So where are our taxes going? - 19 Feb 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] According to an article by Amanda Visser, fewer than half of government departments are able to provide "credible and quality information" in their financial reports. Quoting auditor-general Terence Nombembe, it seems state finances are regressing. It's bad enough when we hear of our tax monies being wasted through the need (call that greed) of individuals within government deciding to spend millions on parties, luxury cars, first-class travel and so on, but it's almost worse when even the auditor-general has an issue with the departments and municipalities' accounting standards, and we then don't know where money is going or how it is being spent or wasted. Do you want to know what the best programs to protect passwords are? Subhash Chandra has some suggestions for you. On the aquaculture front, the environmental impact guideline for aquaculture has been published for public comment. read more SA business school ranks among world’s best - 12 Feb 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] Our basic education system might be, what many people reckon, somewhat of a shipwreck, but there are centres of excellence of which we can be very proud. In this case it is UCT's Graduate School of Business that is one of them - it has held its ground in two global MBA ratings. There's always someone, isn't there... read more The wages of sin - 5 Feb 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] No business can survive by selling its products for less than it costs to produce those same products. Hence, Agri SA reckons that the just-announced minimum wages for farmworkers will drive farmers to make tough decisions. read more Beware the angry jobless… - 29 Jan 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] We're all aware of the unemployment problem in this country, but other than thousands and thousands of words, the issue has not seen any great change, but now a warning has been sounded... Evan Pickworth, addressing an economic conference last week pointed out a stark warning on the potential threat we face in the form of rebellion by a jobless youth, desperate and frustrated. We need to sit up and take notice - and then actually do what is needed to defuse what could be a very explosive situation. On the mobile front, Mark Schefermann looks at the future of the mobile voice. So why were they closed in the first place? After years of calls from various quarters to re-open the teacher training colleges, which the government closed soon after taking power, the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande has now announced that teacher training colleges are to re-open. read more Tricky disputes - 22 Jan 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] Are you a sectional title owner living under seemingly unconstitutional rules or involved in a tricky dispute? Need some legal advice? Marina Constas, a director of BBM Attorneys and co-author of the book, Demystifying Sectional Title is offering a free half-hour consultation to sectional title owners during the last week of February, dubbing it Sectional Title Week. University of the Free State chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen has told first-year students he is ashamed of South Africa, it was reported on Monday, 21 January. "I'm ashamed of South Africa. read more Welcome back - 15 Jan 2013[Rod Baker: Content Director] Well, Mangaung has come and gone - as has the end of the world, the festive season and New Year, and we've survived them all and now we're back on stream with our newsletters. Taking centre stage has been the violent protests by farmworkers in the Western Cape. These protests need to be brought to an end; they're damaging Brand SA and have the potential to seriously curb exports (and hence foreign earnings) as customers overseas turn to more reliable suppliers. On the education front, the Matric pass rate increased to 73.9% but critics are asking whether a requirement of 30% to pass is enough to equip school-leavers with an adequate standard of education. read more Thank you for your support in 2012 - 18 Dec 2012[Rod Baker: Content Director] Today sees our last newsletters for 2012, with the first of our new industry newsletters to be published on 15 January 2013, but we will keep on updating the new industry portals over the festive season. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support; our subscribers across all our portals continue to grow; in fact, in our new industries alone, we are now closing in on 70,000 subscribers, and for that we thank you. We want to wish all of you a very enjoyable end-of-year break and - assuming the world doesn't end on Friday (You've heard about the predictions around the Mayan calendar, right?) - we wish you a highly successful 2013. All the best from the Bizcommunity team! read more Cool Beanz - 11 Dec 2012[Rod Baker: Content Director] It's going to be a good festive season for Jelly Beanz after they were handed a cheque for R500,000 by Bernhard Maier, a member of Porsche's executive board. It's the second sizeable donation by Porsche in as many years. On the agriculture front, farmers and unions have been urged to negotiate in good faith. read more Labour unrest: SA faces decisive choices - 4 Dec 2012[Rod Baker: Content Director] Agri SA says that the choices on labour unrest will be decisive for South Africa. read more Let's support the little guy - 27 Nov 2012[Sindy Peters: Group Head, Content] Not only large corporates need to engage in CSI / CSR, says MD of PR Worx, Madelain Roscher, SMEs need to get involved as well. According to Roscher, companies will see benefits in terms of brand recognition, increased sales, return on investment (ROI), tax benefits, and, most importantly, fostering trust with employees and the general public - all that while contributing to a greater good... What are you waiting for?! Remember the ladies in orange at the 2010 FIFA World Cup who were accused of ambushing marketing for Bavaria? Well, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has warned that he'll be having none of that during AFCON 2013. Davies plans to designate the sporting event as a "protected event" to ensure stringent advertising laws are enforced. Former MTN CEO Phuthuma Nhleko is a wanted man - wanted by Anglo American that is, to take the helm. While chairman John Parker sings his praises, a London-based mining analyst doesn't believe him to be the right man for the job, citing lack of operational mining experience. It's not often that the big guy lends a helping hand to the little start-up, but here's a little heart-warmer for you; as part of its Enterprise Development Initiative, Cape Town's Protea Hotel Victoria Junction has signed a "twinning" agreement with a local guest house in Thornton. read more Table Mountain has its day in the sun - 20 Nov 2012[Sindy Peters: Group Head, Content] Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain will officially be inaugurated as one of the New7wonders of Nature this December, and the City of Cape Town is going all out to celebrate the occasion! Expect a free concert for the public affair followed by a Table Mountain float joining a procession through the city. A big thanks must be made to SANParks for taking such good care of the South African ecological treasure! On trend with going green, the SA Post Office plans on procuring 90 electric scooters by 2015 in order to reduce it's CO2 emissions. read more The end is nigh... - 13 Nov 2012[Sindy Peters: Group Head, Content] With five more weekly newsletters to go, and just a few more sleeps until you find yourself pushing and shoving in a crowded shopping mall searching for that one last gift, the news flow is yet to slow! All 26 of our industry newsletters are jam-packed with what's what with the who's who. The annual Checkers/Shoprite Toy 4 Toy campaign launched this week, so if you have any new or used toys laying about that little Susie's outgrown, why not donate them to a less fortunate child. The campaign runs until early December. After Randall Abrahams handed over the SAMA CEO baton to Nlanhla Sibisi, the 2013 MTN South African Music Awards is now open for entries. Look out for a few category changes here and there, and have your entries in by 30 November 2012. read more We’re last in class - 6 Nov 2012[Rod Baker, content director] So what are we going to do about it? We all know our state education system is a shambles, and now that has been confirmed after SA was rated as bottom of class in maths and science. It's yet another extremely dubious "honour" this country has earned. read more e-toll uncertainty - we can’t stand it either - 30 Oct 2012[Rod Baker, content director] Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has said that the fiscus can't sustain the uncertainties around e-tolls. Well, a great many motorists and companies are also uncertain of what impact e-tolling is going to have on their monthly costs. read more SA defence industry needs investment - 23 Oct 2012[Rod Baker, content director] SA's arms industry is highly developed, but more investment is needed to keep SA in the technology race if it is to remain competitive. Not only can the sector be a far bigger foreign-exchange earner, but it can also be a far bigger generator of skills and jobs. Some of us might sometimes think of the agricultural sector as one in which technology is used in farm machinery, some farm operations, and not much else. read more |
