Cheap as they may be to a South African consumer that has been struggling under the weight of an under-performing economy for the better part of five years, the illegal import of vehicles from places as far as Japan, China and Singapore will prove more expensive in the end to the country through the loss of millions in revenue.

As difficult a path that business rescue is, and as wary as we are of the unintended consequences, the shareholder’s stance in the SAA matter has put to paid one thing: companies are not too big to fail. Eskom, of course is a special case. This should however not incentivise unions to prolong their rigid approach; rather, they should try and be part of the solution.

There’s much introspection that we as business need to do, particularly to gauge just where we need to improve our relations with all our stakeholders. This is a conversation that isn’t reserved just for South Africa because of any uniqueness in our history, but one that can increasingly take shape across the globe. While the Ethics Barometer has been acclimatised to our local conditions, the Harvard-developed tool is relevant internationally.

Call them friendly to the South African story, or more considerate of the structural fault-lines in our economy, for whatever their reasoning, they’ve resisted following the path of their peers. But come next February, it seems we may have run out of rope if promises of the new political dispensation at the helm of the governing party, ANC, aren’t translated into hard decisions.

THE sixth administration is going to have to face up to some hard truths over the next few months if it is going to show some real commitment to drawing a line in the continued deterioration of its finances. There’s no harder truth than its bloated wage bill.

In years past, this week’s speech – that doesn’t carry as much weight as the February budget – was primarily seen as a marker in calendars of just when the state would be unofficially going on its summer holidays. It couldn’t be more different now as it will serve as a statement of intent of Ramaphosa’s first administration, and perhaps the constant date changes bear testimony to its importance – we hope.

Social cohesion improves economic growth by stopping physical and human capital destruction and creating social capital, cooperation and trust in society.

Over the past two years, the idea mooted has been one of prescribed assets as being a panacea for ailing state-owned enterprises and in the main it’s all about Eskom. While we appreciate the desperation of the Eskom question, we urge caution on something that looks like a knee-jerk response and on the surface at least, an easy fix for what’s seemingly exasperated policymakers.

When Cabinet meets tomorrow they will in all likelihood do so against a background of news of a positive second-quarter of economic growth and thereby escaping the technical definition of a recession – two consecutive quarters of contraction. For some in that meeting, that may just provide some space to discuss other pressing matters in their departments, unrelated to all things economy and growth.

In line with Global Entrepreneurship Week last month, FNB Business conducted a series of engagements with township entrepreneurs across South Africa’s biggest townships. The engagements started in Tembisa and Soweto townships in Gauteng and were followed by uMlazi Township in KwaZulu- Natal and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape. Mike Vacy-Lyle, CEO of FNB Business said…