Jeremy’s weekly wrap: MP threats and failed pass-mark push

This week on Moneyweb@Midday, several guests delivered hard-hitting insight into South Africa’s political, industrial, and educational challenges and even global governance.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo expanded on reports that a member of the MK Party, sitting on a parliamentary ad-hoc committee, reported being abducted and forced by criminals to withdraw funds and had his bank account “cleaned out”. Alarmingly, such incidents appear part of a broader pattern of intimidation and abduction targeting MPs. Mothapo’s account has renewed calls for better security protections for representatives and has cast a harsh spotlight on the growing dangers faced by public servants.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

In a shift to industrial concerns, Minerals Council SA CEO Mzila Mthenjane argued that rising electricity costs – not export competition – represent the greatest threat to South Africa’s chrome industry. He explained that overseas competitors, particularly in China, have built electricity generation and ferrochrome production capacity, enabling them to undercut South African producers with far cheaper power. Unless the energy situation stabilises, the domestic ferrochrome sector could suffer serious decline.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

Education also came under scrutiny as Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane urged a radical move to raise the matric pass mark from 30% to 50%. Maimane argued that the current threshold allows substandard performance to pass as acceptable, undermining the value of the qualification and fails to prepare young people adequately for work or further study. The motion was rejected by the ANC and DA, a rebuff that has left Maimane calling for deeper reforms in early childhood development and primary schooling to tackle root causes.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

Finally, governance expert Dominik Zaum of the University of Reading sounded an alarm on global diplomacy. He warned that the world is shifting into a “deal-making era” where bilateral deals and transactional diplomacy are rapidly replacing rule-based multilateral agreements. According to Zaum, this trend erodes predictability, undermines trust, and risks weakening democratic accountability, especially for countries without strong leverage.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

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