In the face of a daunting combination of economic and fiscal imperatives, Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech on 21 February gave a realistic assessment of the socioeconomic and fiscal challenges confronting South Africa, including a “high sovereign credit risk”.

This is the view of Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School.

There is still much “unfinished business” on the national agenda, including a more coherent overall economic plan for much higher job-rich inclusive growth.

In commenting on the 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA), Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, points out that, as expected, prior to the 2024 elections the SONA was inevitably largely a party-political statement and also took stock of the government’s achievements over the decades.

The decline in the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth to -0,2% from 0,5% in the second quarter of 2023 was worse than expected.

Stats South Africa released the GDP growth figures for the third quarter on 5 December. Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says negative factors have clearly dominated the positive ones to a greater extent than anticipated in that period.

As was widely anticipated, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) by a unanimous vote decided at a third consecutive meeting (and its last meeting of the year) to again keep interest rates unchanged, with the repo rate staying at 8,25%.

Post-apartheid South Africa continues to have many unresolved problems and unfulfilled promises, despite significant progress in certain areas. A recently published book on the work of the late anti-apartheid activist and intellectual, Mzala Nxumalo, aims to make important contributions to the intellectual work that lies ahead for South Africa in current troubling times – particularly in the context of contemporary leftist politics.

• Crude oil prices are set to skyrocket after the attack on Israel.
• Israel is going to retaliate with full force.
• The attack has massive global implications.

On Saturday, 7 October, southern parts of Israel suffered a surprise attack on an unprecedented scale by Palestinian military group Hamas, leaving a wake of destruction, with more than 700 dead, thousands of injuries and a host of civilians taken hostage.

South Africa and the North-West University (NWU) are stepping up to develop the African continent’s capabilities to develop its own human vaccines.

The glaring disparities in vaccine access during the Covid-19 pandemic has led to South Africa taking significant strides to bridge the gap between the global north and the African continent's vaccine development needs.

As winter ended and spring entered with sunny pleasantness, thousands of “attackers” sprang into action to plague the part of the population that suffers from allergies and hay fever.

Prof Stuart Piketh from the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management in the School of Geo and Spatial Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) was recently honoured with the prestigious National Association for Clean Air (NACA) Golden Award during the annual NACA conference.

• Ensuring tourists feel safe – and are safe – plays an integral role in ensuring Cape Town and the Western Cape’s success as a tourist destination.
• Other cities and regions would be wise to follow Cape Town and the Western Cape’s tourism blueprint.
• Local governments and tourism authorities should work with the private sector as a thriving tourism sector not only creates jobs, but has numerous nature conservation advantages.

Safety, proactive cooperation between various role players, accessibility and, again, safety.