When the British conquered the world, they did so by ship and called themselves merchants. Their mercantile capitalism used trade and commerce to create massive businesses, such as Anglo American, which dominated markets in South Africa. These merchants made the British very rich. The Dutch, who arrived in the Cape before the British, were called Koopmannen (Buy-man) and were forerunners of South Africa’s rich traders. So too, the American Tycoons, the Chinese Silk Road traders

The recent temporary withdrawal of USAID funding by the United States government has shown how reliant African economies are on the largesse of other jurisdictions. Even a small part of the South African health budget came from the United States taxpayer. As people are seeing the pitfalls of aid, we must ask ourselves why we need it in the first place. Let us set a practical example with our own country. The South African government

In the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal, two neighbouring plots tell a story that epitomizes South Africa’s  land crisis. On one side stands a well-maintained farm, its owner making monthly mortgage  payments while complying with every regulation. On the other, an informal settlement grows  unchecked, paying no taxes while drawing on the same municipal services. This tale of two  properties reveals the deep contradictions in South Africa’s approach to land rights—contradictions  that threaten to undermine the

Introduction This article is the second in a series that will deal with the constitutionality of the Expropriation Act, 2024. (For the history of the notion of “nil compensation” for land expropriation, see this article.) This article covers the two main legal concerns regarding the Act, namely: That the State’s expropriation of land for nil compensation is unconstitutional. That the Act is unconstitutional, because it does not conform to the Constitution’s founding value of the rule of

Earlier today, leave to appeal was granted against the judgment of Judge Denise Fisher which invalidated the sale of the Campus property by NTT. This decision is welcomed by the Areti Partnership, Identity Property Fund I and the ex-NTT executives (the “former Dimension Data Executives”), who brought the application for leave to appeal (the “Applicants”) and they are confident that the orders made by Judge Fisher will be set aside on appeal. Judge Fisher granted