Week 40 ending 5 October
Ben Pieters - the Business Support Specialist
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Criminals have another new target in South Africa
Malcolm Libera, reports in BusinessTech that Harcourts South Africa noted that in recent weeks, there has been a sharp rise in fraudulent activity where scammers impersonate real estate agents to exploit unsuspecting tenants.
The scams typically revolve around attractive property listings on widely used online platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and RentUncle, where properties are advertised at prices significantly below the market value. These low prices often catch the attention of individuals looking for a good deal, only for them to be ensnared by con artists.
Tenants need to be extra cautious when browsing such sites for rental properties. Prospective tenants should be aware of several key warning signs to avoid falling prey to such schemes. One of the most obvious red flags is a rental price that seems too good to be true.
Scammers may insist on receiving deposits or fees through unconventional methods, such as electronic transfers to personal bank accounts, often under the guise of securing the property quickly due to “high demand.”
Fraudsters typically use generic, impersonal language, and they may be unwilling or unable to provide verifiable contact information.
Inconsistent details about the property, vague descriptions, or reluctance to arrange in-person viewings are further signs that something may be amiss.
We all have to be particularly vigilant when viewing prospective properties to rent. A few telltale matters were highlighted to discourage funds transfers, but prospective tenants need also to guard against being followed home.
Piracy crackdown in South Africa
Myles Illidge reports in MyBroadBand that in South Africa, the punishment for viewing illegal streaming services is a fine of R5,000 or three years in jail for first-time offenders and R10,000 or five years for repeat offenders, according to the Copyright Act.
According to the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020, these punishments can apply to anyone who accesses a computer storage medium on which pirated content is kept.
They also apply to individuals who unlawfully intercept data or possess intercepted data. This includes acquiring, viewing, copying, or capturing non-public data using hardware or software.
DStv-owner MultiChoice is cracking down on illegal streaming services like Waka TV in South Africa. In raids carried out with authorities, customer details have been confiscated in some instances.
During a raid in Germiston in early September 2024, authorities seized various Waka TV equipment, including a cell phone containing the details of individuals who had paid to use the service.
The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) says several laws govern how ISPs may run their businesses. For example, they are bound by the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
“They are required to ensure that any collection and processing of personal information is lawfully done per POPIA’s provisions,” ISPA stated.
“ISPs are required by law to collect and store customer information — through the RICA customer registration process — and to make this available to law enforcement agencies, where lawfully requested to do so.” “This is very different from collecting and storing customer communications, which is not done.”
NHI battle in South Africa
Bianke Neethling reports in The Daily Investor that Criticism of the government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) plan has heated up over the past few months, and the legislation faces an uphill battle to implementation.
The NHI has been an ANC talking point and campaign promise for years but only officially became law this year. In May, shortly before the national election, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the NHI Bill into law.
The President requested Business Unity South Africa – which has opposed the government’s NHI plan since its inception – to “put forward specific proposals on the remaining issues of concern as a basis for further engagement”.
“The government remains committed to engaging with all stakeholders in good faith in the process of health-care reform and finding workable solutions that will advance quality and affordable health care for all,” the Presidency said.???
BUSA has previously described the plan as unaffordable and unconstitutional. It has also said the legislation, in its current form, is unimplementable and damaging to the country’s healthcare sector, the economy more broadly, and investor confidence.
The legislation is expected to be tied up in court for years, with trade union Solidarity having dealt the first blow.
Sections 36 to 40 of the National Health Act (NHA), which gives the government power to determine where medical practitioners practise, are invalid and unconstitutional.? Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said this ruling means parts of the NHI are likely illegal.
National strike warning for next week
Union Federation Cosatu is mobilising for a national strike on Monday, 7 October, where it aims to march against high levels of unemployment in the country, “rampant retrenchment” in the public and private sectors, the rising cost of living, and crime.
The group is also making a list of demands, including that the government drop “privatisation” strategies and stop budget cuts, or what it calls “austerity measures”.
Cas Coovadia, BUSA CEO, said that the economy is under severe strain, and the planned action will only add further pressure to the detriment of South Africa’s economic recovery.
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) expresses concern over the strike, saying that it does not believe the shutdown will address any of the challenges raised by Cosatu. “We respect the right to strike or protest, within the dictates of the law, but believe the issues raised by Cosatu are structural in nature and can be addressed through the various bilateral and multilateral processes, engagements, and partnerships underway.
BUSA said that has long advocated for reform to Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act to curb the misuse of strikes.
“These recurring protests, using outdated Nedlac certificates, place undue strain on businesses and the economy as a whole. To our knowledge, the issues being relied upon by Cosatu in the proposed strike were last discussed in NEDLAC in 2017. “No effort has been made to engage the government or business in Nedlac since then on these issues.”
BUSA said the importance of labour rights should not come at the cost of economic stability, adding that businesses are open to engaging on Cosatu’s concerns while prioritising the economy.
Roadblock crackdown in South Africa
the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has vowed to use a new ‘three-strike system’ to crack down on unroadworthy vehicles. South Africa faces an alarming road safety crisis, with unroadworthy vehicles significantly contributing to the country’s high rate of road accidents.
Every year, thousands of preventable crashes occur due to poorly maintained vehicles, endangering not only the drivers but also passengers and pedestrians.
The department added that officers at roadblocks will be looking for the following:
The JMPD said on Wednesday (2 October) that “any vehicle found with three or more defects will be immediately discontinued from operating on public roads.“
The JMPD’s message is straightforward: “Compliance is not negotiable.”
