The Impossible Economics of Domestic Work
The Common Sense went looking for an answer to a simple question about South African domestic workers and their household finances. What emerged instead was a remarkable story about the resilience of the human spirit and how people survive when, on paper, the numbers suggest that they should not.
2.9.2026 |
Reine Opperman
How South Africa Gets to Work
The way South Africans commute to work reveals an enclave economy taking shape, as private alternatives expand while poorer commuters absorb the costs of state failure.
18.8.2026 |
Reine Opperman
BP’s North Sea Exit Exposes Britain’s Energy Delusion
Is the UK committing energy suicide?
8.5.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Ramaphosa Blames West
Cyril brings out the begging bowl.
6.5.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Wall Street's Most Feared Hedge Fund Manager Just Compared the Iran War to Fighting the Nazis
Why is one of the toughest money managers in hedge fund history comparing the Iran war to the fighting Nazi Germany? Because, he argues, the stakes are exactly the same.
5.5.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Why Do South Africans Accept the Crime That Makes Them Live in Fear?
South Africans accept crime like they accept bad weather – something inevitable and which they have no control over.
28.4.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Special Report: South Africa’s Predatory Crime Problem
In this Special Report, The Common Sense explains the origins and the extent of the crime category that South Africans fear the most: predatory crime.
27.4.2026 |
Reine Opperman
South Africa Has Recorded Over 100 000 Armed Robberies Every Year Since 2001
South African exceptionalism is in more than just sport.
27.4.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Violent Crime Did Not Fall After Apartheid. A War Ended. There Is a Difference
The decline in murder after 1994 was the result of the end of the ANC’s People’s War, not because the party improved policing.
23.4.2026 |
Reine Opperman
Armed Residential Robbery Rate Has Increased Fivefold Since 1994
The crime that South Africans fear the most is being violently attacked in their own homes and new research published by The Common Sense shows that the rate per capita of such armed home invasions has increased by over 500% over the past thirty years.
22.4.2026 |
Reine Opperman
