet to announce a mayoral candidate, is campaigning on the slogan “Fixing Local Government,” an implicit admission of its own record, and faces a DA that has spent over a year building a “Believe in Joburg” campaign under Helen…
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James Galbraith on BizNews: Can ‘Zombie Monetarism’ survive the flaws that killed it the first time?
Economist James K. Galbraith challenges a new paper by Peter Ireland, Stephen Miran and Nouriel Roubini urging incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh to revive Milton Friedman’s monetarist doctrine through a modern “Divisia” money index. Drawing on his own history helping design the Fed’s 1970s reporting requirements, Galbraith argues the approach fails on two counts: the…
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Ceuta, colonialism and the cost of Spain’s double standards
Around 60,000 people crossed from Morocco into Spain’s Ceuta enclave in one of the largest mass border breaches in recent European history, overwhelming a city of 80,000 residents. The crisis has revived Morocco’s long standing claim that Ceuta is a colonial era holdover, and raised uncomfortable questions for Madrid, which has been a vocal advocate…
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Katzenellenbogen: Joburg sits on a knife edge between a DA win and a coalition mess
Johannesburg’s local government election on 4 November could reshape South African politics. DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille needs about 490,000 votes, more than double the party’s 2024 total, to win an outright council majority. Falling short would mean another coalition, a scenario blamed for ten mayors in ten years and stalled service delivery. The ANC,…
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Simone Biles: Redefining greatness through courage and accountability
By Tendani Mulaudzi Simone Biles is an athletic superstar, after continuously redefining gymnastics and what it means to be an athlete. With 11 Olympic medals and a record-breaking 30 World Championship medals, as well as gymnastic skills that bear her name, Biles has also made huge leaps in the sports world by openly prioritising mental…
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Eskom chairman says South Africa has quietly normalised lawlessness
Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati has warned that South Africa has slid quietly into lawlessness, with offences from jumped traffic lights to illegal electricity connections increasingly treated as normal. He links the shift to an overcorrection from apartheid era controls, but says no country succeeds on a foundation of chaos. His comments coincide with Eskom’s own…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…
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How world sees SA: DA’s court challenge to EWC could test SA’s GNU
The Democratic Alliance is asking South Africa’s Western Cape High Court to strike down key provisions of the Expropriation Act, arguing the law lets the state seize private land too broadly. President Ramaphosa signed the update to redress apartheid era land loss, since three quarters of farmland remains white owned. The law was used by…