New South Institute

21/10/2026

In case you missed it: two familiar Nelson Mandela School voices are contributing to an important conversation about South Africa’s economic future!

Prof Alan Hirsch, founding Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance and Prof Brian Levy, the School’s founding Academic Director, have collaborated on a new five-part blog series; Building shared prosperity in South Africa, published by the New South Institute.

The series explores how South Africa can accelerate economic growth, create jobs and expand economic opportunity through stronger support for small businesses and the opportunities offered by digital connectivity.

Their first instalment; The challenge: growing jobs in a tough world, outlines a three-part framework for addressing these interconnected challenges and encourages constructive debate on the country’s way forward.

Explore the series and listen to radio interviews: https://nsi.org.za/projects/building-shared-prosperity/

21/10/2026

In this third article in the five-part series Building Shared Prosperity in South Africa, Brian Levy and Alan Hirsch unpack Jobs and the Informal Sector.

They discuss why South Africas informal economy remains unusually small and how reforms that support informal enterprises, alongside broader economic growth, could create more jobs and help address the countrys unemployment crisis.

Read the third article: https://nsi.org.za/project_activity/south-africa-informal-sector-jobs/

18/10/2026

The New South Institute has joined the Article 109 Coalition, an international network advocating for a review of the United Nations Charter and reform of the institutions that support international cooperation.

The Coalition brings together more than 100 members and partners across 32 countries, including peacebuilding organisations, climate advocates, youth platforms, think tanks and academic institutions.

This membership marks another step in NSIs growing engagement with international research and policy networks. Through the Coalition, we look forward to contributing our research on democracy, institution building and governance reform, while building relationships with organisations working on shared global challenges.

https://nsi.org.za/news/new-south-institute-joins-article-109-coalition/

16/10/2026

In the first article of Building Shared Prosperity in South Africa, a five-part series by the New South Institute (NSI), we outlined three interconnected challenges facing the country: accelerating economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening the “missing middle.”

Building on this, Going for Growth, the second article in the series, authored by Alan Hirsch and Brian Levy, considers what it would take to restore growth in South Africas formal economy.

What can South Africa learn from previous periods of economic growth? What role should government-business partnerships play in stimulating investment? Where might new opportunities for growth and employment emerge, and how can economic and industrial policies better support these efforts?

Alan and Brian help us grapple with these questions in this latest instalment of Building Shared Prosperity in South Africa, considering the policy choices and institutional arrangements needed to support stronger economic growth.

Read Going for Growth: https://nsi.org.za/project_activity/south-africa-economic-growth-investment-jobs/

15/10/2026

Building shared prosperity in South Africa requires an economy that creates jobs, supports entrepreneurship and expands opportunities for participation in economic growth.

The New South Institute (NSI) has launched a new five-part blog series, Building Shared Prosperity in South Africa, which considers the policy choices and institutional reforms needed to address unemployment and support more inclusive economic growth.

Co-author Alan Hirsch joined Jeremy Maggs on Hot Business on HOT 102.7 to discuss the series and the challenges facing South Africa's economy.

Alan outlined three complementary priorities: accelerating formal sector growth, creating a more supportive environment for small and informal businesses, and harnessing information and communication technologies to improve productivity and expand economic opportunities.

The discussion also considered the importance of effective governance, entrepreneurship and cooperation between government and business in creating the conditions for shared prosperity.

Listen to the full interview: https://iono.fm/e/1728010

Read the first article in the series: https://nsi.org.za/project_activity/south-africa-economic-growth-job-creation-strategy/

14/10/2026

The New South Institute (NSI) has joined Southern Voice as an affiliate member, expanding our engagement with a network of think tanks working to strengthen the role of research from the Global South in international policy debates.

Through this affiliation, NSI will contribute its research on democracy, institution building and governance reform, while engaging with organisations across the Global South working on related policy challenges.

We look forward to contributing to these exchanges and building relationships with research institutions across the network.

https://nsi.org.za/news/new-south-institute-joins-southern-voice/

13/10/2026

Welcoming our newest researcher!

We’re pleased to welcome Jorich Johann Loubser to the New South Institute (NSI), where he joins our growing research team.

Jorich has submitted his PhD thesis at the The London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE.

We’re excited to have him on the team and look forward to the research and perspectives he will bring to NSI.

Welcome aboard, Jorich!
https://nsi.org.za/people/jorich-johann-loubser/

12/10/2026

With just over three weeks until South Africa’s local government elections on 4 November, questions of government capability are once again in focus.

At Statecraft 2026, the New South Institute 's two-day conference at GIBS Business School (Gordon Institute of Business Science) in Johannesburg, these questions were central to discussions about the institutions that make democracy work. In an interview with eNCA during the conference, NSI researcher Yoliswa Makhasi described statecraft as the machinery that turns political decisions into delivery. South Africa’s service-delivery challenges reveal what happens when that machinery does not work as it should.

The conference highlighted why administrative capability and effective implementation matter, particularly as the elections approach.

Watch the full eNCA interview: https://www.enca.com/videos/statecraft-2026-democracy-goes-beyond-elections
Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)

As the country moves to local government elections in November, the focus is more and more on pulling up the proverbial socks.

06/10/2026

If you haven’t subscribed to our Histories of Government Substack yet, here’s another reason why you should.

A dive back into our inaugural post, The View from Elsewhere.

The piece places post-colonial and post-socialist societies in conversation, not simply as places to be studied, but as places from which to think about statecraft, democracy and government.

It is a shift in perspective that sits at the heart of Histories of Government: looking beyond the usual centres of political thought and taking seriously the histories, ideas and experiences that emerge from elsewhere.

Revisit The View from Elsewhere, and subscribe.

The View from Elsewhere

05/10/2026

The passage of the Public Service Amendment Act marks an important moment in South Africa’s public service reform. Attention now turns to implementation.

At , NSI’s two-day International Congress on Civil Service Reform and Democracy, held in Johannesburg on 22–23 September, Ivor Chipkin opened the Congress by placing the current reform moment within a much longer story about government in South Africa: how political and administrative authority became intertwined, the consequences for public institutions, and why the conditions for change have re-emerged.

Our latest Histories of Government Substack draws from that address and traces how South Africa arrived at this reform moment.

Read: The strange disappearance and return of administration in South Africa

How the conditions for reform have reemerged