A quarter of a century after apartheid ended, South Africa remained one of the most unequal countries in the world, by class, race and gender. Inequality emerged in unusually stark differences in household incomes; asset ownership, including both concentrated business ownership and household resources; access to quality education, which still largely reflected family wealth and race; and municipal infrastructure. In general, the historic labour-sending regions continued to lag far behind the rest of the country.

The core question becomes why inequality persisted in these different areas long after overtly racial laws were eliminated. This paper first reviews the extent of inequality along each dimension. It then analyses how and why these persisted, including the effects of government policies. On this basis, it proposes strategic responses that, if carried out rigorously and on a large enough scale, could go further towards overcoming the deep inequalities that have effectively blocked both social development and economic growth in South Africa. 

This TIPS tracker highlights important trends in the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, and how they affect the economy. It analyses publically available data, research and media reports to identify current developments and reflect on the prognosis for the contagion, the economy, and policy responses.

Over the next few months, the Tracker will explore the challenges facing different industries, starting in this issue with steel and tourism.

KEY FINDINGS FOR THE WEEK

On the pandemic

• The number of new diagnoses of COVID-19, which started to decline rapidly in mid-July, levelled out at an average of just over 2 000 a day in the week to 6 September. In contrast to the move to Levels 4
  and 3, however, three weeks after Level 2 started on 18 August reported infections had not risen sharply.
• A review of international data shows that countries with higher reported death rates from COVID-19 can also expect a sharper economic decline. Countries with lower death rates, in contrast, generally also had better economic results. The lowest reported death rates emerged in two kinds of countries: in states that controlled the spread of the pandemic through strong public health measures; and in low-income economies characterised by limited international air links, largely rural populations, and low testing rates

On the economy

• The move to Level 2 brought an initial increase in economic activity. Overall, the available indicators suggest that economic activity has returned to around 10% below pre-pandemic levels. The Western Cape, however, continues to lag behind.
• The recovery has run up against loadshedding by Eskom. Yet government expects to finalise its emergency acquisition of 2 000 MW of new power from private suppliers only in mid-2022.
• Case studies of steel and tourism underscore that economic recovery will require more than broad government measures to control the pandemic, stimulate demand and fix the electricity supply. In many industries, new business models are required to survive, and that imposes touch choices around write-offs of assets and employment. The particularly stark challenges facing tourism help explain the relatively slow recovery of the Western Cape economy.

Download the Tracker or read online

Business Day - 31 August 2020 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)

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Or read as a PDF.

WTO reform and the crisis of multilateralism: A Developing Country Perspective

By Faizel Ismail

The WTO has not been able to recover since the collapse of the Doha Round in July 2008. Several ministerial conferences including the Buenos Aires meeting in December 2017 failed to reach agreement. The US Trump Administration launched a campaign to reform the WTO in 2018 and 2019. This book argues that the Trump Administration reform proposals have been much more aggressive and far-reaching than the Obama Administration before it, threatening to erode hard-won special and differential treatment rights of developing countries. By blocking the appointment of new Appellate Body members, the US has effectively paralysed the Appellate Body and deepened the crisis of the multilateral trading system. Developing countries have responded to the proposals and called for the WTO to be development-oriented and inclusive. This book provides a critical analysis of the US-led reform proposals and seeks to build a discourse around an alternative set of concepts or principles to guide the multilateral trading system based on fairness, solidarity, social justice, inclusiveness and sustainability.

Professor Faizel Ismail is the Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town. He has a PhD in Politics from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom (2015); an MPhil in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex (1992); and BA and LLB Degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in South Africa (1981 and 1985). He has served as the Ambassador Permanent Representative of South Africa to the WTO (2010-2014). As South Africa’s Chief Trade Negotiator, since 1994, he led the new democratic South Africa’s trade negotiations with the European Union (EU), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Southern African Customs Union (SACU), and several other bilateral trading partners including the US, India, and Brazil. He was also South Africa’s Special Envoy on the South Africa-USA AGOA negotiations between January 2015 and June 2016. Professor Ismail is a TIPS Research Fellow. He is the author of two books on the WTO: Mainstreaming Development in the WTO. Developing Countries in the Doha Round (2007) and Reforming the World Trade Organization. Developing Countries in the Doha Round (2009). He is an associate editor of the Journal of World Trade.

This book is published by the South Centre with support from Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies

https://www.southcentre.int/

Find other South Centre publications at: https://www.southcentre.int/publications-catalogues/

Concrete is the most manufactured product on the planet. It is the second most consumed product after water.  Unfortunately, the manufacturing of Original Portland Cement (OPC), which accounts for 98% of global cement production, is highly energy intensive and involves a chemical process of converting limestone into clinker which releases massive quantities of CO2, and currently accounts for 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. If cement demand increases as expected, and the industry does not embark on a low-carbon pathway, it is possible that by 2050 cement production alone could account for almost one quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions. This research report looks at the universe of possible solutions along the cement value chain to make the industry more climate compatible.

Business Day - 31 August 2020 by Gaylor Montmasson-Clair

Read online at Business Day.

Engineering News -  28 July 2020 

Read online at Engineering News.

Business Day - 25 August 2020 by Gray Maguire 

Read online at Business Day.

Or read as a PDF.

Engineering News -  20 August 2020 by  Irma Venter

Read online at Engineering News.