There is a sense of fatigue across South Africa as 2014 draws to a close. The year has been a difficult one for business and for citizens.

The external environment remains problematic, with South Africa’s key trading partners performing unevenly and with commodity prices falling. South Africa’s domestic difficulties, meanwhile, have seemingly increased.

If anything, the political climate has deteriorated since the May 7 elections, with Parliament having descended into disorder, only partly as a result of opposition-party recklessness. The root cause relates more to poor leadership choices from the governing party and an executive that is struggling to adapt to more vociferous calls for accountability.

The industrial relations climate remains volatile, largely as the result of the Congress of South African Trade Unions meltdown. But in a context of high unemployment and poverty, some of the hostility also arises as a direct result of the need for those in employment to extract higher wages, as they carry much of the burden for sustaining those without work. That said, social grants have helped lighten that load.

South Africa’s electricity shortfalls are now being felt more broadly, as Eskom spreads the pain beyond industry to households. The country’s inability to deal with the problem through the timeous addition of new supply and effective management of demand is not only sapping growth and confidence, but also lowering the prospects for much-needed future investment.

Sadly, all these issues will remain with us at the start of 2015. My wish for the New Year is that South Africans return energised and ready to tackle these challenges with renewed vigour and creativity. My worry is that there is very little enthusiasm for the kind of social compact that is now needed to make and sustain the difficult choices required to place South Africa on a higher growth and development path.

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As a result of the recent postal strike, we have made changes regarding our distribution channels to ensure that we continue to deliver our weekly magazines in a timely and efficient manner. We have contracted with two alternative distributors to hand-deliver our magazines and are in the process of converting all our subscribers to this new system. In addition to contracting with these distributors, we will continue to distribute our magazines through retail outlets, including CNA and Exclusive Books stores, and will continue to issue bulk deliveries to large corporations. In addition, all our subscribers have also been receiving an email every Friday providing them with a link to the e-magazine version of the week’s magazine.

We have also started distributing Engineering News at OR Tambo International Airport, Lanseria International Airport, Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport, as well as at five-star hotels in Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town. Our airport and hotel distribution is carefully controlled, with speci- fied quantities of magazines distributed through all major airport lounges and other locations throughout the airports and hotels. We are also providing copies to South African Airways, which are available on regional flights.