Happy Tuesday everyone, hope the week’s treating you well so far.
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
US signals possible thaw with South Africa
So yesterday was Freedom Day, and maybe the timing was deliberate, but the US has apparently signalled they’re open to “constructive engagement” with SA after months of serious diplomatic tension. Marco Rubio made the statement and it’s the first real sign that things might be cooling down between Pretoria and Washington. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it’s better than the alternative of things getting worse.
Joburg CBD still in the dark after substation fire
Parts of the Joburg CBD have been without power since Saturday after a fire damaged a central substation, and City Power is still battling to fix it. Three days without electricity in a major business district is genuinely catastrophic for small businesses and residents down there. We always talk about Eskom but honestly City Power has its own very special set of problems.
Mining’s B-BBEE billions went to a tiny elite, not ordinary people
A confidential report has apparently revealed that billions of rands flowing through B-BBEE deals in the mining sector ended up benefiting a very small group of connected individuals rather than the broader communities these policies were supposed to help. This is the kind of thing that makes people lose faith in transformation as a concept, even when the concept itself is sound. It’s not the policy that’s broken, it’s the people capturing it.
High-paying jobs that don’t need a degree
This one’s worth sharing with younger people in your life. There are jobs in SA paying up to R40,000 a month that don’t require a university qualification, things like skilled trades, tech support roles, and sales. With the cost of a degree and the state of NSFAS, this is genuinely useful information for families trying to figure out the best path forward for their kids.
Yesterday we marked 32 years since that first democratic election. Given everything going on right now, with the US tensions, the B-BBEE failures, the infrastructure problems, do you think we’re moving forward as a country or are we stuck? Let’s hear your honest thoughts below.