South Africa

2022 - 3 - 30

Post cover — Image courtesy of "BusinessTech"

5 important things happening in South Africa today (BusinessTech)

More than R89 million has been stolen from the South African Post Office through Sassa accounts. The motion of no-confidence against the Cabinet has failed.

He is amongst several Eskom officials who stand accused of fraud, money laundering and corruption regarding the Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga. The case concerns an allegedly fraudulent R745 million contract related to the construction of the Kusile power plant. The ATM’s motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa was withdrawn earlier in the day after the party refused to move the motion for debate. Concerns surrounding the UIF have been enough for their actuaries to compile a report on its long-term sustainability. - Motion of no confidence: The DA’s motion of no confidence in the Cabinet has failed in the National Assembly. Members of Parliament completed voting, with more than half of those present voting against the motion. This practice, which has been seen before, has raised concerns despite investment income ensuring that the fund remained in surplus for the nine months ending December 2021. A commission that looked into the cyber breach noted that the perpetrators would have needed a large coordinated effort and that it was likely an ‘insider threat’ due to the necessary knowledge required and the need for access to the Postbank database.

Want jobs? Reform South Africa's labour market (Mail and Guardian)

It is time to scrap minimum wage and other labour laws that make it difficult to create employment.

Addressing the problems of unemployment requires us to make big, bold decisions. The absence of minimum wage laws helps with creating those opportunities. This is a big challenge for us as we face the fundamental problems of weak education and broken infrastructure. With the current labour laws, dismissing an employee is very costly. We need to urgently rethink our public policy for the benefit of the jobless. Proposing to remove or removing the minimum wage laws would be a controversial step. Addressing the lack of competitiveness will help nurture our labour market and bolster job creation. Minimum wage laws in a country like South Africa are undesirable and must be contested by those who want to see a prosperous, competitive country. This is perplexing because our government has been doing more of this over the past two decades, and yet here we are — with astronomical unemployment rates. The expanded definition of unemployment is 46.2%. The advocates of more state involvement want the government to do “more” to create jobs. It is a classic case of history, from which not all politicians learn.

Why there has been a resurgence of respiratory diseases in South ... (News24)

People are encouraged to continue wearing masks, if feeling unwell, to avoid the circulation of viruses. For nearly two years, South Africa recorded very low ...

Here are 21 grocery items in South Africa that are more expensive in ... (BusinessTech)

The latest Household Affordability Index by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity group shows that food prices increased in March 2022 – while…

- Butternut: +12% - Oranges: +16% - Beef: +11% - Apples: +11% The national minimum wage is often only increased by headline CPI, and social grants have more recently been raised at rates far lower than CPI. The civil society initiative’s data showed that year-on-year basket prices have increased by 10.2%, far outstripping headline inflation.

How to sell plant-based food products in South Africa (How we made it in Africa)

Herbivore Earthfoods discovered the best way to get consumers to buy its meat- and dairy-free alternatives is to make products that consumers are already ...