At times like these, I am reminded of the sagacious words of my grandfather: “If you are not confused, then you do not have all the fact.” Irene Peter offers a slightly different reflection: “If... 

Up to now, it has been only thermal coal that has come the attack from climate change fighters, but now metallurgical coal is also coming under the microscope of a group of ten organisations that... 

There is every reason to expect that 2025 will be a year of disruption. It’s an expectation informed largely by the reality of widespread national political rupture, epitomised by the return of... 

A Kenyan human rights activity recently shared a memory from his childhood, recalling how he used to think his peasant grandmother was a magician. Every year, she seemed to know exactly when to... 

“I can’t believe the news today (January 06); oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? How long?”  – to borrow the opening lyrics of Irish... 

Things are happening regularly that point to climate change abatement being far more urgent than many global leaders seem prepared to acknowledge. In several places, investors in insurance... 

News that the struggling Newcastle Works will close at the end of this month is yet another painful reminder of South Africa’s ongoing deindustrialisation. The development itself is not surprising,... 

Television coverage in the recent past of the drama unfolding at an abandoned mine shaft in Stilfontein, in the North-West province – where police launched an operation in October to force illegal... 

I live in a divided mental state over the yearly climate negotiations. The Conference of Parties (COP) remain an important platform for global collective action, but to say they are not fraying –... 

Why? Yes, let’s start the year with a ‘why’. Why did the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) announce the initiation of its safeguard investigation in the... 

Year 2025 must be used to win back at least some of the huge market share that South Africa has lost in the ferrochrome and ferromanganese businesses. The smelters that turned ore into alloy in the... 

Trade and industrial policy will play a more prominent and potentially more destabilising role given that President-elect Donald Trump has signalled his intention to leverage tariffs as part of his... 

Cybercrime has exploded into a menace of epic proportions – and Africa is no safe haven. In fact, the digital underworld on the continent has been so busy that more than 1 000 offenders were caught... 

As another tumultuous year closes, global political tectonic plates are still shifting, causing political earthquakes and violent eruptions across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The...