Economy
A very interesting development in our economic debate is the apparently growing (if grudging) acceptance of the new economic recovery strategy plan flighted by Treasury. When first released in August, this was regarded as a non-sanctioned shot in the dark. Our socialist trade unions do not seem to be on board; it figures.
If this resonates with you; Heystek is quite pessimistic on our economy: Reference
Our current tax collection shortfall on projection is R50bn. Kieswetter: “When the public loses confidence in Sars, but also in the overall system of government, they begin to feel morally justified to withhold their taxes.” (Only now?)
Business
“The government respondents have conveniently opted to remain supine throughout, including before this court.” The case that follows is a classic example of repeated and ongoing bugger-ups by the Department of Mineral Resources which, instead of fixing things, ducks. Actually quite disturbing: Reference
FOMO now JOMO (the joy of missing out); stay home, hygge. Look it up. This is reflective of a trend towards a work-live-play culture and envisions homes for business or semi-business use.
Discovery led us in incentive-based behaviour change which would lead to client betterment, great profits et cetera. A deliciously simple and heady formula, now possibly found wanting?
Yo! The Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals want a substantial portion of SA retirement savings to be compulsorily channelled through its membership. This is similar to saying that one must invest one’s savings in SOEs.
WTF? The Times reports that 100 senior officials at Eskom are refusing to undergo security vetting processes. Generally speaking, if one has nothing to hide… In fact, it is also reported that some 50% of the SOEs’ supply chain officials have not yet been vetted.
57% of those students qualifying for university admission now come from schools in low-income communities. This is an achievement which should be celebrated.
“Now is the triumph of the voluptuous, the cheaters and the confidence-men; the era of conspicuous consumption and shameful tax evasion, of banksters and fraudsters, of tax heavens, and health insurance hell, has come.” It’s great to know that Uncle Sam also has tax problems! Reference
Again White Pages Online sent me an invite to subscribe. They cheat: subscription appears to be free but the fine print reflects a fee of R9540; and no, they are not VAT registered! This means that they cheat, have fewer than 100 customers or are utterly useless!
A Tzaneen entrepreneur has developed a method of using moist eucalyptus for roof construction: consider that E grandis takes about seven years to mature whilst an equivalent pine tree would take some 25 years. Reference
Huawei sales have surged by 24% this year. Uncle Sam may just have empowered a competitor in the cell phone market.
Property
Statistics from BetterBond show that, over the past 12 months, 52% of all home loan applications were received from first-time buyers. Aside from applications, some 48% of home loan approvals went to such applicants. BetterBond’s average home purchase price now stands at R982k, with the average age for grantees in this group at 36. It appears that favourable pricing (sellers getting less) drives this (transitory?) spike.
In the same vein is a rise in pressure -related (read affordability) selling which is up from 39 to 46% in the last quarter. The greatest number of such sellers are from Tshwane, at 56 percent and Cape Town at 55%. Interestingly, KZN appears to be the exception, this province also appears to have the strongest commercial property market of the major metros.
FNB echoes the rise in SA banks home-loan mortgage lending at a 4.9% y-o-y growth, the highest since November 2010.
Voetstoots (yawn) is an evergreen topic in property sales: Reference
Practice
The brouhaha surrounding a possible presidential pardon for activist Cekeshe, who was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, continues: ‘Kanya Cekeshe must be freed, whatever it takes.’ Fikile Mbalula, ‘nuff said Honourable Minister, like Brutus.
Y-o-y liquidation numbers are up in Q3 by 22%.
The CCMA forecasts a 25% rise in retrenchments, blamed on primarily technological advancements!
Construction contracts are beyond the ken of most general practitioners. If you require an arbitrator in such a dispute, contact me; I can you refer you to an expert engineer in this field. As regards the cancellation of such contracts : Reference
A writer under the nom de plume Prof Balthazar, noted that the increasingly commonplace criticism of our judiciary, weakens one of the key pillars of our constitutional democracy. Was
I have been sent a copy of the latest Employment Law Alert by Lexinfo. It appears to be an excellent summation of this law niche containing references to a case on derivative misconduct, freedom of expression, and several very interesting articles et cetera. I can send you one copy (I don’t think that the publisher will mind if this is done once only as an exploratory read) on request.
all work and no pay: we complain that the NPA does not work. 57 of its deputy directors were entitled to an overdue promise of a salary and benefit increases, due since 2007, ruled the Gauteng High Court this week.
You will recall that the Bondev decision classified a positive obligation (registered against a title deed) to build a home within a specified time as a real right. I hold an article by Freedman (UKZN) in which he criticises this decision. Ask me for a copy.
Quotables
“African nations started in dreams, became overwhelmed by reality and stumbled upon a nightmare…”
Prof Ben Okri
“It is very difficult to dispel ignorance if you retain arrogance.”
Sam Wilson on how the war in Vietnam was fought
Comment
Drivel: “To my great regret, for personal reasons, I am unable to attend [Zuma’s] court appearance today. It is the first time since he started to go through this unjust ordeal that I can’t attend.” Carl Niehaus
We are so immersed in the present that we can often not judge what is happening against the background of history. I came across the following this week; reading on hypocrisy: ”Revolutionaries impose exactingly high levels of personal disciplines on their adherents. In particular, they demand complete, ‘sincere’, singular subjectivities from which any trace of sympathy for the past and any trace of doubleness has been expunged. … The centred, revolutionary present is always simple and singular;”
James Simpson wrote this on church revolution; yet his statement seems valid for politics also.
