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1 week ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
When Samuel Krupp, a Lithuanian Jewish grain merchant, partnered with Hendrik van Niekerk, an Afrikaans miller from Eendekuil, in 1933, few would have predicted that this was the start of something beautiful. Amidst the devastation of the Great Depression and an extended drought that crushed wheat prices, and with no safety net and little government support, the chances of success were slim.
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1 week ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
The year is 1839. In Cape Town’s harbour, ships begin arriving with unusual frequency. They carry not only the usual mix of goods for colonial consumption but something more valuable and more mysterious in its volume – coffee. Ship after ship, sack after sack. But these coffee sacks are not destined for colonial breakfast tables in the beautiful Cape Dutch homes of the Boland.
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2 weeks ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
She did not bother to move to the sink, knowing that the taps would be empty. The microwave clock read 05:18 – forty minutes before the water truck came. Nothing until then. Inside the fridge was a jar of gherkins. She unscrewed the lid of the jar, drank down the brine, closing her mouth against its solids. These unsettling words come from Karen Jennings’s remarkable novel, Crooked Seeds, recently longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
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2 weeks ago | 
businesslive.co.za | Johan Fourie
On November 11 1955, beneath a scorching Free State sun, three men stood beside their cars, watching as the first litres of synthetic fuel flowed through a pipe. The cars belonged to Sasol’s directors — Frans du Toit, Hendrik van Eck and Etienne Rousseau — and those drops of fuel represented far more than a technical milestone. They were proof of possibility. A signal that South Africans could master complexity, engineer solutions and build industries from the ground up...
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2 weeks ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
In August 2024, Andrew Whitfield, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, posted a picture of Dmitry Grozoubinski’s Why Politicians Lie About Trade … and What You Need to Know About It on LinkedIn, with the following inscription: Makes for interesting (sometimes awkward) reading about the world of trade policy and it’s (sic) implications for economies and politicians 😅 Whitfield had just returned from a trip to the United States, where he and the Minister, Parks...
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3 weeks ago | 
brnw.ch | Johan Fourie
Currencies Commodities Jse Indexes Rand - Dollar 18.76 +0.7% Rand - Pound 24.57 -0.0% Rand - Euro 20.67 -0.9% Rand - Aus dollar 11.90 +0.0% Rand - Yen 0.13 -1.5% Platinum 957.48 -3.2% Palladium 931.93 -4.2% Gold 3,108.19 -0.8% Silver 32.04 -5.5% Brent Crude 74.95 +0.6% Top 40 79,111 -3.3% ALSI 86,083 -3.4% RESI 10 68,300 -2.7% INDI 25 122,018 -2.5% FINI 15 18,771 -5.0% All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Editorial feedback and complaints Contact the public editor with feedback for our...
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3 weeks ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
Listen to Our Long Walk podcast here first – new episodes are available on other platforms a day later. Today’s episode is free.Become a paid member to support our work and help us keep bringing Africa’s economic past to life. How should we understand the era before Africa’s colonisation? Was it a period of stagnation or one of profound innovation and change? Why has the ‘Scramble for Africa’ dominated historical narratives, often overshadowing Africa’s own dynamic histories?
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3 weeks ago | 
currencynews.co.za | Johan Fourie
In Homer’s Odyssey, the Greek hero Odysseus encounters the Sirens – mythical creatures whose enchanting songs lure sailors to their doom on the rocks. Forewarned, he plugs his crew’s ears with wax and binds himself to the mast, resisting their temptation. Today, South Africa faces its own kind of siren song: the seductive idea that a financial reconfiguration – what some call monetary architecture (MA) – can unlock economic transformation without consequence.
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3 weeks ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
A good friend of mine has seen his research in South Africa collapse. He’s a brilliant young American infectious disease expert (and a medical doctor to boot) who has already published in some of the world’s leading medical journals. His research focuses on TB and HIV/AIDS, illnesses that continue to devastate South Africa’s poorest communities.
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1 month ago | 
ourlongwalk.com | Johan Fourie
The one advantage of living in Africa is that we all agree that it’s terrible to be poor. A Malawian woman selling tomatoes by the roadside does not need a lecture on planetary boundaries. She knows what a higher income – growth – means: the chance to afford school fees, to replace a leaking roof, to buy a paraffin stove so she doesn’t have to cook over an open flame. Across the continent, a Nigerian entrepreneur is building a small factory, employing workers and raising capital.
