Business
Snippets:
A newspaper reported that Transnet had made a mistake in rehiring errant CEO Gama – a mistake!
The taxi industry declares itself ready for regulation – amazing!
Eskom accepts renewable energy then discovers this that its network cannot handle a greater supply. Oops!
Xenophobia in Gauteng dictates who may be employed – are immigrants not generally the braver/better souls in a society and therefore worth gaining? The real issue is control of who comes in – a pipe dream.
The SABC is desperately casting around for others to collect its revenue: do you remember that politicians dumped the idea of encoding signal to ensure that those who connect, pay? Clearly unreasonable!
Traffic fines by WhatsApp: why not? It’s cheap, quick and everyone uses it – as opposed to registered letters which, practically speaking, have ceased to exist.
Cell C is going down the drain – to the detriment of the empowerment dreams that went with it.
There are, at the margins, positive things happening… but I want to see more before I turn bullish on South Africa… The main issue is the absolute wastage that takes place through corruption, and that there are no consequences… those consequences must be furious… We’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel…
Piet Viljoen, Chairperson – RECM
The above sounds, and is, grim, however, there’s hope and at lower levels the pushback against corruption appears to be gaining momentum. Mr Magashule is (if guilty) the obvious target at the top level – if he’s prosecuted it will illustrate a commitment which all of us hold in doubt. Mr Zuma is a lost case.
Different: most companies make it difficult for employees to leave. King Price will pay an employee R50k, plus his first month’s salary, to leave if, directly after starting, he is miserable at work. The thinking is refreshing in that it only wants positive people to work there. Having fun rubs off on others and clients.
Property
It is common knowledge that property prices are down and that the middle sector of our housing market is buying rather than renting. The result is that, as conveyancers, we are working bed*nnered! Marketers talk up a rise in homeowner sentiment but, on examination, the rise is marginal i.e. 1%: desperation marketing or a trend? Flat rentals show an 11% vacancy rate.
Part of the whole discourse is a grouping that believes that one should sell now as prices will inevitably drop as affordability issues bite.
Yesteryears darling, the listed property sector, is 50% down.
Snippets:
The investigation into timeshare, ongoing for some years, has not yet been put to bed. Clearly a hard nut to crack.
eThekwini has launched a 350 ha/ R10bn development on the old Corobrik site adjacent to Durban North.
Dispute resolution in community schemes: Reference
Much more fun are the following:
Our state has at last un-clenched on state-owned farmland and will release some 530,000 ha for land reform. Good – kudos to Ms Didiza.
The incestuous relationship between conveyancers and estate agents is (again) up for debate: there are many of us who buy work in one way or another – do you really want your reputation to be based on buttkissing? Reference
The fact is that default top-end sales commissions are indecently high and estate agents routinely give discounts on such sales. But wait, there’s more (see below).
Practice
Conveyancing is expensive and I do not think that the practice of subsidising bottom-end transactions by loading top-end transfers is sustainable. The fact is that top-end transfers mostly warrant a discount while bottom-end transactions are best avoided.
What leads me to this train of thought is having perused a Gauteng practice’s account this past week: the costs were clearly padded and were clearly excessive.
This in turn is prompted by a synopsis of our Law Reform Commission’s recommendations on legal fees, which was published this week. Suggestions, described as ground-breaking, entails, amongst other things, that attorney-and-client fees be equated with party-and-party fees in litigious matters and that the poor would pay on a lower scale than the wealthy. See above!
The result is predictable – you would have to force the profession to take on non-paying work! If you do so, attention to detail might, ahem, be wanting? Reference
Bêtes noires of mine are:
The practice of declaring current estate values, in accrual antenuptial contracts, as zero to achieve an equal division of estates on divorce. This is not true and will potentially end as a dispute on divorce. If this is what is desired, simply say so instead of abusing a standard form to achieve the desired result.
Transfers to family, of property at under value: SARS routinely assess at a higher value and the transfer goes through on that basis. No thought, by those seek to save transfer duty, is given to the potential 20% donations tax which might follow.
I have not been able to find the judgement, but a report in News24, at the beginning of this month, held that intestate inheritances had been extended to opposite sex spouses by the Western Cape High Court. Confirmation by the Constitutional Court will need to follow. I would think a cinch.
Shorts:
May an employer a substitute the sanction imposed by disciplinary chairman? Reference
Better hide your glass on the zoom meeting! You should not dop during working hours at home: Reference
The JSE has recommended that Judge Parker (Western Cape High Court) be sanctioned (will his boss ever be?)
Quotables
If you wish to seek peace of mind and happiness, then believe.
If you wish to be a disciple of truth, then investigate.
Nietzsche
Comment
I have a dream – a line most older people would remember; ex Martin Luther King. Great leaders inspire rather than just plan. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. Not because we must, but because we want to. Worth a listen: Reference
Hallelujah! Pope Francis is set to take the Catholic Church out of the Middle Ages: “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.”
