South Africa shows signs of progress with improved electricity and business confidence, yet it must rigorously evaluate policies and programmes to address persistent economic and social challenges.

South Africa may be at an inflection point. After years of load shedding, collapsing infrastructure and falling investor confidence, recent commentary by Adrian Enthoven and Johan Fourie highlights that the country could finally be turning the corner.

Electricity availability has improved, key logistics reforms are advancing and business confidence, long suppressed, is beginning to thaw. With Operation Vulindlela pushing structural reforms and renewed cooperation between government and business, a sense of cautious optimism is emerging, and there appears to be a change in momentum (a "vibe shift" as Fourie puts it).

But moments like these are precarious. The question now is whether South Africa can convert early signs of progress into sustained improvement, or whether we will regress into stagnation.

Because, even with momentum, the underlying challenges are immense. Economic growth is still sluggish and unemployment is catastrophically high at 31.9%. At the same time, reading-for-meaning among young learners remains shockingly low, and the country is one of the most, if not the most, unequal in the world. These challenges are deep and longstanding.

At a time when fiscal constraints are tight and more than 20% of government revenue goes to debt service costs, we cannot...