SA’s exceptionalism myth

With the great Nelson Mandela at its helm back in 1994, South Africa appeared to be on a trajectory different to the trajectories of other countries on the continent, many of which had seen the... 

Martin Masitise

This week we profile Martin Masitise, founder and CEO of Mohlalefi Engineering, a manufacturer of mining roof support products 

African English

I previously wrote about how our versions of the English language have found their way into mainstream English – ‘our’ being the possessive pronoun for the sons and daughters of the African soil.... 

Amazing functional stupidity

Functional stupidity, a phenomenon that is often encountered in workplaces, refers to a situation where smart people refrain from speaking up when they are convinced that tweaking the way their... 

The sanctions mirage

I’m aware that our political overlords in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, as is the case with their counterparts elsewhere, have at their disposal experts providing advice... 

A mampara who backed off

It may be old hat now, but it bears mentioning in this column that Michael O’Leary, the mampara who runs Ryanair, finally regained his marbles and has been experiencing a prolonged period of... 

Britain’s final rout?

As news of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II’s passing broke on the evening of September 8, Twitter (and presumably other social media platforms as well) went into overdrive, with many of those who... 

Milé Sofijanic

This week we profile Milé Sofijanic, MD of ECS Associates, a contract and project management consulting, advisory services and training company 

Noisy diplomacy

Phophi Ramathuba may not have been a household name beyond Limpopo province, where she is the MEC for Health, until last month, but this is not the case anymore, after a video clip in which she is... 

Gaetano Perillo

This week we profile Gaetano Perillo, CEO of Weldamax, which trades as Unique Welding and is a gas and welding consumables distributor 

Majoring in minors

Please fill me in, someone: Do we now have places in South Africa where conversations are sprinkled with phrases such as “Habari, rafiki yangu?” or words such as “Karibu”? To those who might be... 

Social media minefield

Social media are changing the political landscape across the globe, including in Africa, where Presidents and other top politicians are using various platforms, especially Twitter, to mobilise and... 

Bilal Adam

This week we profile Bilal Adam, CEO of Rand Mutual Life Assurance  

Oil companies’ immoral greed

Food inflation around the world is at stratospheric levels, with an important indicator, the World Bank’s Food Price Commodity Index, having surged by more than 80% in the past two years. The key... 

Hadley Natus

This week we profile Hadley Natus, chairperson of the board of Tantalex Lithium Resources Corp, a lithium, tin and tantalum exploration and development company 

Mzansi’s got talent

That South African universities are top notch is in no doubt at all. In fact, a few of them are the best in Africa and among the best internationally. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, with some proudly... 

Zambian Prez’s labour of love

Politicians tend to promise voters heaven on earth during election time but become preoccupied with enjoying the benefits of public office instead of bringing about positive change for citizens... 

Yamkela Makupula

This week we profile Yamkela Makupula, CEO of the South African Diamond Producers Organisation, a nonprofit industry body that represents alluvial diamond miners and marketers across the country 

China’s change of tack

Many countries in Africa and elsewhere have been the beneficiaries of China’s largesse for many years. This has largely been in the form of financing for infrastructure projects, and I have often... 

Boris Johnson: Good riddance

I waxed indignant when it became apparent that boris johnson would succeed Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and British Prime Minister. What got me hot under the collar was his anti-black... 

Unlamented late ex-Prez

Former Angolan head of State Jose Eduardo dos Santos died earlier this month and, like several African ex-Presidents before him, he breathed his last faraway from home – at a Spanish hospital where... 

African coups: I told you so

I wrote in October last year that the generals who are running the show in Sudan must have chuckled when the African Union (AU) announced it was suspending the country following the overthrow of a... 

Disappearing middle class

The concept of the middle class assumes a steady income from the professions or business that enables one to afford a lifestyle that those on the lower rungs of the totem pole can only dream of.... 

Different from the others

  It’s a fact that the South African power supply system is different in many ways from power supply systems in other parts of Africa and (for all I know) from other systems throughout the world –... 

Lusanda Raphulu

This week we feature Lusanda Raphulu, head of dispute resolution at law firm Bowmans  

Home’s (not) best

When Donald Trump was still calling the shots in the US, I waxed indignant in this column after he had tweeted about how mostly African migrants were overwhelming his country, describing the... 

Ryanair’s dubious honour

Given the daft things that some people get up to, I have decided to award a Mampara accolade for public figures that engage in really silly behaviour from time to time. A ‘mampara’, a term used... 

Corruption: We are too tolerant

A mea culpa is in order before I proceed: this piece focuses on an unforgettable quotation from someone I have mentioned multiple times in this column, and I might therefore sound like a broken... 

Corrupt corporates

The adage that it takes two to tango appears to be perpetually in the blind spot of those who don’t miss an opportunity to highlight how venal politicians can be. It’s always the Jacob Zumas of... 

Aucamp van der Schyff

This week we profile Aucamp van der Schyff, commercial and financial manager for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region at SYSPRO, an enterprise resource planning software provider that... 

Are gas amasela loading?

Social commentator and broadcaster Lukhona Mnguni courted controversy last year when he branded politicians amasela – Xhosa for thieves – who steal public money. The context of this unsavoury... 

OAU/AU report card

Two days ago (assuming you are reading this piece on its publication date, May 27), many Africans at home and abroad were celebrating the fifty-ninth anniversary of the founding of the antecedent... 

Camel-ccino on the menu

One will be hard-pressed to name a country whose economy has not been ravaged by Covid-19. Many countries are now ‘building back better’ – some in not-so-conventional ways – as they attempt to... 

Tinashe Ruzane

This week we profile Tinashe Ruzane, cofounder and CEO of FlexClub, a car subscription marketplace offering members a flexible way to shop for vehicles, enabling them to choose from a wide... 

Digital authoritarianism

How do you tell when an African leader is about to go rogue? The clearest tell-tale sign is when he (there are very few she’s) starts displaying a propensity for engaging in such behaviour as... 

Tom Quinn

This week we profile Tom Quinn, head of content for the Mining Indaba, Africa Oil Week and Green Energy Africa at Hyve Group, one of the world’s largest providers of industry conferences and... 

Sport bans won’t move Putin

As some predicted, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has proved to be a drawn-out affair, a far cry from the swift conquest that the Kremlin powers that be had bargained for when they issued the orders... 

Tafadzwa Chibanguza

This week we profile Tafadzwa Chibanguza, COO of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa, an advocacy, lobby and collective bargaining employer federation of 18 member... 

Deportation by another name

This week I revisit the issue of migration, which I touched on a few months back in a piece in which I cited Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Americanah, where the point-of-view character retraces... 

100-year floods

Growing up in Kwazulu-Natal, I would regularly travel with my father to  far-flung parts of the province as he embarked on community infrastructure projects. On these trips, he would point out the...