The 16th of June is commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa, and every year, we, as a nation, ask numerous questions about the role of youth in South Africa. Despite July being nearly upon us, conversations about the youth should not be limited to one day or one month, it should be a persistent part of our ongoing public discourse. To quote a maxim from a January 1976 editorial about school funding in an Illinois monthly “The Common…
In a prior thought piece, I argued that the biodiversity economy within South Africa is ripe for the picking. With global travel returning to pre-2020 levels, both for business and leisure, we need to re-ignite the global appetite for the wondrous natural beauty South Africa has to offer. An ongoing global pandemic is not the greatest threat this opportunity faces however, instead an old foe continues to threaten the very existence of the complex ecosystems that weave the tapestry…
South Africa and its people are in the midst of some of the most challenging times in recent history. At this very moment the nation reels from the loss caused by the deadliest storm in South African recorded history as the heaviest rains in 60 years pummelled the Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. As at the 21st April 2022, the death toll in the Province had risen to 435.H Due to the devastation in Kwa-Zulu Natal, planned maintenance and unplanned…
According to Conservation on Biological Diversity, South Africa occupies only 2% of the world’s land surface area, however we are home to 10% of the world’s plant species and 7% of its reptile, bird and mammal species. Furthermore, it harbours around 15% of the world’s marine species. Endemism rates – the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location; in this instance South Africa – reach 56% for amphibians, 65% for plants and up to…
The National Budget Speech, delivered by Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, on Wednesday the 23rd February 2022, has been widely welcomed. Ultimately, South Africans will be able to hold on to more of their hard earned Rand with tax relief for businesses as well as individuals, no increases in any of the fuel levies, a focus on economic growth and the announcement of an increased revenue estimate of R1 547.07 billion from the February 2021 budget estimate of R1…
Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying: “You are the author of your own life… Don’t let others define it for you. Real power comes by doing what you are meant to be doing, and doing it well.” As true and as relevant as her words may be, we live within a world where the opposite is true, instead, we live within a global society where a few seem to have the power to determine what everyone else should aspire…
The year 2021 was met with cautious optimism. After the year 2020 led the world into a global pandemic for the first time in a century, a global pandemic which according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) had infected over 82 million people and killed more than 1.8 million worldwide, infected 1 057 161 people and claimed 28 469 lives in South Africa alone, by the 31st December 2020, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD); we all were…
The excitement and resultant conversations around the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) have in recent times been relegated to a secondary status. This “out of sight and out of mind” status amidst the vox populi, is as a result of the ongoing global pandemic we are dealing with. However, as public discussion around 4IR has faded into the background, technological leaps and bounds are being made in research and development laboratories as well as factories across the world. As a…
Squid Game, a dystopian, violent, South Korean, Netflix series has taken the world by storm. News 24 on the 20th October 2021, reported that: “About 142 million member households started watching “Squid Game”, making it the most-viewed new show in Netflix history.” South Korean film and series has received massive global appreciation in recent years. Films such as The Host (2006), Train to Busan (2016) and eventually Parasite (2019) – which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in…
As South Africans, we are sports mad. However, now, more than ever, when we watch televised contests between the world’s most elite athletes, we watch with envy as we see packed stadiums in Europe, The United States of America, parts of Australia and New Zealand. As various vaccines are being rolled out against COVID-19 and many nations across the world have embarked on impressive and ambitious vaccination campaigns, most of these nations are returning to a semblance of normalcy,…
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