Professor Mary Metcalfe's report on the Limpopo textbook debacle paints a grim picture of the state of that province's education department. However, the national education department has welcomed her report, saying that it "adequately captures the complexities of the Section 100 (1)(b) intervention in that province and the difficulties experienced by national government in terms of the provision of textbooks to schools in Limpopo". The bottom line is that their department of education's handling of this disgrace has failed Limpopo's pupils badly.

Possibly manufacturing a little alarm of his own... According to Times Live, trade and industry minister Rob Davies has warned businesses: invest, or lose BEE points. He apparently wants investment in enterprise, supplier, and skills development.

Food, glorious food... possibly not...Phakamani Hadebe, Land Bank CEO, is reported to have said that 22nd century food-security is not guaranteed. He could be right, which is all the more reason why the issue of land redistribution needs to be handled very carefully, and properly.

In the property sector, indications are that there's real transformation in SA's real estate market. Research indicates that almost half of all home loan applications are now being made by black buyers, compared with only about 12% a decade ago.

Finally, on the automotive front, extreme weather over the past few days saw the N1 and N12 closed following heavy snowfalls and rain. And on the petrol-head front, motoring editor Henrie Geyser reckons Hyundai is continuing to strengthen its grip on the local car market, with the i30, for instance.

Rod Baker, content director

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