A number of former Springboks predict that Western Province will break a nine-year Currie Cup drought to win the coveted trophy, one of the most prestigious provincial rugby awards in the world, a 33rd time in the final against the Sharks on Saturday.

If there is one word commonly used in modern English that seems to have become the victim of its own meaning it is hijack. First the English (like in England) took it from the French, then the Americans gave it an intoxicating twist while in South Africa we brought it back to something close to the original meaning.  Now it is being politically hijacked.

In trying to make sense of today’s investment climate investors would probably do better turning off Bloomberg and CNBC and instead reading Fischer Black’s 1986 article “Noise”, writes Tristan Hanson.

Scenes like the recent violence at the natural heritage site of Hangberg at Hout Bay, Cape Town, when there were attempts to evict squatters from a firebreak are likely to be repeated many times over as South Africa battles to come to grips with the phenomenon of rapid urbanisation.

The assessment of English philosopher John Locke (1632 – 1704)  that wherever law ends tyranny begins seems to be borne out by present-day reality as concerns are mounting over the implications of the legal vacuum, weak policy guidance and lack of civilian control under which the American War on Terror  --  with at least the silent , if at times awkward, consent of its NATO allies --  is conducted.

Water is our most precious natural resource. With only three percent of the world’s water existing as fresh water, nearly every continent is feeling the effects of the global water crisis as the world’s fresh-water resources are running out.

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Markets, economists, business, labour and the general public are keenly awaiting Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s mid-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) due to be delivered tomorrow (Wednesday). Gordhan finds himself boxed in once again by competing demands and expectations in a much-less-than-ideal economic situation.

This last weekend’s meeting of G20 ministers of finance and central bank officials at Byeongju in South Korea in preparation for a leadership summit next month in Seoul at best succeeded in avoiding confrontation. It has done little to change fault-lines in global currency markets and should have served as a wake-up call to the US that its days of absolute dominance are over.

The countdown to the premier global showpiece of cricket, the World Cup, has started and the five highest-ranked teams, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and England, will be fine-tuning their considerable skills prior to the start of the event in February.