State capacity

Looking Ahead SONA 2026

    Looking Ahead SONA 2026

    Looking Ahead SONA 2026 800 800 Frontline Africa Advisory

    As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to deliver the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) at Cape Town City Hall on Thursday, the tension between spectacle and substance will again be unavoidable. The slow reconstruction of the National Assembly building, which was gutted by fire on 2 January 2022, has become more than an infrastructural…

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    illicit trade

      Beyond tobacco: Weakening state capacity and the future of South Africa’s industrial towns

      Beyond tobacco: Weakening state capacity and the future of South Africa’s industrial towns 800 800 Frontline Africa Advisory

      In January, British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) announced the closure of its Heidelberg factory, a facility that has anchored Lesedi Local Municipality’s economy since 1975, citing declining viability largely driven by rampant illicit tobacco trade in the country. Public commentary quickly attributed the closure to familiar factors: falling tobacco consumption, shifting market trends, and…

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      National General Council and Ramaphosa’s “New Dawn”

        The ANC’s National General Council and Ramaphosa’s “New Dawn”: Between Promise and Paralysis

        The ANC’s National General Council and Ramaphosa’s “New Dawn”: Between Promise and Paralysis 800 800 Frontline Africa Advisory

        As the African National Congress (ANC) prepares for its National General Council (NGC) in December, the party faces one of the most consequential moments of introspection since 1994. For party president Cyril Ramaphosa, the gathering is more than an internal review; it is a mid-term test of whether his ambitious “new dawn” reform agenda, unveiled…

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        fixing foundations

          Fixing the Foundations: Rebuilding South Africa’s Municipal Dream

          Fixing the Foundations: Rebuilding South Africa’s Municipal Dream 800 800 Frontline Africa Advisory

          In 1998, South Africa took a bold step toward building a democracy that worked from the ground up. The White Paper on Local Government (WPLG98) was a visionary attempt to realise the promise of a developmental state, where local municipalities would be the engines of service delivery, economic opportunity, and participatory democracy. Fast forward 27…

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