The punch in the gut was severe. Perhaps the second quarter of 2020 will become known as the pandemic quarter.

This is an important day in the South African economics calendar. At 11h30 this morning, Statistics South Africa will release GDP data for the second quarter of the year.

At Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal, the first Saturday of spring was a time of mourning and protest rather than celebration yesterday.

Eskom’s unexpected escalation of load-shedding this week has confirmed that South Africa’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery will be throttled by energy constraints, and that unless swift action is taken to support private electricity generation, crippling power cuts will continue for years.

On Thursday 3 September the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) hosted an online discussion on land activism in South Africa. The discussion was moderated by Boaventura Monjane, a postdoctoral researcher from PLAAS.

Though SA is a net exporter of some grains, such as maize and barley, the country is not insulated from developments in the global grains market.