New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

Shocked

Martin Nicol — 2025-10-07

South Africa's encouragement of renewable electricity and the push for green hydrogen, driven by global demand, raises a critical question: Will this energy transition truly benefit local communities, or will it simply create a new form of resource exploitation?

Academic freedom for some is academic freedom for none

Fred Hendricks — 2025-10-07

Nithaya Chetty, the Dean of Science at Wits University, writing in his personal capacity, contributed a discussion piece to the South African Journal of Science provocatively entitled “Should our universities respond to geo-political conflicts around the world?” Referring specifically to “the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,” he called for higher education institutions to be neutral in global conflictual situations. FRED HENDRICKS’ response considers the implications ‘neutrality’ would have for the realisation of academic freedom, especially in the context of ongoing racialised inequality in the university sector in South Africa.

Fallism ten years on

Shose Kessi — 2025-10-07

On 9 April 2025, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) 10th year anniversary event commemorating Rhodes Must Fall (RMF), a landmark movement in the history of the university that had an impact on higher education in South Africa and in the rest of the world. The event was hosted at UCT’s Centre for African Studies, which was a generative space for RMF students 10 years ago and one that continues to produce critical scholarship in the academy. This paper is an extended version of my keynote address enriched with added theoretical grounding as well as a commentary on some of the intellectual shifts that have emerged in higher education post RMF. The focus is on contextualising black students’ affective and embodied experiences of racialisation at UCT and how these were expressed during RMF in ways that have contributed to the resurgence of a decolonial intellectual movement.

The many faces of Mary Turok

Ivan Turok — 2025-10-08

Confronted by the brutality of apartheid during the 1950s and 1960s, Mary Turok became a brave and feisty political activist. After apartheid was defeated, she mellowed into a deeply compassionate woman guided by a profound humanity and selfless determination to support poor and vulnerable groups, in the spirit of Ubuntu. IVAN TUROK pays tribute to his late mother, who was a constant presence at the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA), working alongside her husband, former Director, Professor Ben Turok.

Lead, don’t demobilise the nation!

Boichoko Ditlhake — 2025-10-07

Now that the dust has settled after South Africa’s National Dialogue Convention held in Gauteng in August, citizens are asking, what next? ‘where do we go from here?’ The chairperson of the Convention Organising Committee of the National Dialogue, BOICHOKO DITLHAKE, shares an updated roadmap for the work ahead.

More from the ‘theatre of promise’?

Bruce Kadalie — 2025-10-07

In the aftermath of the August National Dialogue, South Africans are sceptical, asking if this will once again descend into more ‘political theatre,’ but at the same time hopeful that this may prove to be the ‘real thing’ at last? Following an IFAA Forum titled ‘South Africa’s Social Compact: Can it be Achieved?’ BRUCE KADALIE reflects on the elusive search for a binding national consensus in South Africa.

Drivers, actors, and resistance

Kennedy Manduna — 2025-10-07

KENNEDY MANDUNA advocates for a broader understanding of the ASM sector, encompassing all downstream and upstream activities and participants involved throughout its entire value chain. This article is the outcome of a webinar titled 'Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa' hosted by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Southern Africa and the Institute for African Alternatives.

Extractive legacies, local struggles, and the pursuit of social justice

Stephanie Borchardt — 2025-10-07

South Africa’s transition to renewable energy, including green hydrogen development, is positioned as a pathway to sustainability and economic growth. However, this transition is characterised by persistent socio-economic inequalities, infrastructural limitations, and unevenly distributed benefits. This article critically examines the socio-political implications of large-scale renewable energy projects, particularly in historically marginalised regions such as the Northern Cape province. Employing an energy justice framework, the study explores how corporate-led energy transitions risk reinforcing patterns of resource dispossession and exclusion, rather than fostering equitable development. By interrogating the tensions between national energy ambitions and local realities, the paper highlights the need for greater institutional capacity, meaningful community engagement, and policy interventions that prioritise energy justice. The findings stress the importance of moving beyond extractivist paradigms to ensure a just and inclusive energy transition.

Changing political economy in Africa

Abdel-Hakeem Mohamed — 2025-10-07

This article explores the changing political economy of Africa through a focused analysis of China’s trade, investment, and cross-border payment mechanisms in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Over the past two decades, China has surpassed traditional Western partners such as the United States in trade volume and foreign direct investment flows − in terms of jobs and capital invested − across Africa. China has played a significant role in Africa’s development, however concerns persist about the motives driving its engagement on the continent. These concerns have sparked debates around neo-colonialism, raising the question of whether China’s involvement will ultimately hinder Africa’s progress or contribute to its sustainable development. The SADC region provides an ideal case for investigating these dynamics due to its institutional maturity, regional integration efforts, and the pivotal role played by South Africa.

In this article we examine how mechanisms like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System and the SADC Real-Time Gross Settlement System are shaping regional financial architecture and facilitating Sino-African economic relations. The analysis further interrogates the ongoing geopolitical tensions and the introduction of digital currencies such as China’s e-CNY.

The study concludes that while China’s growing footprint offers opportunities for development and trade diversification, African states must strengthen regulatory frameworks and strategic capacity to derive mutual benefit and safeguard national interests. This article argues that regional payment systems and trade agreements under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will be central in repositioning Africa within a multipolar global economy.

The Future of Revolution

Megan Breyer — 2025-10-07

Jasper Bernes’s The Future of Revolution is not an easy book to pick up for a reader less familiar with the history of communist thought. It can feel dense, but it reengages communist ideas with a sense of possibility. Rather than offering a new idea, Bernes re-examines old and sometimes forgotten revolutionary texts to ask how they might illuminate the future. His contribution thus echoes Marx’s remark that “revolutions dress themselves up in the costumes of the past in order to speak the poetry of the future”.

Africa’s Strategic Partnerships with BRICS and Other Emerging Countries

Rasigan Maharajh — 2025-10-07

Our contemporary conjuncture is characterised by increasing inter- and intra-national inequities, escalating polycrises, and geopolitical turmoil. The primary contradictions of the global capitalist mode of production bedevil prospects for progressive economic integration as national policy sovereignty is surrendered and ecological precarity expands exponentially.

New Agenda 98 September 2025

Martin Nicol — 2025-10-07

Download the full issue here.

Africa Diary

Martin Nicol — 2025-10-07

A selection of events about, and from across, the continent that are significant or interesting, or both. Compiled by the New Agenda Editorial Collective at the Institute for African Alternatives, we welcome contributions for ideas on what to include.