Analysis

South Africa’s financial situation remains constrained despite hopes that President Cyril Ramaphosa would create much-needed jobs and restore investor confidence. Mike Batley warns of the dangers of...

The 26 July settlement to compensate former miners who contracted lung diseases is a victory that merits celebration. Stan Muyebe warns, however, that those affected will...

The Constitutional Court has sanctioned the public protector, Adv Busisiwe Mkwebane, for abusing the position of her office in failing to report her findings in an objective manner. Legal expert Mike Pothier considers the possible reasons for the public protector’s chequered performance.

The upsurge of extreme-right politics on the global stage is alarming. Chris Chatteris SJ looks at a French movement promoting a dangerous and exclusionary worldview that appears, simplistically, to be anti-migrant. But their real qualms are deeper and, perhaps, they need to be heard.

In his assessment of the latest SONA, Peter-John Pearson, the priest-director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, congratulates the president for his attempts at restoring hope and reinvigorating a listless nation, while warning that inspiring arias alone won't go far.

South Africa’s newly appointed cabinet is “undoubtedly an improvement” on its recent predecessors, but has President Cyril Ramaphosa’s changes been significant enough to result in the turnaround the country needs? Mike Pothier, Programme Manager at the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office takes a closer look at the new-look government.

Immediately after leading him in the taking of the oath of office, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng gave the newly inaugurated President, Cyril Ramaphosa, the...

With less than three weeks to go to until voting day, Lia Marx is still struggling to decide who to vote for. Is there any value to voting for a smaller political party, she asks. And, if so why is their voice so marginal in the media?

The Easter Triduum is the high-point of the Catholic liturgical year. Sadly, many are not afforded the opportunity to appreciate the liturgical significance embedded in these ceremonies. Cameron Upchurch highlights the importance of this time, drawing our attention to the Sequence of the Mass of Easter Sunday, an often-overlooked part of the Catholic liturgies at Easter.

A conference on tax justice and poverty held in Nairobi from 12-14 March 2019, repeatedly revealed the connivance of the rich at the disastrous expense of the poor. Ricardo da Silva SJ, was incensed after finding a study into the illicit exit of monies from developing world countries. Conservative estimates show that South Africa loses 5.9 billion USD annually due to illicit financial flows — that’s 85 billion ZAR.

When I return home after this meeting “we will be encouraging people to speak up” Bishop Sithembele Sipuka said speaking to Vatican News' Linda Bordoni on the sidelines of the four-day meeting of presidents of bishops’ conferences on “The Protection of Minors in the Church”.

South African leaders, whether in business, government or even the non-profit sector, offer us little to desire or indeed to aspire to if we consider the mounds of evidence of corruption and criminality revealed on a daily basis across the country's top brass. Mike Batley suggests that they could do worse than look to the Christian ethical principle of the “common good”, and take new direction from old wisdom.