In a bid to counter rhino poaching for their horns, the horns are being given
non-lethal toxic infusions so that consumers overseas will risk becoming seriously ill. There are many people in this country who probably wish that the infusions were lethal, so that the trade dries up altogether.
Meanwhile, our president is a bit miffed over what he terms
newspapers' 'selective' reporting. Well, what about giving us a complete and believable account of how 13 of our troops ended up dead in the CAR?
Have you flown SAA recently? No, nor have I - but quite a bit of my tax monies are going to the airline anyway. One who is not taking it lying down is Comair's Erik Venter, who's
flying high as his court battle looms. Quite rightly, in the eyes of a great many people, he's sick of seeing our inefficiently run national carrier being bailed out by the billions. Private and state airlines in SA should compete on a level playing field - and that's not what is happening now.
Feeling like you're being taxed into poverty? Join the club - because you have contributed your bit to
SARS collecting R814bn in taxes for the 2012/13 fiscal year. That's R4bn more than what Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had projected when he delivered the National Budget in February.
Any chance firm measures - more than merely meaningless words - can be taken to ensure ALL of our hard-earned cash is used properly? You know... not stolen, not misspent, not wasted on new ministers' cars and luxury travel and luxury accommodation... and parties?
Finally, Zando.co.za, together with its partners Bizcommunity.com, Build-A-Bear Workshop, CourierIT, Dialogue and Infidels have set up a campaign to
get those less fortunate school kids shoes in time for winter. Join in - do the right thing.
Rod Baker: Content Director
Submit your company news to
financenews@bizcommunity.com. Exclusive contributions may be sent to
contributors-finance@bizcommunity.com.
The Sanlam Group has announced the appointment of Dawie de Villiers as CEO of Sanlam Employee Benefits (SEB). Previously CEO of SEB's structured solutions business, De Villiers took on the new role on 1 March and is responsible for providing strategic leadership to the business and its five key units. 
Sanlam Emerging Markets (SEM)‚ a division within the Sanlam group tasked with international expansion‚ says it is well on track to deliver on its mandate of supporting the Sanlam group objective of becoming a leading financial services company in selected emerging markets. 
PesaPoint Limited on Friday, 5 April 2013, clarified that its fleet of ATMs deployed across the country have been EMV-Chip compliant for over three years now. The payment networks company said its focus was now upgrading the agency banking network which serves over 30 banks to be in compliance with the standard. 
It's gratifying to see that when the SA Revenue Service comes knocking the money it collects doesn't just go to buying piles of The New Age newspaper for security guards at the SABC and Eskom to prop their coffee on. 
White men living in Gauteng are the highest earners in South Africa, with young African women in Limpopo the lowest, the SA Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday (2 April). 
Standard Bank has signed a R20bn funding support agreement for renewable energy projects in South Africa with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). 
Trading conditions continued to deteriorate and the growth in retail sales volumes slowed during the first quarter of 2013‚ the Ernst & Young/Bureau for Economic Research (BER) retail survey revealed on Monday (8 April). 
Some days Erik Venter must wonder what he's got himself into. After 17 years in one of the toughest businesses there is, he still gets up every morning and drives to Comair's head office at OR Tambo International Airport for another day of oil prices that cruise as high as any airline, a major competitor on a permanent drip-feed from the state, and the drag of a prolonged global recession. 
For the first time, a South African auction house will be putting a work by Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall on the block. 
The seasonally adjusted Kagiso Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) lost 4.3 points to 49.3 in March after moving above the key 50-point mark to 53.6 in February‚ data on Tuesday (2 April) showed. 
A wave of wildcat mining strikes that gripped South Africa last year caused a R12bn shortfall in much-needed state revenue, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said Wednesday (3 April). 
PRETORIA: Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has appointed retired Constitutional Court judge, Justice Zak Yacoob, to head up an enquiry into allegations of impropriety made against South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Oupa Magashula. 
LONDON, UK: Millions of emails and leaked records from offshore tax havens have exposed the identities of thousands of holders of offshore accounts, including the family of the president of Azerbaijan and French President Francois Hollande's one-time campaign treasurer, The Guardian and Le Monde newspapers reported on Thursday (4 April). 
WASHINGTON, USA: The mobile phone turned 40 on Wednesday (3 April), with no fanfare to mark the occasion in a market which seemed focused on new smartphones like the iPhone and a possible Facebook-themed device. 
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has collected R814.1bn in the 2012/13 financial year‚ R4bn above the R810.2bn target set by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in February's budget‚ the Revenue Service said on Tuesday (2 April). 
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba on Tuesday (2 April) received the long-term turnaround strategy for SA Airways (SAA), his office said. 
93 pages
