Ms Nandi Fumbata, PhD candidate in the Department of Economics and Economic History at Rhodes University, has been selected to attend the BRICS Network University (BRICS NU)

During Rhodes University’s Open Day, which took place on 10 May this year, the Commerce Faculty awarded four bright learners with their own solar-powered battery pack.

Edward Horn received his MCom from Rhodes University last week after a three and a half-month stint at Kemmy Business School of Limerick University in Ireland.

East London twins Jakub and Sebastian Kosiorek yesterday received their masters degrees from Rhodes University.

Two Rhodes University Commerce students, Letty Seshoka and Denzel Makombe have been selected to participate in a national Student Leadership programme as part of the top 30 students chosen for the Student Leadership Summit 2017.

Professor Enyinna Nwauche’s highly anticipated book on traditional cultural expression in Africa has been published.

THE latest Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin confirms the sorry state of the South African economy. It also identifies strong headwinds that will hamper faster growth in the future

I wonder what Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe thinks about late at night.

THIS is a real-life business dilemma faced by the CEO of a brick factory in the Eastern Cape.

THINK of a gathering of 900,000 people — the annual population increase in SA, based on the 1.65% growth rate of the population of 55-million, according to Statistics SA’s mid-2015 figures. Add this to the Bloomberg survey that ranks SA third in the world in the 2015 Misery index, in Bloomberg’s words, "one of the five most painful economies in which to live and work in the world". In first place is Venezuela with a collapsed economy, followed by Argentina. In fourth and fifth place are Ukraine and Greece.

This is Matthew Lester at his best, he’s questioning the R10 a day he pays to be a Chartered Accountant.

WE WENT to Davos to see the wonderful wizards of wealth: a guild of the rich and powerful who pledge to increase justice and end poverty, but who find it perfectly on form that the world’s 62 richest billionaires — many of whom were represented at Davos — have as much wealth as 3.6-billion people today.

WHICHEVER way it voted on Sunday, Greece will still be faced with economic pain as the financially embattled country tries to adjust its domestic spending in line with what it can afford.

THE government is committed to building 9.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power plants, but no one has any real idea how much this will cost

Rhodes University staff member in the Economics department, Professor Gavin Keeton, discusses how South Africa needs to expand its job market to account for the number of unskilled workers in the country.

TWENTY years ago, it was unthinkable that SA could manage without efficient service from the post office, Telkom and Eskom.

There is a growing number of new Internet users, whose biggest challenge is that they lack education about the risks.

RHODES Business School has become the sixth South African school to have its Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree

Rhodes Business School is proud to announce the accreditation of its MBA provision

RHODES University has scooped top honours in final assessments to qualify students as chartered accountants

THE 2015-16 budget demonstrates the government’s determination to preserve SA’s hard-won

WHEN governments run out of money, the consequences are usually very painful. To reduce spending to what is affordable

In acknowledgement of his innovative teaching and learning strategies, Mr Chris Upfold has been awarded the Commerce Faculty Teaching Award, an initiative aimed at recognising a Commerce Faculty member who has developed a teaching and learning strategy that addresses the changing needs of the Faculty, students or society.

THE Russian rouble has plummeted against the dollar since the middle of the year.

THE rapid fall in the oil price to below $80 a barrel will provide welcome relief to cash-strapped South Africans.

A TALENTED university graduate who was wasting away in a dead-end job when he nearly died in a life-changing shack fire

Sorry to ABIL’s ex director Tami Sokutu, I just cannot leave this theme alone.

It must be damn tough to be South Africa’s minister of finance. Personally I would rather gut fish.

A director of a listed company, exhausted by multiple SARS audits, recently complained to me that big companies are overly targeted by SARS. So here is an explanation.

Much needed and critical skills in South Africa are being addressed through Rhodes Business School’s Certificate in Sustainable Business Analysis.

A RECENT World Bank Report highlights the effectiveness of SA’s fiscal policies in reducing inequality and poverty.

New Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene this afternoon delivered his first major speech to Parliament in his new role.

This year’s Mini Budget, to be presented to Parliament tomorrow.

Some say the news event of October will again be Oscar Pistorius.

AFTER decades of poor economic performance, sub-Saharan Africa’s growth is taking off.

There are many disturbing images of our beautiful country.

Dear Mark Shuttleworth,

It is not difficult to come to the conclusion that we are steeped in a deep heritage of assassinating each other WEDNESDAY, September 24, was Heritage Day.

