It never ceases to amaze me how naive the government and parastatals can be. They seem to have no idea how commerce and industry works. In the article “Eskom takes collieries to task for inferior coal” (January 11), the utility is quoted as saying that there had been a marked deterioration in the quality of coal.
Has Eskom never heard of quality control? While I worked in industry, raw materials were purchased on contracts that specified the quality, every batch delivered was tested and any that failed to meet the specifications was returned.
I warrant that its suppliers know exactly what they are supplying.
The proposed peaking power plants to be built in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape also illustrate this lack of understanding of everyday operating practice.
During the environmental impact assessment, a focus meeting – attended by representatives of Eskom, the design engineers and the environmental consultants – was told that there would be no emissions.
When the question of quality control of the diesel fuel was raised, it was stated that it was not necessary. The turbine supplier was guaranteeing the plant for the full 14 years of the project. If the wrong fuel was used, the turbine blades would fail, the guarantee would not be honoured and the operator would become bankrupt. The participants could not understand why I burst out laughing.
Allan Williams.
Bothas Hill
Taxman should not force firms to fold
For the past four years I have been trying to build a small panel-beating shop from nothing. I begged, borrowed and did not steal, though I borrowed on a non-return basis from family. I have built my shop through blood, sweat and tears, fought with and again begged my bank to help, cried to the taxman and the government for relief.
I have now come to the sad conclusion that the taxman can take my business, close it down, auction off the assets and put 12 people out of work.
Yes, I owe the taxman money. Yes, I used tax money to keep my people employed. Yes, business has been extremely bad and I did whatever it took to keep my doors open and my people employed, but when I phone or e-mail asking for some kind of help, and all the taxman has to say is “pay up or we close you down”, I realise nobody is listening and nobody actually cares.
Gwede Mantashe, how about looking at how to help keep the thousands of small businesses from the brink of closure, weighing up the cost of closing down my business and receiving your pound of flesh, against the effect of another 12 people unemployed? Or are all the promises truly just hot air? It may be too late for my business, but there are many more that could do with some kind of help from you.
Write off tax and keep people employed or close them down and get your pound of flesh, surely not much to decide?
Des Crystal
Rustenburg
Nationalisation talk drove investors away
“Irresponsible rhetoric deters foreign direct investment”, published on January 18 in Business Report, reports on a study that was recently released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
According to this report, foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Africa fell by 80 percent last year. This is bad news for the country and its job seekers. Our economy is dependent on foreign capital to ensure higher investment in our productive capacity. FDI is thus a prerequisite for sustained growth and employment creation.
It is true that South Africa’s FDI figures in previous years have been exceptionally high and that a drop in FDI could simply represent a move back to realistic level. Yet the severity of the drop indicates that other factors were at play. Most commentators have cited the debate surrounding the nationalisation of mines and other shenanigans in the mining industry as potential problems for investors. The fact that the ANC Youth League’s irrational call for the nationalisation of mines has now been taken seriously by senior ANC officials has sent out very discouraging signals.
It is indeed disappointing to note that South Africa’s reputation as an investment destination has actually become weaker in the very same year we hosted an incredibly successful and impressive World Cup. This is the eventual impact of the youth league’s call for the nationalisation of mines.
This approach to political rhetoric has cost our country billions in FDI and countless job opportunities. I only hope that sanity will prevail and that senior ANC officials will step in to curtail the irresponsible and counterproductive rhetoric from the ANCYL.
Makashule Gana
DA Federal Youth Leader
Take action against killer taxis, not mines
It may be very proper for the government to take firm action on mine deaths and threaten bosses with jail (“Bosses face jail for mine deaths”, January 17), but they are soft targets.
The government must show the same commitment to decisive action in relation to deaths in taxi accidents. More people die in taxi accidents each year than in our mines. There is every reason to believe that many taxi drivers behave far more irresponsibly than do mine bosses.
Vastly more people die in taxi accidents than in bus accidents, yet the authorities have moved decisively against buses.
Cosatu is vocal over every mine death, but why not over taxi deaths, which usually involve workers?
Add to this the failure of police to track down taxi drivers who do not bother to pay traffic fines, and the result is that the taxi industry is far more damaging to the economy than the mining industry. Why not threaten to jail errant taxi bosses?
Ron Legg
HIllcrest
World class labour laws face Wal-Mart
Your edition on Wednesday, January 19, under the headline “Cosatu must use the laws in Massmart labour battle”, refers.
It is very well for Ann Crotty to make recommendations to Cosatu, but these recommendations do not take into account the underlying complaint made by Cosatu. In essence Cosatu is hopping up and down because of a perception it has with the possibility of Massmart not accepting union membership after the imminent takeover by US-based Wal-Mart Stores.
Cosatu seems to have an inherent belief that the labour problems experienced in the US will be experienced here. Our labour laws are world class and a lot more comprehensive than those in the US.
We have legislated protection for all staff, including laws protecting union involvement and recognition. Before we make recommendations to a union as to how to attack any foreign business, we need to wait and see if the foreign business actually breaks the law. Otherwise we have a situation as described in Alice in Wonderland, where someone is found guilty first and then we have the trial.
MICHAEL BAGRAIM
CAPE TOWN
Let’s line up to snatch Sishen mining rights
“Sishen rights for ICT ‘will raise stakes for Kumba’” (Business Report, January 18) by Dineo Matomela refers.
Matomela reports that: “The government is adamant that Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) is the holder of valid prospecting rights in Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine, which were snatched from ArcelorMittal South Africa last year after the steel producer failed to reapply for the licence on time.”
ArcelorMittal SA was the holder of 21.4 percent of the shares in Kumba Iron Ore listed on the JSE. Anglo American holds 63.4 percent (financial year 2007) of the listed shares leaving 15.2 percent as a free float held presumably by small shareholders. It is reported that the Department of Mineral Resources has accepted Anglo American’s application to convert its 63.4 percent shareholding in Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine’s “old order mining right” to a “new order mining right”.
I have a cynical suspicion that the free float shareholders with 15.2 percent of Kumba have not met the new regulations as laid down in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and as currently interpreted by the Department of Mineral Resources. Consequently it appears that 15.2 percent of Kumba Iron Ore is still available to would-be “snatchers”.
M Ward
Farrarmere
BEE deals fail to count current shareholders
The writer of the January 17 letter, “BEE is a get rich quick scheme doomed to fail”, misses the point. The black economic empowerment (BEE) intent and principles are sound, its application has been flawed.
Corporates have failed to understand the BEE representation among existing shareholders. Instead, corporates adopted the popularist route and rewarded persons with no previous interest in companies. Having personally invested in shares since 2003, without any form of assistance, has presented no preferential opportunities.
It would have been immensely fitting had corporates recognised shareholders fulfilling BEE criteria and included same in empowerment transactions. Not a single transaction considered this
.
M Rowdee
Gauteng