The government's National Development Plan is doomed to fail because it relies on the same, tired state interventions that have failed in the past, and does not address the urgent need for policy reform, according to the SA Institute of Race Relations.

A DRAFT bill has been tabled in Parliament which aims to prohibit state employees and their families from directly or indirectly holding more than a 5% interest in any entity that does business with the government unless prior approval is obtained from the relevant minister.

Reckless and arbitrary actions by government ministers have done as much damage to the mining industry as anything else, says John Kane-Berman of the SA Institute of Race Relations.

Few of the benefits promised when the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (Fais) Act was introduced more than a decade ago have come to pass. It should be scrapped, writes Leon Louw of the Free Market Foundation. 

For all the outrage over the US surveillance programme leaked by whistleblower Ed Snowden, South Africans will be shocked to learn that our own government is miles ahead of the US in terms of snooping. 

The rule of law is senior to the Constitution's Bill of Rights, says Free Market Foundation's Leon Louw, and is the pillar on which civilisation rests.

South Africa's Secrecy Bill is all about protecting our own spy agencies from scrutiny, says Steven Friedman. Recent revelations by former CIA spy Edward Snowden of massive surveillance programmes being carried out by the US and Britain has triggered a timely debate over how much privacy should we be handing over to these agencies.

There were not enough MPs in Parliament to vote through the Labour Relations Amendment Act, which the Democratic Alliance says will kill jobs.

The Employment Services Bill aims an arrow at the heart of the labour broking sector. For all its humanistic pretensions, this bill will further harm SA's precarious job market, writes Ciaran Ryan.

A new report by a UK parliamentary committee recommends jail time for bankers found guilty of reckless misconduct.

South Africa's foreign ministry computer network was hacked by British spies, and the information was passed on to the US's National Security Agency, according to leaks from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

Mark Shuttleworth's Constitutional Court action to overturn exchange control is a fight we should all support, writes Chris Becker of the Mises Institute South Africa.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, who emigrated from SA in 2001, has brought an order before the Constitutional Court seeking to have exchange controls declared unconstitutional.

Given the recent controversy over SA's Secrecy Bill, here comes an alarming disclosure of just how far government over-reach goes. US National Security Agency advisor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden, says everyone's communications are being monitored by US intelligence agencies.

The ANC government will have to chisel away at Cosatu's powers, in much the same way as Margaret Thatcher did to trade unions in the UK, if it is to achieve the growth targets of the National Deevelopment Plan, writes John Kane-Berman in Business Day.

In this interview with NewERA's legal advisor, Raymondt Dicks, we ask whether the securitisation scandal as it has come to be known around the world is the biggest fraud in history. We also find out what's next for NewERA in light of a recent High Court judgement that appears to have energised the group's campaign to stop SA banks foreclosing on securitised loans.   

The reputation of the criminal justice system is in tatters following the repeated failures of the NPA in high-profile matters and prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach’s suggestions of abuse of power and political interference, writes Mandy Wiener in The Daily Maverick.

Dr Anthea Jeffery, head of special research at the SA Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) says the new Expropriation Bill, though better than its 2008 predecessor, still grants sweeping expropriation rights to all levels of government. It still allows government to expropriate and take possession all manner of assets before any compensation has been paid.

A judgement isssued last week in the South Gauteng High Court could open up a world of trouble for the banks. The verdict appears to buttress NewERA's claim that banks engaged in securitisation activities are violating statutes left and right, writes Arlene Levy. 

Trade union Solidarity says it is time the country started to come up with fresh ideas to address the racial imbalances bequeathed by apartheid. As part of its campaign, it is bringing several affirmative action cases before the Labour Court in an effort to challenge what it believes is a flawed government race policy, more concerned with quotas than actual outcomes. 

Bad laws end up on the statute books because no-one holds law makers accountable for the decisions they make. Successful countries subject proposed laws to rigorous cost-benefit analyses to ensure they do not produce unforeseen or unintended consequences. It's time we did the same.