Perspectives on Business and Economics, Volume 38 (2020): South Africa: Remedies for the Past and Opportunities for the Future

South Africa's electricity sector is dominated by the state-owned and vertically integrated electrical utility, Eskom. Once named the Financial Times Power Company of the Year, Eskom now struggles with reliably supplying electricity to Africa's second largest economy. It is the most serious risk to South Africa's national budget and economy. This article discusses how South Africa's electricity sector can be transformed to resolve Eskom's debt crisis, fuel competition, and embrace renewable electricity generation.

The South African Bill of Rights expressly provides citizens with the socioeconomic rights to housing, health care, and education. As a constitutional issue, the economic and administrative difficulties in delivering these rights have been addressed as a subject of the courts. Increased access is the legal prescription for socioeconomic rights achievement. This article explores case law evidence for a different way in which judicial interpretation expands these rights. I have termed this, incrementalism: the progressive realization of the right through its components.

Twenty-five years after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains one of the world's most unequal countries. Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment is one policy by which the government has sought to reduce inequality by promoting black involvement and ownership in the economy. This article discusses the efficacy of that policy as it relates to governance and needed improvements in education, entrepreneurship, and women's empowerment.

Concerns regarding food and water security in South Africa are increasing at a rapid pace while the effects of climate change have a disproportionate impact on the region. At the core of the climate change conversation in South Africa is the issue of food security. This article identifies challenges and problematic trends related to the relationship between food security and climate change and then evaluates potential solutions regarding production of food.

Due to the slow progress of land reform in South Africa, there has been increasing political pressure for the government to expropriate land without compensation (EWC). Consequently, there currently is a draft bill in the South African parliament to amend the Constitution to explicitly legalize EWC. This article discusses how EWC came to the forefront of the South African land issue as well as the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing EWC as a mechanism for land reform.

South Africa's labor force is ill prepared for the advent of digitalization, with 35% of all jobs at risk of displacement. This article analyzes the current challenges and capacities of the South African labor force and suggests appropriate measures moving forward to mitigate the effect of technological change.

South African youth are the most vulnerable in that country's labor market, with a strikingly high unemployment rate. This article addresses the vocational education system in South Africa and offers recommendations and implementation strategies to address the impact of youth unemployment transformation. Current challenges and capacities in the South African labor force are analyzed and appropriate measures to mitigate the effect of technological change are suggested.

This article explores the unintentional harmful consequences of governmental policies meant to diminish racialized housing disparities. The need to better consider community-based solutions to address housing segregation and the entangled disparities is discussed. Empower Shack and Hustlenomics are posed as two successful and growing examples of positive systematic interventions.

Corruption in the public health sector threatens the health and well-being of South Africans, and inadequate accountability and enforcement by the government allow for injustices to prevail. This article discusses how the vulnerabilities of the South African public health system allow corruption to persist, evaluating current efforts to mitigate corruption and offering recommendations to improve tactics in the fight against it.

For over three decades, the HIV and AIDS epidemic has been ravaging South Africa with only limited success in controlling the spread of the virus. Pre-exposure prophylaxis provides a novel opportunity simultaneously to progress toward the end of the epidemic and to empower marginalized groups by giving them more control over their health. This medication will serve a dual purpose by protecting individuals and beginning to unravel the sociocultural forces that allowed the epidemic to flourish at its onset.

South Africa has made progress in attempting to address and alleviate the social barriers and systemic inequality born out of apartheid. However, the current education system continues to fail poorer students, thereby perpetuating class inequality. This article examines the issues most prevalent in South Africa's public education system and provides possible solutions that can alleviate the high levels of disparity present.

South Africa is failing to manage the waste that its rapidly growing population is generating in urban areas. Existing waste infrastructure is deteriorating while environmental degradation, per capita energy demand, and unemployment continue to rise. This article examines how economic value can be derived from organic waste via anaerobic digestion methodologies to create a solution that synergically solves many problems related to a legacy of historically unsustainable development within the country.