POWER Talk

Wage gaps based on gender, race and ethnicity are on the radar of governments around the world. Addressing this disparity has become crucial to alleviating the growing socio-economic imbalances brought about by income inequality. This is especially true for South Africa, which has, according to the World Bank, the widest income gap in the world.

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In 2019, South Africa was subjected to an onsite visit by FATF where the country was assessed on its compliance with the Recommendations. The initial report had 67 recommendations which South Africa had to action. State capture, money laundering risks, law enforcement, inadequate records and monitoring of beneficial ownership and judicial capacity were cited as the main areas requiring corrective action. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi spoke to Dr Azar Jammine, director & chief economist at Econometrix. 

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The European Union has ordered Apple and Meta to pay a combined €700m (£599m) in the first fines it has issued under legislation intended to curb the power of big tech. It has issued a €500m (£428m) fine to Apple over its App Store, while Meta has been fined €200m (£171m) over how much choice users had to consent to data collection. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was joined by Carmi Levy, Canadian tech analyst and journalist. 

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According to Neil Coleman, South Africa’s National Treasury is deliberately misleading the nation. Despite their claims, SA only needs to find R2.7 billion in revenue for the budget and not the R75 billion ‘massive revenue hole’ they say needs to be filled. “Having been forced to withdraw the 0.5% VAT increase, Treasury says the revenue hole needs to be filled by inter alia cutting expenditure. Buth this is another deliberate attempt by Treasury to manufacture a crisis, and is completely misleading.” Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was in conversation with Neil Coleman, Senior Policy Specialist & Founding Co-Directors of the Institute for Economic Justice. 

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We have a complicated relationship with dogs in South Africa. Who can forget that in 2012, on a tour of his rural dominions, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, while dispensing his annual Christmas gifts and wisdom, warned his people that loving a dog was merely mimicking white people? It showed that one suffered from a “lack of humanity,” especially if one walked one’s dogs or took them to a vet. Indeed, love of dogs meant a rejection of African tradition and values. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi spoke to Prof. Sandra Swart, chair of the Department of History, Stellenbosch University. 

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Oxford academics drank from a chalice made from a human skull for decades, a book that explores the violent colonial history of looted human remains has revealed. The skull-cup, fashioned from a sawn-off and polished braincase adorned with a silver rim and stand, was used regularly at formal dinners at Worcester College, Oxford, until 2015, according to Prof Dan Hicks, the curator of world archaeology at the university’s Pitt Rivers Museum. Hicks, whose forthcoming book, Every Monument Will Fall, traces the “shameful history of the skull”, said the cup was also used to serve chocolates after it began to leak wine.

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The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has launched a national conversation on the future of electronic voting (e-voting) in the country, while also confirming it will host its first-ever Political Funding Symposium in June. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was joined by chief electoral officer of the IEC, Mr Sy Mamabolo.

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The Global Organized Crime Index 2023 reveals the continuing rise of organized crime globally, with 83% of the world’s population living in conditions of high criminality. Conversely, the number of people living in conditions of low resilience to organized crime globally has declined significantly: now, 62% of the world’s population, compared to 79.4% in 2021. Still, while more people today live in countries characterized as having high resilience, when comparing global resilience to the rise in the pervasiveness of criminality, the data shows that response frameworks have failed to meet the organized crime threat. The widening gap between organized crime and our collective resilience efforts highlights the urgent need for informed, practical strategies to combat organized crime globally. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was joined by Mark Shaw, director at the Global Initiative for Transnational Organized Crime and, Chad Thomas who is an organized crime investigator, IRS Forensic Investigations.

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The current civil war erupted on April 15, 2023, during the holy month of Ramadan. It began as a power struggle between two key factions within the military establishment. On one side stood the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. On the other was the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.

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Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was in conversation with Keith Khoza, spokesperson to the deputy president. 

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