Broadband Internet connectivity is becoming increasingly essential for economic development and to take quality education to the rural areas of South Africa and Africa as a whole. While the continent is in need of more broadband, however, it will cost at least $70 billion to start filling the gap. Presently, Africa essentially has no fast, reliable connectivity.

The dispensation of land property rights and usages in South Africa seems to be heading for one of the greatest constitutional crises in the country since 1994, as an ominous new perspective comes to the fore with former Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana’s personal eviction last April of a tenant from a Gauteng farm. At best, ideological disarray in the governing alliance is causing huge confusion. At worst, a process of nationalisation of land rights by stealth seems to be in progress.

The worsening condition of South Africa's roads was affecting the maintenance and repair costs of freight trucks and vehicles negatively, thus escalating logistics costs. Two years after Transnet began its multibillion-rand capital investment, rail capacity is still insufficient to offset South Africa's high logistics costs; and South Africa saw an increase of 6.9% in logistics costs to R339 billion in 2008, compared with the previous year's R317bn, and 2004's R213bn. These are among the key findings of the latest “State of Logistics Survey” released last week.

Judged by newspaper reports on the awarding of mining rights at the Sishen iron ore mine, the next scandal about the misuse of political power to enrich the “politically well connected” is unfolding, with one of the few remaining “Mr Clean” high-profile members in the government, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, this time in the firing line. One newspaper columnist describes it thus: “This must rank as one of the craziest things to have happened in South African business.”

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Nigeria has the potential to challenge South Africa for the crown of Africa’s only major political economic power. South Africa has been slipping lately, but Nigeria – being dogged by recent setbacks – is still a long way off to be considered a real contender.  Uncertainty about the health of its president is complicating matters seriously in this already very complex country.

After initially saying he would be serving only one term as president, Jacob Zuma has changed his tune. On two occasions last week, he indicated willingness to serve a second term if called upon to do so. It was the first time Zuma gave any indication that he wanted to serve more than one term. It remains to be seen how real the re-election campaign is and to what extent it is a tactical move to calm down premature succession battles.

Government policy and programmes in a growing number of areas lately have become something of a minefield – full of contradictions, ambiguities and confusion which fuel harmful uncertainty. Leadership issues, factional struggles, cadre deployment and ideological disarray leave a complicated – and, for the business community, often dangerous – political landscape to negotiate.

The World Cup local organising committee (LOC), Fifa and stadium management could face damage claims and possible litigation if they fail to warn or protect football fans from the potential harmful effects of vuvuzelas, despite Fifa’s endorsement of the vuvuzela and the LOC’s dismissive stance on the possible effect of this instrument on hearing. A University of Pretoria (UP) study has established that merely brief exposure at close range could cause permanent hearing loss or constant ringing in the ear (tinnitus).