south africa – Mandla Isaacs

Category: south africa

11 posts

Quick take: On President Ramaphosa’s economic advisor saying naysayers should stop talking the economy down

Feb 9, 2021Feb 9, 2021 - 12:08

Trudi Makhaya – President Ramaphosa’s economic advisor – wrote a prickly op-ed in Business Day this week. In a very elaborate way, she basically accused some in our public discourse of being unduly negative about

south africa

The root cause of South Africa’s decline that shall not be named

By Mandla Isaacs on

Jan 11, 2021Mar 7, 2022 - 21:28

A version of this essay appeared in The Daily Maverick on January 11, 2021. [I'm working on a forward-looking, solution-oriented book on South African politics. In it I argue that to accelerate inclusive development, we need

south africa

How to get Youth Day right

By Mandla Isaacs on

Sep 10, 2020Sep 10, 2020 - 18:27

[A version of this article was published in Daily Maverick on June 15, 2018.] In South Africa we fetishize ‘youth’, even as we underdevelop our young people, squander their potential, and exclude them from leadership. I’m skeptical