The New South Institute (NSI) has released its latest quarterly email newsletter, circulated to subscribers in the penultimate quarter of 2025. This edition looks at a single, shared concern across our work: how to build and protect capable public institutions in a demanding political and global context. The full newsletter is available as a PDF attached to this post.

A common thread: capable institutions under pressure

In his opening note, Executive Director Ivor Chipkin links developments in South Africa’s public administration to shifts in the wider international order. He reflects on the Public Service Amendment Bill (PSAB) as a potential turning point for the South African state, and on how changes in global power are reshaping the space in which African countries act.

He also notes that NSI has been named by On Think Tanks as one of the “100 Think Tanks to Watch in 2025”. Rather than treating this as celebration, the note presents it as a reminder of the responsibilities that come with visibility: rigorous research, independence of analysis, and an emphasis on practical reform.

Public service reform and policing: moving beyond diagnosis

A central focus of this newsletter is our work on public service reform. In this edition, we set out how NSI is engaging with the PSAB and related efforts to professionalise the state. We explain why separating political authority from administrative responsibility, and reinforcing merit-based appointments, are necessary conditions for a capable public service.

We describe how we have:

– Worked with unions, parliamentarians and practitioners around the PSAB and the Public Administration Management Bill.

– Contributed to parliamentary hearings and deliberations, supporting reforms that depoliticise appointments and clarify lines of accountability.

– Provided analysis in the media and through our own publications on why public service reform must sit at the centre of South Africa’s broader National Dialogue.

We also highlight the first NSI Residential Workshop on Public Service Reform at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), which we hosted for members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration. The aim was to translate reform principles into concrete oversight tools.

Within the same institutional lens, the newsletter turns to policing. We outline work that traces how the South African Police Service has become politicised over time, and argue that changes in senior appointment practices are central to rebuilding public trust. In an interview with the BBC, we emphasise that the current policing crisis reflects structural interference and incomplete reform, and discuss why the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry matters for addressing these issues.

Africa, the New South and the rules of the game

Beyond South Africa’s domestic institutions, this edition looks at how actors in the Global South are engaging with the rules of the international system.

We report on contributions from our South–South Dialogues programme to international conferences in Serbia and Croatia, examining international law, the Non-Aligned Movement and historical solidarities with anti-apartheid struggles. This work asks how law can be both an instrument of power and a constraint on it, and what that tension means for countries seeking a more equitable order.

We also feature a “Missing Voices” interview with Chinese economist Yang Yao on lessons from China’s development experience, and an essay that argues Africa’s central challenge is to build strategic autonomy through continental cooperation, rather than align with any single power centre.

Movement, integration and digital sovereignty

Another strand of the newsletter addresses how people and data move across borders in Africa, and who sets the terms of that movement.

We introduce a new report from our Migration Governance Reform in Africa (MIGRA) programme on mobility and integration in East Africa and in continental frameworks such as the Free Movement of Persons Protocol and the African Continental Free Trade Area. We show that, despite repeated commitments to free movement, intra-African travel remains difficult, and discuss incremental reforms and pilots that could shift practice.

In parallel, we reflect on Africa’s emerging artificial intelligence sector in an interview with Forbes Africa. We argue that questions of digital sovereignty – who owns data, who controls infrastructure, and whose priorities shape technological systems – will be critical for the continent’s future.

Platforms for ongoing debate – and how to stay informed

This newsletter is also an invitation to continue the conversation. We highlight:

– The Governing Tomorrow podcast series on public service reform, hosted by Yoliswa Makhasi, which brings together policymakers, practitioners and analysts.

– A forthcoming virtual book launch and dialogue, “Beyond Mimicry: The Potential of African Endogenous Governance Systems”, co-hosted with Afrospectives, exploring how African governance traditions can inform contemporary reform.

The attached PDF contains the full newsletter, including direct links to all reports, opinion pieces, interviews, podcasts and events mentioned here.

If you would like to receive future editions directly by email, you can subscribe via the newsletter sign-up form on the NSI homepage. Subscribers receive periodic, carefully curated updates on NSI’s work on public service reform, policing and accountability, migration governance, South–South dialogues and institutional change.