Posts tagged with 'south africa'

 

Unlawful R420m Gupta VAT refund – Sars legal head fired with immediate effect

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Revenue service Sars said on Friday it had terminated the services of its head of legal, Refiloe Mokoena, with immediate effect.

It said the decision was taken after a disciplinary hearing chaired by a senior counsel from the Johannesburg Bar.

Sars said Mokoena was found guilty of serious misconduct.

“Sars has accepted the chairperson’s recommendation of immediate dismissal and her services have been terminated with effect from today, November 15 2019,” Sars said.

BusinessLIVE reported in October that Mokoena, who was allegedly at the centre of granting the controversial Gupta family a reported R420m VAT refund, had been suspended.

It said Mokoena was asked by Sars in September to supply reasons why she should not be suspended by the tax agency over the Gupta refunds. Mokoena was one of five executives who were placed on precautionary suspension in recent months pending the conclusion of their disciplinary processes.

In October, Sars announced t
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ANC-regime needs to take notice – The cost of violent protests has spiked 100 fold in a decade

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The number – and size – of insurance claims filed with state-owned political risk insurer Sasria (the South African Special Risks Insurance Association) show just how much violent protests are costing South Africa.

In 2007, after nearly four years of economic growth of over 5%, Sasria received 540 claims worth R14 million for damage as a result of violent protests. Most of those claims were related to labour action.

By 2018 the number of claims had spiked more than 10 times, to 5,543 claims. But the increase in the value of the claims was a hundredfold, to R1.4 billion. Most of those claims were related to service-delivery protests, pointing to a failure of local government.

Protests and road closures have become a daily occurrence across South Africa as marginalised communities take to the street in the belief that they only get noticed when causing damage to public and private property.

There is also a worrying rise in sabotage, with a large number of
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Death bells are ringing for SAA due to impending strike

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The impending strike at SAA by the SA Cabin Staff Association and Numsa could mean the end of the airline. In the meantime, the Pilot Association announced that they supported the idea and that the state entity’s overall top management should be replaced. Furthermore, they threatened to act if a Chief Executive with no experience aviation experience and knowledge are appointed.

The imminent strike comes after SAA announced that a restructuring will take place to make the entity more cost effective. The SAA’s enormous debt burden means that it has no choice but to lay off about 1,000 staff members, but the unions threaten to call a large-scale strike if retrenchments continue.

Persons who will use SAA’s services on Friday 15 November 2019 were advised to make alternative arrangements as all flights for Friday and Saturday were canceled considering the impending strike.

The SAA is technically bankrupt, and if a strike is now called, it will ring the death bells.
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Refugees say they feel unsafe in SA – You’re not alone! Even SA citizens feel unsafe in the country

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Hundreds of refugees from African countries living in South-Africa say they feel extremely unsafe in the country, especially after being constantly harassed and sabotaged by local residents.

The strangers are currently housed in the “Central Methodist Church of Cape Town and are now looking for ways to get out of the country to a safer place like Canada.

The people previously lived in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but were later taken there when they were attacked by locals.

South Africa once again became the mousetrap of the world when reports of xenophobic attacks on refugees were released.

The refugees demand that the ANC regime should take them to a safer country at state expense, but there is disagreement about where to go.

Many people ask that they be transferred to Canada where there are no such unsafe conditions.

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Livestock actions banned in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo following outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease – consumers can prepare themselves for some hefty price increases for meat products

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TAU SA is shocked after the announcement that livestock auctions in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West have been suspended until further notification by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. This announcement follows after the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Molemole district of Limpopo.

“This is a big blow to the livestock and game farmers in the country, who are already being forced to their knees by the drought,” says Mr. Henk van de Graaf, the regional chairman of TAU SA Norht. “The sale of herds was the only remaining solution for farmers who no longer have food for their animals and now this way of escape is also removed.”

TAU SA realizes that serious action must now be taken to prevent the highly contagious disease but they do not believe that suspending auctions will solve the problem. Rather, the government must ensure that the measures originally put in place must be strictly adhered to and implemented to prevent foot-and-m
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NBF chief executive earns more than the president – Taxpayers finance public servants’ lavish lifestyles

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According to the DA, Philisiwe Mthethwa, CEO of the National Empowerment Fund (NBF) is probably the highest paid civil servant in South Africa.

