South Africa isn’t short of talent. It’s short of alignment.
In this Weekly Update, we break down the one agreement we’re missing.The Social Compact.
Why its collapse explains everything we’re living through: low growth, brutal unemployment, broken municipalities, crime, protests, and investors refusing to commit.
What a social compact actually is (and what it isn’t)
The 3 questions every functioning country answers:
- What are we trying to achieve?
- Who is responsible for what?
- What are we willing to give up?
- Why policy becomes erratic when there’s no shared agreement (property, rule of law, contradictions).
- The real cost: not just economic — social and psychological (cynicism + survival mode).
- The danger: populism + instability when people stop believing the system works.
- The rebuild: what government, business, labour and citizens must do next.
Don’t just complain, get involved. Please share this conversation.
Watch the video and make up your own mind - Chris Wilkinson
