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        <title>Polity.org.za | Real Economy</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Terence Creamer is the Editor of Engineering News and a Deputy Editor for Mining Weekly.]]></description>
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            <title>Optimism as a tactic</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/optimism-as-a-tactic-2026-08-21</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Few could dispute that Discovery CEO Adrian Gore has emerged as the most influential South African business leader of his generation. Even those, or perhaps especially those, who do everything from tying their smartwatch to their dog’s collar to get their 10 000 steps, or who make that special trip to the gym on a Friday simply to tag-in so as to earn those last 100 points needed to meet that week’s fitness goal. Gore and Discovery are so fully integrated into South Africa’s cultural imagination that dinner-table discussions regularly turn to whether they are dictating everything from how and when we sleep to where we buy our groceries. Pontifications veer wildly from whether Vitality is akin to an Orwellian ‘Big Brother’ to facetious questions about why Discovery has not created a rewards programme to incentivise municipal officials to fix chronically broken traffic lights.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: BUSINESS LEADERSHIP</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>TSO close, but not yet</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/tso-close-but-not-yet-2026-08-14</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There is no question that President Ramaphosa’s endorsement of the Phase I report of the Eskom Restructuring Task Team (ERTT) is a key milestone in the ongoing reform of South Africa’s electricity sector. The report focused on developing a high-level proposal to establish an independent Transmission System Operator (TSO). It was guided by both the amended Electricity Regulation Act, which includes a five-year timeframe from 2025 for the creation of the TSO, and the ERTT’s terms of reference.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ELECTRICITY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Important signals</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/important-signals-2026-08-07</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Recent interventions by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and the National Treasury have helped shed light on issues that had hitherto been allowed to fester in dark corners. The most high-profile intervention has undoubtedly been the one at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), where recent governance shortcomings, investment failures and unauthorised restructuring were risking the stability of an institution responsible for managing public-sector pension and social funds. It is estimated that the PIC has assets under management of R3.6-trillion, making good governance beyond essential and public scrutiny inevitable.]]></description>
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            <category>REAL ECONOMY: PUBLIC FINANCE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Missed opportunity</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/missed-opportunity-2026-07-31</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The uptake of rooftop solar in South Africa has increased dramatically over the past five or so years, spurred initially by the extreme loadshedding from 2021 to 2024. Using satellite and other aerial photographic data, a new report by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) estimates that about 5.98-billion kWh of electricity was generated from the total installed rooftop capacity of 3 495 MWp over a one-year period.]]></description>
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            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ROOFTOP SOLAR</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Distorted lens</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/distorted-lens-2026-07-24</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Transitions are never easy. They are disruptive and are often fiercely resisted. South Africa navigated its own grand political transition in 1994, following a period of intense uncertainty and resistance, which at times turned deadly. Were it not for courageous leaders, ongoing mobilisation in support of change, and the favourable geopolitical tailwinds of the period, the outcome could have been quite different.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ELECTRICITY POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Think electricity</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/think-electricity-2026-07-17</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Global statistics continue to reaffirm the role of electricity as the future dominant energy carrier. More and more energy services are being electrified, including through electric vehicles, while new sources of large-scale demand, such as data centres, are emerging at pace. The International Energy Agency has already proclaimed this the ‘Age of Electricity’, as electricity demand outpaces overall energy demand. It is forecasting that global electricity demand will increase at a yearly rate of 3.6% from 2026 to 2030; at least 2.5 times faster than overall energy demand.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ENERGY POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Measured ambition</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/measured-ambition-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa’s planned R1-trillion infrastructure programme is undoubtedly a chance to revive the struggling construction sector and to stimulate industrialisation. After more than a decade of weak demand and ongoing deindustrialisation, however, realising this potential will require a combination of ambition and pragmatism, together with a relentless focus on execution.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: INDUSTRIAL POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Populist omen</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/populist-omen-2026-07-03</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa is approaching the fifth anniversary of the deadly July 2021 riots and looting in an atmosphere that is again heavily laden with the threat of violence. It’s a fog made denser by the confluence of unemployment and poverty with conspiracy theories that lay the blame for those miserable conditions largely on foreign nationals.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: SOUTH AFRICA</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Firm timetable needed</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/firm-timetable-needed-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The deadline has arrived for the Eskom Restructuring Task Team (ERTT) to deliver its detailed proposal and implementation plan for establishing a new State-owned Transmission System Operator (TSO). The contents will be heavily scrutinised given the importance of the TSO to the transition to a competitive market where the playing field is level for all participants.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ELECTRICITY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Bridge﻿, not destination</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/bridge-not-destination-2026-06-19</link>
            <description><![CDATA[How do people in Gauteng know when motorists are driving under the influence? They are driving straight! It is to this type of sardonic humour that residents in all three of Gauteng’s metros have turned as a coping mechanism against the proliferation of potholes, the near absence of road markings, and the reality that all too many streetlights and traffic signals are simply not working.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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