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Powerful: Electricity pylons in Kibuye, Rwanda, part of the KivuWatt power plant, which produces electricity from gas trapped in the depths of Lake Kivu. Photo: Luke Dray/Getty Images

Why the allure of the ‘Rwanda Model’ is misplaced

Dropping democracy for aspirant autocrats who will put everything in order with a big stick might not be all it’s cracked up to be

The deadlock at the Nelson Mandela Bay metro municipality, with damaging consequences for municipal performance, reaffirms the urgency for the government to act on its own proposal.

Two city managers, one municipality: Why reforms are urgent

As a recent court case in Nelson Mandela Bay shows, the city management appointment process should be purely administrative and stripped of politics

(Mail & Guardian)

Editorial: Arrests expose the rot in the ANC

The ANC has used its power to create networks of patronage. And this means going after corruption will cost the party financially

Government policy for major tenders requires that 30% be awarded to local contractors to promote local skills development and economic opportunity. The idea behind this is well-intentioned. (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Rid the infrastructure spend of patronage in the post-Covid-19 reconstruction

This can be done by making the project’s 30% of the budget for local broad-based black economic empowerment a separate budget to break the feedback loop that greases the wheels…

Axed public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. File photo by Madelene Cronje

Reining in the public protector

As well as its scathing findings on Mkhwebane’s investigation into Ramaphosa, the high court also made important in-principle pronouncements

Waste not, want not: A woman sorting plastic items from trash to be sold at recycling shops in Manila. The city – and the country – is organised into barangays, and refuse collection and recycling schemes are the responsibility of this fourth tier of government.  (Maria Tan/AFP)

How to refresh SA’s jaded democracy

We should look to the Philippines, where barangays, or neighbourhood governments, help to empower communities

Zuma supporters at his rape trial.

​Three Ps against progress

The level of outrage at wrongdoing should be weighted by harm done to the vulnerable. Instead, the Ombud seems more sensitive to harmed privilege

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Jacob Zuma during the Brics summit in Durban in March.

Economic exclusion feeds the politics of patronage in South Africa

President Jacob Zuma is part of a faction which embraces patronage politics writes Steven Friedman

Expand: English is used in other languages

​Amnesty ‘not the answer’ for Zexit

Indemnifying Zuma from prosecution is unlikely to pass legal muster, experts say.

Eskom’s application to the energy regulator to recover some of its costs could hit consumers hard.

Editorial: Eskom hand-out gets red card

Parastatals are not primarily seen as development drivers or even as providers of services answerable to citizens, but as a source of patronage.

The former health minister and ANC contender for a top six position claims the Special Investigating Unit distorted facts

ANC donors should expect nothing in return, says Mkhize

Those who make a private donation to the ANC should not expect anything in return, newly-elected treasurer general Zweli Mkhize has said.