Focus: Blockchain technology for government procurement #A must or a maybe?

South African government supply chain and procurement processes are often marred by irregularities and allegations of corruption which are reported annually by the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) and other bodies, as well as the media. Of even greater concern is the lack of (quality) service delivery that often results from these irregularities and corruption, and…

Feature: Facing the future of work

The decline in permanent jobs following the COVID-19 pandemic is likely here to stay. We must therefore find new ways for young people to reliably enter and stay within the labour market. The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on employment in South Africa saw a five-percentage point fall in the proportion of employed youth,…

Feature: Accountants and accountability

Accountability – it’s a word often thrown around. We want to hold management accountable, government accountable, students accountable and NGOs accountable. But what about holding ourselves accountable? Accounting is, at its core, a mechanism of accountability. History has numerous examples where a lack of accountability led to economic, financial and even political crises. But why,…

Focus: How do decentralised digital identities (DIDs) work on Ethereum?

Blockchain technology allows users to create and manage digital identities through the combination of three components: decentralised identifiers, identity management and embedded encryption. A digital identity arises organically from the use of personal information on the web and from the shadow data created by the individual’s actions online. A digital identity may be a pseudonymous…