Mthethwa receives a combined salary package of more than R6 million during the previous financial year. “That’s R2 million more than Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa earns “said Dean Macpherson, DA MP and shadow minister of trade and industry.

She has been the “highest paid civil servant” for several years and her package includes a R2 million bonus. “Her massive salary is shocking, given that the NBF has very little money to do its job and that the entity cannot explain the CEO’s excessive salary.

“The NBF was established in 1998 to provide capital financing to black entrepreneurs and while their initial work has shown success after receiving government funding, repeated budget cuts have left the organization without money, except for their overpaid executives. They all receive a combined total salary of more than R17 millio
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Malema says AgriSA’s ‘ugly white males’ show who owns SA’s land

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Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema had harsh words for the panel who delivered a media briefing on AgriSA’s latest drought report.

“Just look at this ugly picture of white males, a clear indication of who owns the land in our country,” he said of the panel, which appeared to feature only one person who wasn’t white.

Regardless of the racial make-up of those who shared news on SA’s water situation at the briefing, the news certainly wasn’t good.

According to the body, who held the briefing on Tuesday, both rural economies and the country’s agriculture industry as a whole are threatened by prevailing drought conditions.

Farmers are facing losses, potential foreclosure by banks, and the attachment of farms due to ongoing drought.

“As a country, we are not managing climatic disasters very well. We have a lot of work to do. Drought can change our status as a food-secure country,” said head of AgriSA disaster management Will
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Capitec director gets rid of all his shares

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Capitec director, Jean Pierre starred, sold all his shares on Tuesday. That was 5,000 shares at a total of R7.2m. He said it was a personal decision to sell now.

Pierre, one of the best-known short sellers in South Africa, became an independent non-executive director of Capitec at the beginning of 2015. Before long, he was outspoken in his criticism of African Bank, which collapsed in 2014.

The money generated from the sale is believed to be used by Pierre for the new hedge fund company he recently started, Protea Capital Management.

He does not intend to resign as Capitec’s director. Well-known fund manager Piet Viljoen noted on Twitter that Verster sold his shares.

Acoording to Iress Capitec’s share price was trading at its highest level of R1 455.29 on Tuesday.

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Court deals Soweto residents who wants to pay a flat tarrif of R150 a month for electricity a blow by striking case off the roll

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Soweto owes R20bn to power provider Eskom, but residents of the township only want to pay R150 a month for their power. Mpho Sesedinyane, ANC councilor and chair of the South African National Civic Organization (Sanco) in Soweto, feels that R150 is a fair amount and that, given the state of the economy, the residents can only afford to pay this much a month for power.

However, Eskom rejected the proposal of a fixed power tariff of R150 per month for electricity. Eskom spokesperson Reneilwe Semenya said this proposal by community leaders in Soweto was unrealistic and residents had to pay for what they consumed. He also referred to the Johannesburg High Court which on Tuesday rejected an application to restore power supply to Soweto and allow residents to pay a flat rate for power.

Soweto owes R20 billion of the R420 billion owed to the Johannesburg metro power supplier. Semenya believes that if a fixed power tariff is set, it will certainly give rise to a culture
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Junk Status looms – Implementation of NHI will have disastrous consequences for SA economy

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AfriForum today sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize warning the civil rights organization that the implementation of national health insurance (NHI) could eventually lead to the downgrading of the country’s credit rating to junk status .

This comes after the credit rating agency Moody’s recently downgraded South Africa’s credit rating from a stable to a negative outlook. The reason for this downgrade according to Mood is the bleak growth prospects and growing public debt. In its letter, AfriForum argues that unaffordable, ideological policies such as the NHI will lead to South Africa being downgraded to junk status, as the country simply cannot fund it.

“To continue with the implementation of the NHI will not only be disastrous for the South African economy; it will also inflate government debt to levels that will make it impossible to escape the downgrade to junk status in the foreseeabl
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