Centre for Development and Enterprise

20/05/2026

CDE invites you to a conversation with Andrés Velasco, Dean of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and former Chilean Minister of Finance.

Professor Velasco is co-editor of The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century (2025), a collaborative initiative led by the LSE involving more than 50 economists and experts. The book moves beyond the Washington Consensus, and offers roadmap for building more inclusive and resilient economies in today’s world.

He will be in conversation with CDE executive director Ann Bernstein on how the London Consensus moves development debates forward and what countries like South Africa could learn from it.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 27 May 2026
⏰ Time: 5–6pm (SAST)
Register here: https://cde-org-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JvTdBsRaSY-1Vo8VFYztWQ

23/04/2026

In March 2026, CDE hosted a discussion led by Katlego Dikobe, General Manager of the Gauteng Precinct Management Association, focusing on the role that City Improvement Districts (CIDs) play in response to challenges in Johannesburg’s municipal service delivery.

CIDs are neighbourhood associations, often led by business owners in mixed-use areas, and are intended to complement the work of the municipality. In Johannesburg, they are increasingly taking on aspects of basic service delivery that are not being provided by the metro.

In more residential areas without strong business representation, resident associations (RAs) play a similar role, while in many township areas, community groups are organising around issues such as cleaning, safety, and local development, with members contributing their time and labour.

CIDs and RAs also provide structured channels for residents and business owners to engage with the Johannesburg government and coordinate local initiatives.

The role these structures could play within future approaches to urban management is a key consideration for the next mayor of Johannesburg.

https://cde.org.za/johannesburg-in-brief-city-improvement-districts/

17/04/2026

CDE continues to call for a comprehensive, independent review of South Africa’s BBBEE policies to assess their effectiveness and costs. This should be led by an independent panel including economists, legal experts, business leaders, civil society representatives and, especially, black-owned enterprises affected by current mechanisms.

A proper review must be undertaken to evaluate which aspects of BBBEE have succeeded and which have failed, and at what cost, using 20 years of available data.

The aim of a comprehensive review of BBBEE must be to build a new consensus promoting inclusive growth, accountability and tangible benefits for black, and in particular disadvantaged, South Africans.

The proposed amendments to the BBBEE codes are recklessness piled on recklessness. They will narrow the beneficiaries of preferential procurement spending in the private sector, while strongly nudging ESD spending into a Transformation Fund whose parameters, mandate, governance and institutional architecture have not been publicly disclosed.

Current proposals to amend the BBBEE codes should be withdrawn immediately. Any future process for updating and amending BBBEE policies should be contemplated only after a thoroughgoing review of what has and has not been achieved thus far.

Proposals risk narrowing empowerment benefits to a small group of companies

14/04/2026

Tyler Cowen joined CDE's Ann Bernstein for a discussion on the virtues of big business, ‘the Davos crowd’, AI and the current state of the US economy.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential economic thinkers (with a pioneering blog, a leading podcast series and a new book on AI), Cowen reflected on the resilience of the US economy, the limits of the Davos establishment in understanding future trends, and the transformative, though institutionally constrained, potential of AI.

https://cde.org.za/tyler-cowen-in-conversation-with-ann-bernstein/

07/04/2026

When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his Sona that the government was undertaking a review to “refine, realign and strengthen” the broad-based BEE framework, I was cautiously optimistic. After more than two decades of B-BBEE, with its achievements but many flaws and a mounting chorus of opposition, a serious reckoning is overdue.

That optimism was misplaced. It appears “review” involves doubling down.

What the country needs is a comprehensive, independent review of transformation policies focusing on B-BBEE’s effectiveness and costs.

Transforming South Africa needs GNU leadership — not ANC policy alone. Read Ann Bernstein's op-ed here:

When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his Sona that the government was undertaking a review to “refine, realign and strengthen” the broad-based BEE framework, I was cautiously optimistic.

01/04/2026

“At almost 12.5-million South Africans the scale of unemployment should continue to shock us, and things are getting worse, not better.”
The challenge is particularly severe for youth. “Almost 55% of South Africans aged 15–34 who want work cannot find it, which means that about 7-million young people are unemployed, and most have never had a proper job.”
While public employment programmes offer a degree of relief, they are little more than Band-Aids that cannot address the structural realities of mass unemployment.
The reality is that South Africa will not solve unemployment without faster economic growth. Reaching 3% growth quickly and then moving beyond it must therefore be a national priority.
A healthy labour market should be a ladder, but in South Africa we have built something else, a fortress, leaving millions of young people who cannot get a foot in the door.
Without reform, economic growth will continue to benefit those already inside the labour market while young people remain locked out.
Read the full op-ed.

Youth employment has fallen due to rigid labour rules and ineffective skills training

17/03/2026

“Since 2008, the number of people unemployed for longer than a year has risen from 2.5 million to 6.2 million. The expansion of Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) cannot alter the underlying trajectory. Stability at 42% unemployment is not progress. A half-percentage-point quarterly movement does not signal a turning point. It suggests that we are walking in circles.”- Ann Bernstein.

Read the op-ed here:

According to Stats SA, the official, or “narrow”, unemployment rate fell by half a percentage point in the fourth quarter of 2025, with 172 000 fewer people classified as unemployed than in the previous quarter. Sounds like progress – but not so fast, says Ann Bernstein.

16/03/2026

Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, joined Ann Bernstein for a discussion on the challenges facing Fort Hare and his efforts to stabilise and reform the institution amid deep governance failures, political interference and criminality. These were threatening to destroy the university’s academic mission and historical legacy.

On his arrival at Fort Hare in 2017, Professor Buhlungu was alarmed by the systemic weakness he found, coupled with weak, outdated or non-existent controls. In 2019 he asked then-Minister of Higher Education, Naledi Pandor, to put the university under administration. He also secured a presidential proclamation for the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in 2022 to investigate widespread fraud and corruption at the university.

Read the conversation here: https://cde.org.za/sakhela-buhlungu-in-conversation-with-ann-bernstein/

11/03/2026

Tyler Cowen, Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and Chairman and Faculty Director of the Mercatus Center, will be in conversation with Ann Bernstein, executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise.

Professor Cowen is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential economic thinkers and public intellectuals. His work spans economics, technology, innovation and public policy, shaping global debates on growth, governance and institutional reform.

In this CDE conversation, he will reflect on Davos, big business, AI and the current state of the United States.

📅 Date: Thursday, 26 March 2026
🕔 Time: 5–6 pm SAST
Register here:
https://cde-org-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_u7WNnCKYSQ66P6lIPh3_mw

24/02/2026

Band-Aid governance: SA needs reconstruction, not more task teams.

In response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA, Ann Bernstein argues that government is treating systemic state failure with band-aid solutions – proliferating task teams and crisis committees – rather than confronting the root causes of institutional collapse. According to Bernstein, the president is correct that we face urgent challenges. But urgency cannot become an alibi for permanent improvisation.

If reform is to succeed we need urgent reconstruction. That means ending cadre deployment, removing incompetent and corrupt officials and appointing leaders with the expertise, authority and integrity to deliver results. Until then, we will continue mistaking activity for reform, and emergency measures for renewal.

Read the full article here.

Ann Bernstein argues that government is treating systemic state failure with Band-Aid solutions – proliferating task teams and crisis committees – rather than confronting the root causes of institutional collapse and implementing the fundamental reforms needed to rebuild a capable state.