Janet Wilhelm
The rapid growth of trade in environmental goods creates opportunities for South Africa, but is complicated by rising global protectionism, which demands a pro-active strategy to support South African exporters. This policy paper discusses a possible South African strategy for trade in environmental goods. It forms part of a series of papers aimed at providing a barometer of South Africa’s transition to sustainable development.
This Development Dialogue seminar considered different aspects of the corporate landscape and its impact on the economy. For more information and copies of presentations go to Corporate ownership in South Africa.
Corporate ownership in South Africa
Agenda
10:00 - 10:15 Opening and Welcome: Chairperson (Rudi Dicks, DPME)
10:15 - 12:00 Presentation and discussion of research findings
- Motivation and Constraints of Corporate Firms in South Africa, Neva Makgetla (TIPS)
- Ownership, Control and Investment in South Africa, Thando Vilakazi and Simon Roberts (CCRED)
- Economic Transformation in the Top 100 JSE listed firms, Duma Gqubule (CEDT)
12:00 - 13:00 Panel discussion with presenters, facilitated by Rudi Dicks
13:00: Lunch
Background
At the birth of its democracy South Africa inherited a highly concentrated economy, dominated by a few large companies. Democracy brought with it the promise of change in the structure of the economy. To what extent have there been real shifts in ownership over the past 20 years? And how do these shifts affect the economy and the broader society? Critical questions relate to the extent of concentrated ownership and the implications for income and asset equality, industrialization, the cost structure of the economy and job creation.
The Development Dialogue will share research undertaken on this important issue and consider different aspects of the corporate landscape and its impact on the economy.
Presenters
Neva Makgetla is a senior economist at TIPS. Makgetla has published widely on the South African economy and worked for many years in government, most recently as Deputy Director General for Policy in the Economics Development Department, as well as in COSATU.
Thando Vilakazi is a senior researcher at the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED). Thando works in the competition field and has worked in the Policy and Research Division at the Competition Commission of South Africa.
Simon Roberts is the director of CCRED and is a professor at the University of Johannesburg, in the Economics and Econometrics Department. He has worked extensively in competition matters and previously held the position of chief economist at the Competition Commission.
Duma Gqubule is the director of the Centre for Economic Development and Transformation (CEDT). Duma has spent the past two decades as a financial journalist, analyst, advisor and consultant on issues of economic development and transformation.
Replace top-down delivery with citizen participation
Business Day - 24 April 2018 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)
Muhammed Patel
Muhammed Patel joined TIPS in 2017. He holds a Masters in Economics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where his thesis focused on the relationship between income and health in South Africa. Muhammed’s background spans work in industrial development, and competition and regulatory economics. While completing his Master’s degree, Muhammed worked as a junior researcher at the School of Development Studies conducting research on the manufacturing sector of eThekwini. He also lectured undergraduate economics students over this time. In 2015, Muhammed joined competition and regulatory consultancy Genesis Analytics, where he spent two years working on competition and regulation cases. Notably, his work focused on the telecommunications and energy sectors.
Social pacts are hard work, not a bunch of nice words
Business Day - 10 April 2018 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)
Read online at Business Day
Business Day - 10 April 2018 by Dianna Games, Africa@Work
Using land as an emotive symbol will not fix problems
Business Day - 27 March 2018 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)
SA must cater for new settlement patterns around cities
Business Day - 13 March 2018 by Neva Makgetla (TIPS Senior Economist)
RESPONSE TO COLUMN
Letter in Business Day - 30 April 2018: A good idea but overdue
Case study on the agricultural inputs regional value chain in Southern Africa: South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia
This research report aims to identify opportunities to develop the regional value chain in agricultural inputs, and the opportunities within that value chain for regional trade. It also aims to detail policy initiatives to be undertaken by the South African Department of Trade and Industry to capitalise on those opportunities in order to promote regional integration and growth and development supported by expanding regional value chains.The study covers the following countries: South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. The research aims to answer the following questions:
- What is the current profile of the agricultural inputs sector in each country?
- What are the key factors driving demand for different categories of agricultural inputs across the four countries?
- What are the main factors that constrain demand for agricultural inputs in each country, and in aggregate across the region?
- What is the current structure of the regional value chain in these inputs? How is it organised?
- How well is the chain functioning?
- What and where are the opportunities to improve the functioning of the regional value chain?
- What does this analysis imply for the dti’s regional development policy?