Welcome to My Blog
Articles and advice on all things legalSnippet 2023 – 09
Economy and business Our economy is taking a pounding; this has happened before, but the greater threat is that our outlook for recovery is bleak. Consider the following graph and you will note that ours is the only one of the countries listed for which the IMF...
Snippet 2023 – 08
Economics / business I chanced upon a term which wonderfully describes our economic situation i.e., polycrises: a convergence in South Africa of once-in-a-generation risks such as the Ukraine war, the recent pandemic and a confluence of self-disruptions such as...
Snippet 2023 – 07
Economy / business The IMF has cut its forecast for global GDP in the next two years by 0.1 percentage and, worse, warned that South Africa’s fiscal position could deteriorate.That organisation has predicted our economic growth to be 0.1% for this year. The fact is...
Snippet 2023 – 06
Economy and business The PIC says that blackouts has reduced the size of our economy by a fifth since 2008. This ,and other policy and political issues (naturally in this country!), has resulted in our GDP growth forecasts for this year, ranging from an optimistic...
Snippet 2023 – 05
Economy and business We are on the cusp of a mild recession, and this is reflected in our latest global financial ranking. In such circumstances, businesses plan according to Treasury and SARB predictions. The question we should ask ourselves is whether these...
Snippet 2023 – 04
Economy There is little fresh that a layperson (yes, I am PC) can say about our economy which has not been aired in the past week. What remains is to step back – consider the following graph drawn from Statista: This, accompanied by our debt service costs, drawn from...
Snippet 2023 – 03
Economy There is little, which is favourable, to report on our economy. The fact is that our country, at most levels, has deteriorated under the current political leadership. This has led to not only the immediate disastrous results (a projected two quarter “technical...
Snippet 2023 – 02
Economy The IMF has raised its growth outlook for the world economy to a GDP of 2.9%. Slower than expected but still good news. Predictions for the South African GDP are all over the place, but appears to be in the order of 1%, which is better than a recession but...
Snippet 2023 – 01
Economy 2023: Predictions by world financial giants are that this year will bring a global recession. This should bring dampened inflation and a halt in interest-rate rises. If this does happen, the dollar will probably strengthen, it being seen as a safe haven in...
Snippet 2022 – 26
Practice News: Golegal published a brief explanation of the accrual regime: Reference if the term SLAPP is new to you – the term is used for a so-called strategic lawsuit against public participation; intended to silence or intimidate critics by forcing them to run up...
Snippet 2022 – 25
Economy Not quite in time: South Africa (we rank 12th in the world as polluter) will be given R10.8bn by France and Germany to promote our green transition, which transition will probably come too late to assuage the latest Eskom report on the future of load-shedding....
Snippet 2022 – 24
Practice General news: Shades of Mr Zuma: the Mkwebane application for leave to appeal, whilst awaiting a Concourt decision, and her representative’s argument that her suspension is an act of cruelty, followed by Adv Mpofu’s withdrawal is wrong on so many fundamental...
Snippet 2022 – 23
Practice Generally: Erratum: in my last publication I reported that an underhand contract between married parties could not take precedence over an ANC. This was incorrect. A contract with no cancellation clause may still be cancelled on reasonable notice: Reference...
Snippet 2022 – 22
Practice News: In 2014 Court-Annexed Mediation was introduced in South Africa, purportedly to improve access to justice by providing a dispute resolution system which is efficient, amicable and affordable. An academic (UFS) criticises this system and suggests that the...
Snippet 2022 – 21
Practice News: Mkhwebane suffered 37 court losses in her reign to date. Her preliminary expenditure on court cases was R146m, R14m of which was spent on resisting impeachment. Her total is some five times more than her precursor, Madonsela, spent. You will recall the...
Snippet 2022 – 20
Property General news: IOL flighted a write-up which you may find interesting in terms of what purchasers want from property when they buy: Reference On the same theme – Loos describes the rise in residential building plans, passed and completed in the Western Cape,...
Snippet 2022 – 19
Economy Pipe dreams? You will recall that during last year there was much hot air spewed by politicians around the development of our eastern seaboard at Port St Johns, together with a high-speed rail link from there to Gauteng. Now it appears to be the western...
Snippet 2022 – 18
Economy This week past I was privileged to attend a talk by the Nedbank chief economist Nicky Weimar, who gave an overview on our economy, set against the world economy. Salient points raised by her were: Covid shifted consumer demand from services towards goods –...
