MILLS SOKO IN six months’ time, the world’s gaze will be trained on what is gearing up to be a contentious and hotly contested presidential election in the US. Irrespective of who emerges victorious between the incumbent President Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee Joe Biden South Africa needs to start thinking about what it stands to lose – or gain – from the new administration’s stance. This is especially so in the area of economic relations. Since 1994, trade and investment ties between the US and South Africa have evolved against the backdrop of a complicated political and diplomatic…

Peter Elias URBANISATION remains a big challenge for city managers in low- and middle-income countries. This includes Nigeria, where the proportion of the urban population increased from 17.5% in 1969 to 51.2% in 2019. An estimated 18% of the urban population live in poverty. A 2018 UN report has projected that 55% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030. It says half of the 130 million people living in cities lack access to adequate housing, water, sanitation, durable dwellings, adequate space, and secure tenure. This makes it imperative for governments to apply a social assistance programme for…

EMMANUEL GRAHAM ISMAEL ACKAH NATHAN ANDREWS RANSFORD EDWARD GYAMPO AFTER Ghana discovered oil and gas in 2007, the government and civil society aspired to avoid the “resource curse”. This is when countries have an abundance of non-renewable natural resources but no economic growth. Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad are among the oil producers that have failed to channel their resources into the material improvement of their countries and people. To avoid a similar fate, Ghana enacted the Petroleum Revenue Management Act in 2011. The law created the Public Interest and Accountability Committee, with a mandate to ensure…

DENNIS WEBSTER When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a R500 billion Covid-19 social and economic relief package in late April, a full 10% was set aside for the creation of a new social grant and to top up South Africa’s existing grants. But when the government’s relief package was eventually made concrete in the special adjustment budget tabled by Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni in the National Assembly on Wednesday 24 June, the commitment to social grants fell short of the R50 billion Ramaphosa had promised. The Adjustments Appropriation Bill shows that just short of R25.5 billion has been allocated to the Department of Social Development. Together with…