"Mining South Africa: Having lived here in South Africa as a retiree for the past 8 years. I can only fully endorse the excellent piece by Barry Sergeant reproduced by Eoin.

"My overall impression, mixing as I do with many South African friends in business, is a deterioration of governance year on year. Much of the blame I believe can be put at the door of the well meaning but disastrous policy of Black Empowerment [BE], where unqualified or poorly qualified individuals are catapulted into senior positions in industry and the public service. Positions to which they are wholly unsuited. It is a fact that the state has not been able, over the last decade of huge expenditure, to master the problems of official corruption, education, health, housing, the criminal justice system, local government, transport sanitation, supply of electricity, development of resources to name but a few, for which it holds primary responsibility.

"Add to the above the existence of a trade union movement that compares to that of Britain in the 1970's. What other country on this planet with 35% unemployment can bring out on strike the whole public sector having been offered a wage increase of more than twice the rate of inflation.?

"This country needs it s Margaret Thatcher moment but I fear that that will be a long time coming. One very uncomfortable outcome would be a severe dose of Zimbabweitis. As you say, the charts will tell us."

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this additional perspective. The empowerment of the previously disenfranchised majority was always going to be a difficult process and there remain a great number of challenges that still need to be surmounted in order to raise the standards of living for more of the country's people. The stock market and currency are firm and government bond yields have been ranging mostly between 7% and 9% since 2005. A significant deterioration in one of these measures would be required to question the trajectory of the country's gradual rehabilitation.