“Cry havoc – and let loose the Dogs of War.” Frederick Forsyth didn’t pen the line.

A Recent report by Statistics SA provides interesting insights on employment and unemployment in SA.

Matthew Lester has a light pen. And a way of teaching us about his speciality – tax – by working lessons through seemingly unrelated stories.

Wednesday 24 September is Heritage Day. It is a pity that our country, so rich in heritage, seems to have reduced this important day to a bring-and-braai pissup.

My favorite book ever, even beyond JD Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye’, is Apsley Cherie-Garrard’s ‘the worst journey in the world.

For the past two years even the National Budget Speech has been chased out of the media spotlight by Oscar Pistorius.

TWO developments dominated the economic news in recent days. The first was the unexpectedly large increase in SA's current account deficit to 6.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) — in money terms, a deficit of R222bn a year.

THE president of the Chamber of Mines describes South Africa as "the world’s best mining address".

The Eastern Cape pays less than 8% of South Africa’s personal tax.

Some years ago I received a Mandela gold coin as a long-service award.

TWO years after the Rhodes University Business School and Standard Bank partnered to offer a programme to address business analyst skill shortages in South Africa, 400 have graduated.

I quote from Prof Lawrence Wright lecture at Rhodes University 16 November, 2011. (Yes, that’s now nearly 4 years ago!).

THE recent decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to grant Eskom an additional tariff hike next year to compensate

Commentary about Eskom’s financial woes usually focuses on the refusal by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to grant the utility its requested large annual tariff increases over the next five years.

A HARDWORKING masters student would not have made it into Rhodes University five years ago

It is now five years since the depths of the global credit crunch. The rot may have been checked but world prosperity seems to still be a long way off.

There is not much fun to be had when attending farmers’ days anymore. For years these functions used to be all about the droughts, floods or pests, lousy market prices and increasing fuel prices. We could generally drink out a solution.

The decision by the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee to increase interest rates by just 0.25%, rather than the 0.5% increments it has used in the past

Martin Luther King Junior eloquently adapted the story in the context of America sleeping through the rise of the black consciousness movement.

Rhodes University Statistics lecturer, Ms Thina Maqubela was recently awarded the Social Entrepreneur award

THE five-month platinum strike is thankfully at an end. Producers and workers must now focus on recovering as best they can.

MOTHERWELL-born Thina Maqubela has proved that success has nothing to do with where one comes from, winning a regional businesswomen’s award last week.

Two Rhodes University alumni, Dylan Smith and Timothy Abel, were recently awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships.

THE run-up to this year’s Fifa World Cup in Brazil was marred by widespread popular protests. Underlying these demonstrations are numerous social

Most financial planning campaigns are directed at the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation (born between 1945 and 1963) and Generation X (born between 1964 and 1980).

Professor Jen Snowball has been acknowledged for her contribution to research at Rhodes University by being awarded

THE platinum strike is in its fifth month. We learned last week that it has already caused a 0.6% annualised contraction of SA’s gross domestic product

South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. We are not, as is often claimed, the most unequal.

The economic and social policy framework in SA since the advent of democracy has been described as a "class compromise".

THERE are two major vulnerabilities in South Africa’s tax system.

The Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) is thrilled to announce that all 53 Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) Accounting students, funded by INSETA

RECRIMINATIONS over Eskom’s recent load-shedding should not divert attention from the economic consequences

I GOT most of my budget predictions wrong. Starting off, I did not think the South African Revenue Service would get within R20billion of target. Wrong.

IT is difficult to make a realistic wish list for the national budget speech on Wednesday.

Six Professors will deliver their inaugural lectures at Eden Grove Blue from May until September this year.

HOMEOWNER associations range in size from small committees that pool resources to collectively tackle security to substantial operations

FEBRUARY 5, 2014: IT’S not just environmentalists that have elevated sustainability to the top of the agenda, but business and recently business studies in higher education, which has woven the topic through its high-level post-graduate courses to ensure that commerce is cognisant of a ‘triple context’.

Speculation over the surprises in store for taxpayers in the national budget speech, (27 February) is already starting. Some say this is an election year and not much will happen.

The South African Commerce Deans’ Association (SACDA) recently convened at Rhodes University for the second of its two annual meetings.

THERE is a new tax package on the way for special economic zones to replace the old industrial

SOUTH Africa last week experienced electricity load shedding.

Students in the Department of Accounting have a clearer path to follow to success and a mentor they can be proud to emulate

MY dad served 34 years at the Johannesburg branch of the reformatory school for boys in Tokai.