This tough stance is designed to improve road safety and reduce the number of accidents caused by vehicles that are unfit to be on the road. It also serves as a reminder to all drivers and vehicle owners to take responsibility for the condition of their vehicles.
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Prepaid electricity meter disaster looms
Hanno Labuschagne reports in MyBroadBand that more than two million prepaid electricity meters will likely become useless in less than two months unless Eskom drastically speeds up a critical software update project.
However, many of the users of these meters might currently be stealing electricity through illegal bypassing, which means they might not be impacted — at least not until Eskom or municipalities come knocking.
Eskom still needs to update about 2.9 million of its customers’ prepaid meters as part of the key revision number (KRN) rollover, while municipalities have around 600,000 outstanding.
The issue is caused by a date-linked security mechanism that counts every minute since 1 January 1993 and will run out of range next month.
Eskom and municipalities require that their customers manually update their meters by entering two codes that will update the key revision number.
With 3.61 million municipal meters already updated, about 599,645 are left to recode in the next two months.
Municipalities would have to update about 11,105 per day, yet are doing less than 6,000 at the moment.
Seems that about 285,000 municipal meters will remain un-updated.....
SARS warns of new scam targeting businesses
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has warned of the latest scam doing the rounds, using legitimate SARS employee names to direct taxpayers to dodgy sites. SARS warned that the impersonating scams are specifically targeting businesses, while individual taxpayers could also get caught in the fraud.
“The emails contain an attachment with a link where one can ‘settle an outstanding balance or debt’. A real SARS employee’s name and contact details appear on the email signature, but if you look closely, the email domain is different,” it said.
The latest scams join these others:
Examples of these scams and more can be seen on?SARS’ scams page.
All taxpayers should be aware of the following:
Tax season for individual taxpayers will be closing on 21 October 2024. The window for provisional taxpayers and trusts—the latter of which opened in mid-September—will still be open until 20 January 2025.
Climate Change Forces Starbucks Deeper into Coffee R&D
The Daily Upside Newsletter reports that the coffee-chain giant announced that it’s buying two farms in Central America to conduct research on the crop at the heart of its business.
The price of coffee has climbed and climbed this year as natural disasters upended its usual harvest cycle.
A similar story has played out with cocoa, another subtropical bean that powers mankind’s economies and emotional well-being. Starbucks’ reaction? We need to breed a super bean.
But then again, Starbucks is no ordinary café chain. It hoovers up 3% of the world’s total supply of coffee beans for its endless stream of double-short-low-fat-no-foam lattes.
This year, prices for both arabica and robusta beans shot up thanks to droughts and frost in Brazil and typhoons in Vietnam squeezing supply.
The cocoa bean market has been similarly blighted by poor crops this year, and it’s caused a major sugar withdrawal headache for confectioners. The scramble for high-quality cocoa beans has left warehouses in London with something of a poison pill problem, as the remaining stock is increasingly old beans that no one wants.
PIC chasing more than returns
Adriaan Kruger reports in MoneyWeb that whoever looks at the returns the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) achieves on the massive investment portfolio of R2.7 trillion that it invests on behalf of government employees and the Department of Labour is bound to remark that the returns are lower than those that other fund managers achieve.
The commentators usually add that the PIC should hand more money to private asset managers if not all of it. However, the PIC points out that its investment mandate includes other considerations, whether people agree with this or not.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says in his introduction to the PIC’s latest annual report that investment decisions are geared towards “striking an optimum balance among the need to deliver solid financial returns for clients, economic development in the country and the African continent, and delivering social returns: job creation, transforming the economy towards broader participation and inclusivity, and promoting environmental sustainability for the country”.
Chairman Masondo and PIC chief investment officer Kabelo Rikhotso also pointed out that the operating environment during the year to the end of March 2024 was volatile due to global events.
“Domestically, businesses of all sizes continued to face numerous headwinds, including structural challenges such as disruptions in electricity supply, as well as disruptions in the supply chain; unemployment remained persistently high; and social service delivery experienced challenges, accompanied by worsening crime levels,” says Mosondo.
Rikhotso adds:?“Major private equity funds have exited SA, fewer deals are being closed in private markets and fundraising has been difficult in both listed and unlisted markets.”
The shocking reality of money laundering in SA
Hawken McEwan reports in MoneyWeb that South Africa’s battle against crime isn’t just fought on the streets—it is waged in online meetings, boardrooms, banks, and businesses nationwide. As our crime rates surge, so does the urgency for criminals to “clean” their ill-gotten gains.
The hard truth? Your business might unwittingly be their laundromat.
Kidnapping cases have skyrocketed by 183% over nine years, with 10 826 cases recorded in 2021/2022. Drug-related crimes and illegal firearm possession have surged by over 15%, while cash-in-transit heists and truck hijackings continue to plague our communities. These are not just numbers but a stark reminder of the criminal undercurrent threatening our society.
It’s important to understand that criminals don’t just use banks to launder money. They exploit businesses in high-risk sectors, such as financial service providers, estate agents, attorneys, and vendors dealing in high-value goods.
Perpetrators often use the professional status of certain industries to make their illicit business, financial, or property transactions appear legitimate.
Estimates suggest?South African businesses launder between R16 billion and R64 billion annually. That is not just criminal money—it is a cancer eating away at our economy, distorting markets, funding criminal syndicates and undermining legitimate businesses.
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