The 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA) underscored South Africa’s pressing labour market challenges, with unemployment remaining a top national concern. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) reports an unemployment rate of 31,9% in Q4: 2024, reflecting the continued difficulty many South Africans face in securing jobs. Beyond unemployment, time-related underemployment remains a challenge,   read more »

Empty stomachs, empty classrooms: Investment in school feeding schemes The South African government spent R8,4 billion in 2022/23 on its nationwide school feeding scheme. Recent data provides a provincial breakdown, as well as how this spending has shifted over the years. South Africa’s school-nutrition programme In 1994, the South African government established the National School Nutrition   read more »

“Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo” (“You strike a woman, you strike a rock”) has become a powerful symbol of women’s strength and resistance. During Women’s Month, we celebrate the achievements of women in South Africa and the critical role they play in our society. Regrettably, women in SA continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of unemployment,   read more »

In 2022, South Africa had a population of 62 million persons, with around 3,3 million individuals identified as living with disabilities. A recent report from Statistics South Africa, titled “Profiling Socio-economic Status and Living Arrangements of Persons with Disabilities in South Africa, 2011–2022,” revealed that disability prevalence varied across different measures. The findings, which are   read more »

June 16 is Youth Day in South Africa, commemorating the sacrifice paid by the youth who participated in the Soweto uprising in 1976. The day is also recognised as the Day of the African Child on the African continent and celebrated every year. The theme for the year is “To educate an African Child Fit   read more »

2024 commemorates three decades since the inception of democracy in South Africa. Since 1994, South Africa has ushered in notable reforms across multiple sectors, with education being one of the key areas of focus. These reforms aimed to address historical inequalities and improve access to quality education for all citizens. Substantial investments have been made   read more »

South Africa’s two newest universities had their origins back in 2010. That year, the South African Government announced its intention to establish two new institutions of higher learning. In late 2011, the Department of Higher Education and Training, together with the University of Witwatersrand, formed the New Universities Project Management Team. This team was responsible   read more »

After five consecutive years of decline, capital expenditure in the public sector increased by R9,3 billion (4,6%), from R199,8 billion in 2021 to R209,1 billion in 2022. Extra-budgetary accounts and funds, national government, public corporations, provincial government and higher education institutions all recorded increases. However, there was a decline for local government, according to Stats SA’s Capital expenditure   read more »

The Abolishing of Corporal Punishment Act, No. 33 of 1997 banned the use of corporal punishment in schools. Despite the ban, corporal punishment is still used as a form of discipline more than 20 years later. Of those that reported experiencing violence at school, the most common form of violence experienced was corporal punishment by   read more »

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020‒2021 disrupted the operations of higher education institutions, with notable effects on revenue streams. After declining in 2020, the amount of money collected from tuition fees jumped by 21,6% in 2021. Tuition fees are the second biggest source of revenue cash flows South Africa’s 26 higher education institutions depend on three   read more »