Author:nicholas-woode-smith
SA fails to cash in as ships reroute around Africa March 23, 2026 The US-Israel war on Iran is redrawing shipping routes overnight, sending vessels around Africa’s coast. NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH warns, however, that as traffic surges, South Africa’s struggling ports, weak infrastructure and policy missteps threaten to turn a rare logistics opportunity into a costly failure. South Africa has a lot to lose because of the ongoing war in Iran. As Israel and United States forces commit to airstrikes and […]
Stop the bloated, endlessly delayed public works! February 26, 2026 It has been widely acknowledged that South Africa’s transport infrastructure leaves much to be desired. One of the reasons for this, notes NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH, is the painstakingly slow pace of delivery when it comes to public works projects… Three countries want to build a highway: Germany, the USA and South Africa. Germany claims they will need two years to build the highway. They build it in one – under budget […]
Privatise all the parastatals December 9, 2025 The continued failings of South Africa’s plethora of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been widely documented. NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH believes there is a simple solution: privatise them all. Eskom, Transnet, the South African Broadcasting Commission (SABC) and South African Airways (SAA) are the usual bunch that bear the brunt of our much-deserved derision, but they aren’t the only SOEs burning a hole in the taxpayers’ pockets. There are hundreds in South Africa, most with a […]
South Africa must reform to maintain US trade March 19, 2025 South Africa’s government should not have played fast and loose with our relationship with the United States, says NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH. He believes that the consequences could be nothing short of catastrophic for South Africans. Even without the heavy-handed approach of the Trump administration, the ANC’s callous disregard for the interests of our most profitable trade partner was certain to eventually catch up to, and bite, us. And it’s South […]
It’s time to enable independent power producers January 7, 2025 At first, it seemed too good to be true, but Eskom seems to have finally turned a corner; for the better part of 2024 the utility managed to keep the lights on. This, writes Nicholas Woode-Smith, follows a torrid few years of repeated rolling blackouts that destroyed industry and stifled economic growth. While it was cynically theorised that the improved performance of Eskom was due to the run-up to the […]
Shell’s potential exit exposes BEE’s economic fallout July 11, 2024 Shell’s possible disinvestment and exit from South Africa could cost the country thousands of jobs and billions in investment. This is just another casualty of the economic scourge that is Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), says NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH. While popularly envisioned as a method to uplift black South Africans into great economic positions post-Apartheid, BEE has instead proven to be a method to allow politically connected individuals to force their way […]
Privatisation reveals the solution to infrastructure collapse November 3, 2023 Who will build the roads? Certainly not the South African government, and as NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH writes, neither does it fix them… Every year, we see infrastructure collapse across the board. Eskom continues to fail to keep the lights on, roads start to resemble the Somme, railways rust away, and ports pile up with undelivered goods. South Africa faces logistical nightmares that freeze the wheels of commerce, often literally. This leads […]
Brics: Unmasking SA’s supposed “non-alignment” and neutrality September 13, 2023 Despite repeatedly claiming that South Africa is committed to non-alignment and neutrality, the government has consistently made it very clear that it wants to choose sides. This is something it really should not be doing, notes NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH. South Africa’s track record of terrible decision-making with regards to foreign affairs could lose South Africans countless jobs and opportunities, as we risk losing access to preferential trade agreements with the United […]
Apartheid is under new management June 27, 2023 The Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA) is not just a perverse, incompetent, and tyrannical piece of legislation. NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH says it’s yet another milestone on this government’s journey to embracing its own form of apartheid. This act also has massive consequences for transport operators employing more than 50 people… The EEAA, proposed on 12 May 2023, aims to set strict racial quotas for any business with over 50 employees. These quotas are […]
Xenophobia is a slippery slope October 18, 2022 South Africa is a beautiful country harbouring an insidious rot. Xenophobia – which we have seen rear its ugly head in the transport industry – is a social disease that holds South Africans back from truly uplifting themselves. NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH believes that it denies self-awareness, encourages hatred, and continues this country’s trend of animosity towards innocents. Our country is inevitably going to be a destination for immigration. We are the most developed […]
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