Bad indicators in the direction of trends in South African education and health last week. Very briefly: Two recent studies reveal a low and/or deteriorating quality of matriculant entering university. The national benchmarking test (NBT) tested 13000 first years at major SA universities and found only 43% proficient in academic literacy, 25% in quantitative literacy and, astonishingly, only 8% in maths.Continue reading “Unhappy trends”
Author Archives: nicborain
Government versus the private sector
Paul Krugman tilts at the USA citizen’s default hostility to government. He argues that on health care policy and on banking regulation it is more government, not less, that is needed. Does the same apply in the South African case? I think the issues are significantly different, with the first task in South Africa being toContinue reading “Government versus the private sector”
2010 – imagine the worst
Think of the outrage at the Munich Olympics in the summer of 1974; the Champions League Twenty20 cricket in Mumbai last year; the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980; bomb threats at the Grand National in 1997; the Sri Lankan marathon massacre in 2008; the extensive security fears at the Ryder Cup post the September 11 attacks andContinue reading “2010 – imagine the worst”
Race to the Finish
Is Julius Malema the only person prepared to tell the truth around here? Julius bemoaning the under-representation of “Africans” and/or “black people” in the economic cluster: We [black people] cannot just be reduced to security and the very important issue of economy is given to minorities…. Minister of police, minister of intelligence, minister of justice — [theyContinue reading “Race to the Finish”
An Unhealthy Debate
Is wealth the cause of poverty? Is everything in development a zero sum game? Listening to how the ANC and the SACP motivate their proposed national health insurance scheme gives a disconcerting inkling of how they think about development. Their proposal is for a compulsory national health insurance (NHI) to be the main solution to a number of problems that besetContinue reading “An Unhealthy Debate”
Women’s Day
A tall woman carrying a heavy load being led by a little man – perhaps 6000 year old rock painting at Kwagga Kamma – August 10 2009
SA pushed to do more on Zimbabwe by Clinton?
Let’s see how that plays… The Voice of America says US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, will, in her meeting with “senior South African officials” in Pretoria today: push South Africa to do more to counter embattled President Robert Mugabe’s negative effect on the Zimbabwe reform process. South Africa under Thabo Mbeki would have bridled andContinue reading “SA pushed to do more on Zimbabwe by Clinton?”
Things go better with Zuma
The unfortunate way of the independent political analyst is to scoff and sneer at everything government says and does. It’s usually a good bet. Government seldom disappoints. But right now, as Tokoyo Sexwale brushes off the grime of his night in Diepsloot and yet another gangster look-alike takes over as national police commissioner, it is perhapsContinue reading “Things go better with Zuma”
Some light weekend contempt
Our Democracy? Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. James Russel Lowell Democracy becomes a government of bullies, tempered by editors. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals, 1909 – 14 Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage. H.L. Mencken, 1916 Jacob Zuma? An honest politician isContinue reading “Some light weekend contempt”
The striking times in which we live
A couple of things about the current wave of strikes. Firstly, a strike entails costs for all parties involved in the collective bargaining process. We tend to think of the costs to the company and the customers of the company. But equally significant costs are born by the union and its members. Generally they don’tContinue reading “The striking times in which we live”
The Spirit of Polokwane?
… probably Johnny Walker Blue Label … The leadership of the African National Congress are feeling quite satisfied with themselves – and they have some justification. They have finessed both the SARB governorship and the transition at the Treasury and everyone, apparently, feels like a winner. For now. The two positions about which the financial marketsContinue reading “The Spirit of Polokwane?”
Trading Tito for Gill
President Zuma’s announcement yesterday (Sunday) that Gill Marcus will replace Tito Mboweni as Governor of the SARB in November is likely to feed anxieties about policy continuity – despite reassurance that policy at the SARB will not change under Marcus. The issue is not that Marcus is less competent or more likely to side with organised labour’s attacksContinue reading “Trading Tito for Gill”
The Price of One Man’s Life and Death?
Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday Symbolic events usually have more than one meaning. For those who comment on South African financial markets, Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday (today) is probably “investment neutral”. However, financial markets do not list the price of everything. Born in Mvezo on the banks of the Mbashe near Qunu in the rural Transkei Nelson MandelaContinue reading “The Price of One Man’s Life and Death?”
Architects of Poverty – Book Review
Architects of Poverty Architects of Poverty by Moeletsi Mbeki (Picador Africa – Pan Macmillan 2009) R152 at Exclusive Books in the V&A Waterfront …it was the Africans who caught the people in the interior and sold them to the owners of the ships that transported them to the Americas to be sold into slavery. SoContinue reading “Architects of Poverty – Book Review”
Excerpt from Architects of Poverty
Architects of Poverty by Moeletsi Mbeki (Picador Africa – Pan Macmillan 2009) R152 at Exclusive Books in the V&A Waterfront – if you can find it where they are hiding all their copies under a table right at the back … conspiring with the evil Minerals-Energy Complex (MEC), no doubt. First things: Time and tideContinue reading “Excerpt from Architects of Poverty”
Nic Borain 