Anthea Jeffery
Dr Anthea Jeffery holds law degrees from Wits, Cambridge and London universities, and is the Head of Policy Research at the IRR. She has authored 12 books, including Countdown to Socialism - The National Democratic Revolution in South Africa since 1994, People’s War: New Light on the Struggle for South Africa and BEE: Helping or Hurting? She has also written extensively on property rights, land reform, the mining sector, the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system, and a growth-focused alternative to BEE.
Articles By This Author
Why school vouchers are part of the EED alternative to BEE
With growth in South Africa at around 1% of GDP (compared to 4.5% elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa) and the unemployment rate at close on 34%
The BEE delusion: why South Africans are ready for true transformation
Criticisms of black economic empowerment (BEE) intensified in 2026, spurred on by evidence in a recently surfaced 2015 report that some 60% of the net
Draconian rules on crypto asset “imports” and “exports” must be scrapped
National Treasury wants to subject bitcoin and all crypto assets to draconian state controls over the deemed “importing” or “exporting” of digital assets that have
Crude errors: the government’s flawed strategic fuel reserve plan
Two key events in the past week put Gulf oil supplies at increased risk and helped push the price of Brent crude back above $100 a barrel. The first was Saudi Arabia’s decision to shut down its East-West crude pipeline following a drone strike. The second was a sudden advance by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen, who swept south along the Red Sea coast, seizing towns and taking control of strategic islands inside the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. This gives the Houthis the capacity to close a key artery for Gulf oil, even as passage through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained.
Turning TVET training into a valued option
The de-massification of universities via new funding and admission rules must be accompanied by major reforms to technical and vocational training.
Reforming wasteful “free” university education
The high costs of “free” university education include dismal student completion and drop-out rates, a steady rise in student debt, and major inefficiency and corruption at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) charged with paying tuition fees and allowances to more than 550,000 university students in 2026.
The high costs of “free” university education
The African National Congress (ANC), which continues to dominate the Government of National Unity (GNU) despite its reduced voter support, has long been determined to “massify” universities and provide “free” education for poor and working-class students.
Accelerating – or deterring – off-shore oil and gas production?
The South African state’s crude oil reserves have dropped to some 8 million barrels (enough to meet the country’s fuel needs for just 13 days), the country’s refining capacity has halved and conflict in the Middle East is badly disrupting global oil supplies.
Tribute to Bill Johnson (1943 – 2026)
RW Johnson, “Bill” to his many friends and relations, was educated at Natal University and thereafter, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Oxford University. He was a fellow in politics at Magdalen College, Oxford, for 26 years and remained an emeritus fellow. Bill was an exceptional academic, journalist and author, with the breadth of knowledge and the acumen to probe well below the surface of events – and the courage to keep challenging accepted wisdoms.
The risks in proposed water-use rules
In 1998 the ANC took custodianship of all water resources under the National Water Act but denied this amounted to expropriation. Now, it plans to make race the dominant factor in water-use licensing and water allocation. Given past land reform failures, this could result in not redress but more assets “dying in the hands of the poor.”