HAND-OUT IS HAND-UP
By Carol Paton
SA's burgeoning welfare population - the 14m people who receive social grants - usually make intelligent choices on how to spend their money, according to new research conducted for Finmark Trust, a lobby group which aims to find ways...

CROSS-BORDER STORMS BREW
By Prakash Naidoo
Though government has won a significant legal victory in the provincial demarcation issue, it is unlikely to quell the protests in affected communities. Last week, the constitutional court ruled that the legislation to transfer the ...

ON THE MEND, PERHAPS
By Carol Paton
SA's energetic health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, is trying to cure some of SA's most serious ills, to the enormous relief of health officials and professionals. When he came into office in May last year, Motsoaledi took one look at...

MONEY IN YOUR PHONE
By Larry Claasen
Finally, after years of talking about using cellphones as a payment device, the practice is starting to gain traction in SA. Initially, it was regarded as a silver bullet to make banking services accessible and affordable for poor people. The succ...

MANAGE WITH CARE
By Razina Munshi
Will SA - and particularly its tourism sector - really benefit from hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup? Global competition for hosting sporting competitions, conferences and other mega events has soared on the promise of financial r...

NO LINK FOR MOVING PARTS
By Thebe Mabanga
Government's two key priority areas - employment creation and rural development - have no proper co-ordination mechanism and conditional grants to provinces are not properly accounted for, according to the Financial & Fiscal Commission...

COUNTING THE COST
By Claire Bisseker
The 25% average annual tariff increase awarded to Eskom over the next three years has been met with relief - especially by economists, who have been falling over themselves to revise their inflation forecasts downwards. The ...

MONSTER DEALS SHADE THE SMALL GUYS
By Shannon Sherry
The global fertiliser industry is at risk of destabilisation as the world's big mining companies - including giants BHP Billiton and Vale - stake huge claims ...

MORE IN THE BAG FOR FARMERS
By Shannon Sherry
Grants of almost US$20m from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID have been provided for a project aimed at improving smallholder farmers' access to fertiliser ...