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This economic and trade-focused column is prepared by Riaan de Lange – riaan@tariffandtrade.co.za. The views expressed in this column are the author's personal views
South Africa in junk or high on it?
Have you seen junk? Ever touched, used it or sailed on it? No, not in it, but on it? A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to sail on a junk while visiting Hong Kong. A junk, a Chinese...
Worse than useless, but who is listening?
The difficulty with the English language – and this is compounded by the fact that South Africa is a country of non-first-language English speakers – is that words tend to be used without their...
The 2023 Rugby World Cup mistake
The 2023 Rugby World Cup Mistake “Impi! wo 'nans' impi iyeza, Obani bengathinta amabhubesi?” The opening lyrics of Johnny Clegg and Juluka’s ‘Impi’ resonates with me, as do the images of the...
No future, no future, for . . . you!
No future, no future, for … you! It’s strange how these words, granted with the added impetus provided by an old Pioneer, cutting through the silence of a cold dark winter’s night, are not greatly...
No matter what the experts say, customs is only about three things
Do you consider yourself an ‘expert’ or a ‘specialist’ in your chosen profession? If you answered ‘expert’, I would raise a weary smile, for a wise person once told me of an unwittingly (maybe not)...
Neopatrimonialism is merely ‘a huge embarrassment’
The dramatic decline to which a select few ‘South Africans’ are subjecting so many of us no longer considered a ‘crisis’. In essence, neopatrimonialism is not considered a crisis’ – it is merely a...
South Africa falling down a rabbit hole
The use of graphs to illustrate the South African economy’s trajectory is a superfluous endeavour in the nth degree. The appeal of graphs, your general line graph, is to emphasise the tendency of...
I can’t explain – you would not understand
If anything, I have, in the words of Pink Floyd, “become comfortably numb”. My thoughts are miles away as I wonder through the Victoria & Albert, or the V&A. No, not the V&A Waterfront, in Cape...
Customs inaction – 4 661 days, and still counting
It is a fateful Saturday. It is September 16. If you cannot recall the day, I have three digits to remind 57-0. Enough said – numbers are clinical when conveying a message. A total of 4 661 days...
I am unable to replicate your thinking
In a country famed for its politeness, you have to take care not of offend, or to be perceived to offend, when expressing an opinion that may differ from those held by people about whom you are...
Don’t make an impact – consciously limit it
Sometimes I wonder about the costs that I personally impose on the planet. This usually happens when I hear of people being held up, by others, as having made a positive contribution. Is it not...
South Africa is at war with itself – but why?
Why, indeed? Why worry? My grandfather used to offer an answer that you might be quite familiar with: “If you worry, you die; if you don’t worry. you also die. So, why worry?” If I were asked this...
The real conflict is between truth and lies
The Real Conflict is between Truth and Lies It is 21 hours since the unthinkable has happened, an event which has divided, and is expected to continue to divide, the athletics world for the...
Preparing to sell off the family silver?
The expression to sell or sell off the family silver might not be as well known in South Africa as it is elsewhere in the world. Consequently, the cautionary wisdom to which it alludes to is...
By failing to plan, we are planning to fail
South Africa is stuck in economic and political rut, and “there is no two ways about it" and "there can be no doubt about that”, as one of my bosses of many years past was famed for saying. South...
A genie granting grants is wishful thinking
It is said that there are three wishes that a genie cannot grant. It’s still on my bucket list to find one, which I fear would only be possible through divine intervention, But, I cannot wish for...
You must be choking all over again
It is a balmy London Sunday afternoon. It is June 11. It is Groundhog Day. Well, for me it is. Just a few hours ago, an unwelcome event recurred. You might even say that it was “It's deja vu all...
Are South African companies dying or perishing?
This is a simple enough question, but is the answer as simple? Well, that depends on the distinction you make between dying and perishing. According to the Oxford Dictionary perishing is defined as...
Uber, chumocracy and a corrupt culture of entitlement
Is this an apt summation of present-day South Africa? Quite possibly so. But the headline of this column was appropriated from a British newspaper published in the days prior to David Cameron’s...
Braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies, but no Chevrolet
“South Africa, what is your favourite meal? Braaivleis! Sport? Rugby! Weather? Sunshine! And what’s your greatest car, South Africa? Chevrolet. Let’s see: it’s braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies and...
Preferred-trader numbers all very confusing
On May 8, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced that, on that day, it would officially launch its Customs Preferred Trader Programme, which, it said, marked the culmination of an...
The haves, the have-nots and the wants
The first words of wisdom – which I clearly recall – that my father imparted to me as a youngster were these: "There are three sides to every story – your side, my side and the truth. And no one is...
Wealth taxation in the spotlight
Have you read it yet? All 700-page, that is. Well, if you have not, acquired a copy, for the book is multipurpose. It has, for instance, been described as “a doorstop in punishing, heavy...
SA world’s 53rd most competitive travel and tourism destination
South Africa is the fifty-third most competitive travel and tourism destination in the world, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) 'Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017',...
Statistically, nothing is ever quite what it seems
‘It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It is what you know for sure that just ain’t so.’, this according to Mark Twain. Love it or hate it, you simply cannot deny that...
Will the South African economy catch a crab?
It is mid-afternoon on Sunday, April 2. I am enjoying glorious weather, reminiscent of South Africa, with soaring temperatures, which is not the usual rainy, gloomy and cold London. I find myself...
When the going gets tough, the tough go skiing
In a mere ten days, the men of the next generation of two internationally renowned (you can also read infamous) families on both sides of the pond made the same decision when their presence was...
Freely dropping the antiprotectionist pledge
A favourite adage of mine is: with free advice, you get what you pay for. I heard it early in my working career, when Ken Warren, an elderly but world- and street-wise legal director of the South...
Opportunities from the Indian Ocean Rim
Indian Ocean Rim Association Well, this certainly is a blast from the past. It was a long time ago. I had just joined the then South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) – on March 1, 1995 – and,...
It’s time up for the WTO and globalisation
"Who would've thought, it figures … Well, isn't this nice. And isn't it ironic, don't you think” – to borrow (okay, this may be misappropriate) a few verses from Alanis Morissette’s third song,...
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