Alarm bells should be going off for South African policy-makers and for stakeholders in the South African agricultural sector about some trends that are developing in the industry so critically important for the wellbeing of the nation.

Energy, with water and food is one of the big three determining factors if the globe is to achieve sustainable development. “Better understanding of the water-food-energy nexus can lead to better economic and development plans,” was one of the few consensus points reached at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January this year.

The jury might still be out on South Africa’s Cricket World Cup campaign, despite the emphatic eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in a warm-up game. The performances by the spinners, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha and Imran Tahir were heart-warming, and show that South Africa have encouraging options at their disposal before their opening World Cup game against the West Indian Islands.

This year’s four-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the most power-packed economic forum on the planet, in Davos, Switzerland was a lot less gloomy and less panicky than in the previous two years when the global economy was in the grip of a great depression. But it did not deliver a clear vision of where the global economy might be heading.

The still ever-expanding phenomenon of the social media has received much attention in news reports and socio-political comment in recent times. Now it is linked to disaster management, with a South African connection

South Africa’s “Tunisia Day” will arrive within the next 10 years when the masses rise against the powers that be, Moeletsi Mbeki wrote in an article for the Centre for Development and Enterprise last week. The grenade is likely to explode in one of the country’s politically dysfunctional cities.

Will 2011 see the Vodacom Bulls complete a hat-trick of Super rugby titles, or will the Sharks finally break the shackles and bury the ghost of 2007? The Vodacom Super 15 competition commences on Friday when the Hurricanes host the Highlanders, and the Rebels meet the Waratahs.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet,” Shakespeare’s Juliet tells her Romeo. With those names making it into metaphorical expressions  it is however not always that simple. Bob and James are two cases in point.

Companies making distributions to their shareholders may have to start keeping two sets of records, and sometimes even three, to comply with changing legal obligations. “The new Companies Act is likely to result in increased complexity and additional record-keeping,” says Ernest Mazansky, director of Werksmans Tax (Pty) Ltd.

With the co-operation of the The LR Management Group, we can now bring you the leadership training tool 50 Lessons, which is a powerful force in the world of corporate learning. 50 Lessons is the worlds premier multimedia business resource, offering more than 1 000 personal and authentic video lessons from internationally respected business leaders. It can assist you to increase the utilisation and return on investment of your learning programmes immediately!

The groundswell of popular protests and uprisings across Arab states in North Africa and which culminated days ago in the resignation of Egypt’s long-ruling president, Hosni Mubarak, holds specific implications for South Africa and the Southern African region.

The past week has been an important one for the South African mining sector. First the Investing in African Mining Indaba – which draws mining professionals from all over the world - took place in Cape Town, and President Jacob Zuma made some important announcements regarding the mining sector and state involvement in his state-of-the-nation address (SNA).  

Financial speculators are forcing million of people across into hunger and in the process threatening the stability of countries across the world. Regulatory strategies or even banning speculation in food will not work. More direct government intervention in the markets are needed, according to Ellen Brown and Niko Kyriakou.