Conrad Barberton

Instead of cutting all department budgets by a fixed percentage, Treasury should shortlist specific areas for protection. When South Africa's Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni presents the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement this week, he's expected to announce drastic cuts to reduce the gap between government spending and tax revenue. His department says no items will be automatically spared the knife in efforts to put the country back on a sustainable fiscal path.

analysis By Chandré Gould, Carmen Abdoll And Conrad BarbertonSurely no one would want to trade places with South Africa's Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba on 21 February when he presents the national budget to Parliament. Political uncertainty and repeated downgrades from international rating agencies have placed enormous pressure on an economy that has been struggling to keep from falling back into recession.

Big money is at stake if the governance of metros flounders Big money is at stake if the governance of metros flounders THE ANC won 62% of the vote in the 2014 national elections, but only 53% in the 2016’s local government elections last week. This nine percentage point shift in the vote is huge, and many millions of words have been spun to analyse and explain its implications for politics.