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. As Johannes Möller, president of Agri SA says:
"The 52% increase in the minimum wage for farmworkers, as announced by the Minister Oliphant ... will have drastic implications for this sector and related industries." It's also as well for farmworkers and Cosatu to realise once and for all, that it is government that sets the minimum wage.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has
vowed to strengthen public order policing, and says public order policing in South Africa needs to reflect the ethos of human rights and dignity. Not before time, but it will be an uphill battle, given the somewhat less than stellar record when it comes to police brutality directed at the public, suspects and protesters... Tatane and Marikana spring to mind.
One cannot help but feel that Eskom knows that they will never get the massive hikes they are demanding, but on the basis of go in high and settle for less, the
Eskom public hearings kicked off in Gauteng. More than one player pointed out what impact such hikes will have on poverty, investment and a range of other issues, if granted.
Perhaps one of the first things Eskom could do is stop placing ads on TV telling us how great they are and how they care about us.
Chris Moerdyk asks whether there is
light at the end of the Telkom tunnel, and points that perhaps... there is... and that is good news for consumers who for decades have been subjected to call and internet costs that are way out of kilter with what is reasonable.
Rod Baker: Content Director
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Goodyear has recently announced that it intends to leave the farm tyre business in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The project remains subject to consultation with the European Central Works Council and relevant countries' employee representative bodies where required. 
A new-look Rainbow Chicken is taking shape amid enthusiasm from investors who have boosted its share price by a third since November. Driving the change is Rainbow's R1bn acquisition of Foodcorp and a R3,9bn rights issue, setting the scene for more positive developments. 
Local cement manufacturers maintain that importers are bringing sub-standard and underweight bags of cement into SA. 
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: Troubled telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson said it was confident about prospects this year as more operators boost network capacity to meet growing demand for video streaming services such as YouTube. 
WASHINGTON, USA: BlackBerry's new smartphone platform launched this week faces an uphill battle to win back corporate and government users who helped spawn the "crackberry" culture, analysts say. 
TOKYO, JAPAN: Japanese automotive giant Toyota said Wednesday (30 January) it would recall more than 900,000 vehicles in Canada, Japan, Mexico and the United States because of an airbag problem. 
PARIS, FRANCE: A French appeal court has suspended a restructuring plan involving 8,000 job cuts at Peugeot Citroen after court action brought by the CGT union according to the lawyer acting for the workers Fiodor Rilov. 
SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Microsoft on Tuesday (29 January) began letting people subscribe to Office as a service in the Internet cloud, shedding the need to buy the popular productivity software on a disk. 
The new minimum wage for farm workers is R105 a day, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant announced on Monday (4 February). 
South Africa will miss the 2015 deadline to convert its analog broadcasting signal to digital, according to a report. 
In a dramatic about turn, the government is set to implement its jobs-for-youth plan despite opposition to it by sections of the ANC and its alliance partners. 
