Thought Leadership
Paul Clark answers whether the forum is just a ‘talk shop’ as many people feel. So, in a whirlwind of open forums, workshops, meetings, networking and a cultural soirée, the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa 2015 is over for another year. You may well ask what it achieved. Despite...
Author Archives: Michael Spiro
Taxability of Severance Benefits
It is important for all employees who are subject to a retrenchment and receive severance benefits to understand that the first R500,000-00 is not subject to tax in certain circumstances. If your employer has stopped or is intending to stop trading, or if the employer is embarking on a general...
The Legal Cost of Strike Action
I’ve recently been involved on behalf of an employer who had to face an incredibly destructive, illegal and unprotected strike at the workplace. This strike was damaging to both the business and the employees and it will take many years for both parties to recover. Despite warning the unions insisted...
The Forthcoming Minimum Wage
South Africa has the notorious honour of being a country with one of the greatest levels of unemployment and in particular enormous unemployment amongst the youth. Over and above this it is well known that South Africa is one of the worst in the world when it comes to hiring...
“STRESS A DANGER TO HEALTH”
Att: THE EDITOR – CAPE ARGUS YOUR EDITION TUESDAY 14TH JULY 2015 What is important for everyone at the workplace to note is that leave is an essential part of employment. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act specifically requires each and every employee to take 21 consecutive days leave per...
KEY PETROSA EXECUTIVES FINALLY SUSPENDED
ATT: THE EDITOR – BUSINESS DAY Email: busday@bdfm.co.za It is good to note two of the executives are going to be properly investigated however, our experience with the government and all the parastatals is that people are normally suspended without the proper process and are also kept suspended for many,...
FAILURE IS BECOMING A WAY OF LIFE IN SA
ATT: THE EDITOR – BUSINESS DAY Email: busday@bdfm.co.za Failure is becoming a way of Life in South Africa. We see it in the Eskoms, the SAA’s and the SABC, but these are just the high profile failures. We see widespread failure in education where learners who fail are promoted to...
COSATU AND ITS PROBLEMS. HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY?
Yesterday, NUMSA was unable to approach the High Court on an urgent basis to overturn its expulsion from COSATU. Furthermore, the National Union of Mineworkers had its 15th National Congress where a new General Secretary was elected, and where the South African Communist Party had a large role to play....
TRADE UNION INSTABILITY
TO: THE EDITOR – BUSINESS DAY Email: busday@bdfm.co.za We are on the road to seeing a new trade union umbrella body which will lead to the weakening of Cosatu but to probably more demands from the individual unions. It also appears that this new umbrella body and Cosatu itself are...
Maimane ushers in new era for DA as Party tries to Woo Black Voters
Att: The Editor – Business Day Your edition Monday 11th May 2015 refers. The article “Maimane ushers in new era for DA as Party tries to Woo Black Voters” is missing the main thrust behind the party’s way forward. The reality is in fact a party that is forward thinking...