The troubles besetting Eskom raise questions about South Africa’s industrial future. A stable energy supply is essential fuel for growth and prosperity. The prospects for expanding manufacturing are dim under the current climate of power cuts. Yet without growth in the productive sectors of the economy, there can be no new jobs created sustainably.

In South Africa, leadership failures and denigration of ethics have undermined our self-concept as a nation. The sense of who we are, what we believe, and what gives us collective pride is something that we can no longer grasp or imagine with confidence.

Mzukisi Qobo and Matlala Setlhalogile

Intellectual property rights are at the heart of global supplies and access to Covid-19 vaccines. Joe Biden’s administration has expressed its support for the patent waiver to boost production in a climate of throttled supply and dominance of vaccine manufacturing by a few Western companies.

Why do businesses rush headlong to commit actions that harm public value and could have long-term negative impact on their brands? And why is it hard for their executives to show humility and right their wrongs? Bain and Company holds many lessons for the private sector and global consulting firms on how to set boundaries in working with the state. Its apology is another example of the wong kind of atonement ritual companies should never engage it: offering hubris instead of sincerity. Businesses have a bigger role to play in enhancing public value by upholding a high standard of ethical conduct in society.

Just as we thought we were at the tail end of the most devastating pandemic in recent history, the world has turned out to be a dangerous place in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There is little sign that the geopolitical flare-ups that the Ukraine war has fuelled will die down anytime soon.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dramatically changed the global energy landscape. Three months after the Glasgow climate conference concluded, the conversations about going green suddenly turned to nuclear energy. This shift is not only taking place in Europe, which countenances the threat of throttled energy supplies from Russia. Several Asian countries have also had to reconsider their net-zero pathway.