The research frontier

On My Radar

Research is not only what has been published. It is also what is being watched. These are the questions I am following before there is an analysis to write, with what would change the picture and when I will look again.

9 questions · Last reviewed 8 October 2026 · Reviews fall on the 22nd of the month or the next working day

Only figures that have been checked against their source appear here. Where there is no verified figure yet, the card says so.

09EnergyWatching

Load shedding recovery

QuestionIs the recovery structural, or has the metric changed while the underlying condition did not?

04WorkWatching

The informal economy

QuestionWhy does labour market policy still centre formal jobs when about one in three employed people work informally?

07ChildrenWatching

Municipal collapse and child welfare

QuestionWhen local government services fail, what happens to children's health and welfare, and does anyone count it?

02ChildrenWatching

Section 28 at thirty

QuestionIs the state delivering what Section 28 of the Constitution promises to children?

05GenderWatching

After the protection order

QuestionWhat happens after a protection order is issued, and who monitors whether it works?

06JusticeWatching

The school to prison pipeline

QuestionIs leaving school early linked to later contact with the criminal justice system in South Africa, and does any policy address it?

01HealthWatching

NHI and the trust deficit

QuestionWill South Africans trust the health system that National Health Insurance asks them to move towards?

03HealthWatching

Postgraduate depression

QuestionWhat happens to graduates' mental health after study ends, and whose responsibility is it?

08HealthWatching

Climate anxiety

QuestionHow is climate change affecting the mental health of young South Africans, and is the mental health system ready for it?

Revisit dates exclude weekends and South African public holidays. How the work is done is on the method page, and every verified figure is on The Numbers.