Who would be Koos Smit, the man selected acting CE at the embattled South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), following the ill-timed, yet understandable, resignation of Nazir Alli. Indeed, who would have liked to be Alli! There is no question that Smit, like Alli, is more than qualified to run the organisation. He is a civil engineer with more than three decades of roads experience, including being a senior member of the Sanral management team since its 1998 inception. He joined Sanral from the Department of Transport's (DoT's) Chief Directorate Roads, where he was construction and maintenance director from 1996 until the establishment of Sanral. Between 1977 and 1998, Smith occupied various positions within the DoT, including being director of toll roads from 1995 to 1996. He is a professional engineer registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Speaking at the recent United National Conference on Trade and Development Conference in Doha, Qatar, South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies again emphasised the need to promote “development integration” across Africa by combining market integration with programmes for infrastructure development. The latest version of the South African government’s Industrial Policy Action Plan also highlights how further regional integration is key to meeting South Africa’s industrial policy aspirations.

A section on global food markets contained within a special commodity markets feature in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) latest ‘World Economic Outlook’, published in April, caught my eye. The report notes that food prices declined during the second half of 2011, broadly in tandem with cyclical commodity prices, while global food inventories started to be rebuilt in 2011, owing to favorable harvest outcomes.