THE recently released South African Revenue Service Statistics 2013 package contains a fascinating map

The medium-term budget policy statement released last week makes for sombre reading. Its key message is that five consecutive years of subpar economic growth have left fiscal policy with no room for manoeuvre.

Working with the recently released 2013 SARS tax statistics is a pleasure. They give true meaning to transparency in the budgetary process.

EASTERN Cape experts yesterday unanimously gave Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan the thumbs-up for his medium-term budget policy statement,

The biggest hospital pass in tax history must have been when Pravin Gordhan took over from Trevor Manuel as minister of finance in May 2009.

South Africans often ask how Zimbabwe was able to adopt the dollar as its official currency and, conversely, how it could re-establish its own currency. The answers begin with an understanding of what money actually is.

Professor Geoffrey Antrobus was recently elected as Chairman of the Grahamstown Foundation Council.

A recent study in Vietnam, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), reveals that demand for rhino horn may be much larger than previously thought. It shows that, in addition to consumers of rhino horn, there is a large group of "intenders" — people who intend to buy rhino horn when they can afford it.

It has always been easy to set examinations designed to fail Tax 101 students: simply test the tax deductions on employer and employee contributions to pension, provident and retirement annuity funds.

Economies grow over time when more people are employed or there is an increase in the number of machines, factories and supporting infrastructure used by workers.

It is now four years since the depths of the global credit crunch. The rot may have been checked but world prosperity seems to still be a long way off.

Thanks to our strong banking sector, South Africa’s financial system was largely unaffected by the 2008 global financial crisis. Yet the crisis severely battered our economic growth performance and employment levels.

The chairmanship of the US Federal Reserve has been described as the most powerful financial position in the world, so it is not surprising that whenever the position is to be filled, considerable attention is paid to possible candidates and their likely approaches to monetary policy in the world’s largest economy.

Investec Rhodes Top 100 recently celebrated its 10th-year anniversary with a night of inspiration, hope and honour.

Rhodes University, in collaboration with Allan Gray, recently hosted the Allan Gray Academic Achievement Awards Ceremony during which the top achievers in certain courses that may be taken in degrees offered by the University’s Faculties of Commerce, Science and Humanities were celebrated and awarded prizes.

The 2019 Rhodes University Department of Economics Postgraduate Conference was held on 4 and 5 October at the Barratt Lecture Theatre.

Homage was recently paid to Prof EM Stack (Lilla) at a ceremony held at the University of Pretoria (UP).

The Rhodes University community is deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Allan William Buchanan Gray. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Gill, daughter Jennifer, and his two sons, William and Trevor.

Rhodes University academics are assisting grade 11 Stutterheim High School pupil, Konwaba Putsu, to realise his dream.

Rhodes University academics are assisting grade 11 Stutterheim High School pupil, Konwaba Putsu, to realise his dream. The 17-year-old Konwaba has aspirations of discovering what can be done to stop cancer from spreading in the body.

In the wake of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), where hand washing is one of the ways to avoid contracting the virus, South Africa is currently experiencing a nationwide shortage of hand sanitiser. In response to this dire need, a team of Rhodes University scientists has set up a lab to produce hand sanitiser.

Rhodes University’s Department of Accounting has turned the corner at this year’s Initial Test of Competence (ITC) set by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). The

Ghana’s introduction of a a 1.5% tax on mobile money transactions in May 2022 has been watched closely by policymakers across Africa. The proponents of the electronic transaction levy (e-levy) argue that taxes on mobile money — commonly referred to in Ghana as MoMo — present an opportunity for cash-strapped governments to raise funds in the complex post-pandemic context.

Rhodes University’s Department of Accounting has achieved an impressive 94% pass rate in this year’s Initial Test of Competence (ITC) set by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

Rhodes University commerce alumna Taryn Woodbridge has recently been appointed the first-ever woman Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director: Finance and Controlling of Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA).

Rhodes University’s Director of the DST Institute for Nanotechnology Innovation, Distinguished Professor Tebello Nyokong, has been named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) is Department of Higher Education’s national initiative forming part of the Staffing South Africa University Framework.

Leadership across the globe faces a crisis. Those meant to guide us through historical changes and challenges are failing. But this is not without exception. In August this year, the Old Rhodian Union Committee awarded four Distinguished Alumni Awards to outstanding University alumni, one of whom is the newly appointed Financial Sector Conduct Authority Commissioner, Mr Unathi Kamlana.