OUR country is a real dumping place for cheap and poor workmanship bolts and nuts which are allowed into South Africa by Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies. Funny names like African Growth and Opportunity Act mean nothing to the factory worker in this country who produces bolts with steel bought from South African manufacturer ArcelorMittal. This is a major concern. Will you please raise this topic.
Jonas Ntjana
Via e-mail
Government is interested in itself
I read some wonderful articles in your paper about the South African economy and about the solutions to a prosperous country for all. I refer to the article about the equality gap in the Business Report of April 2.
I must be honest and say it’s not just articles in your paper but commentary in general. If the government was interested in improving the economy they would do so, the solutions are quite simple as I’m sure you all know. What this government is interested in is themselves and their supporters.
Please can we have some realistic articles in your future editions.
Don Yates
Via e-mail
Masses will turn on political elite
Who will point out to President Zuma et al, although Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe just did as he thanked us for looking after his people, that the masses of disenfranchised Zimbabweans had flowed into South Africa for employment during Rob and his wife’s shopping trips to Malaysia.
So while Bob stole not from whites, but millions of black Zimbabweans and is heralded for such: blacks must not chastise black elders/leaders… how funny, his nation poured into South Africa to assist on the imbalance he created with his thieving cronies.
As Zuma and the ANC do the same they forget one very simple harsh fact, the disenfranchised will have nowhere to go to counter the imbalance the ANC will create as it emancipates the masses! They will remain behind and as history has shown us over and over, they will turn on the political elite.
James Robert
Via e-mail
Time to relook unfair labour law
I’d like to think that we are in a country where what’s fair and due to an employee is protected by our laws and employees have access to mechanisms of protection when needed.
It is so if you are earning R17 000 or less. The department of labour in terms of section 70 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act will address any and all issues regarding your employment.
But what happens when you earn above this threshold, and this is with respect to myself.
Sitting in a queue at the Department of Labour for 30 to 40 minutes, finally you get to speak to someone and you are told that the act does not provide any assistance if you earn a rand more than R17 000 and I have to make a civil case to get my overdue salaries from the company that owes me money. I even stated that the company is intentionally withholding my money, and got the same reply.
Going back further, our problems started in June 2014, when my salary started to get paid in drips and drabs, and in December we had to sell our home, get divorced, sell some of the belongings to have some money. We also had to apply for bridging finance in the sum of R25 000 and lost more than R60 000 on the sale of the property due to interest and penalties.
I have consulted two attorneys and did my own research on the internet only to find that again the law is protecting the employer. (I’m not saying every employer has bad practices), but “an employee can only claim interest on the money owed and the employer can by right have an extension of payment by the 7th of the month”. And you cannot claim damages. I cannot tell what words came out my mouth when I heard this!
To sum it up, a company can destroy your life and all you can claim is the interest, if you can prove it, and the government turns around and says “you earn too much, so it is your problem”.
I would like someone in the legal field to address this at the Constitutional Court and find out why this is so very unfair to people like me?
How am I supposed to get my money from the company which is refusing to pay me, almost R100 000?
Trevor Swartz
Edenvale
Why middleman for big organisations?
as an outsider, can somebody tell me why large companies and municipalities, who are users of huge quantities of commodities such as petroleum products and coal, as in the case of Eskom, need to have a middleman to supply the goods rather than deal directly with the source of these products?
Surely these companies, parastatals and municipalities would get a lower price by using their own buying departments than when having to pay for an intermediary who will probably charge exorbitant handling fees?
It is like having various government departments and parastatals employing consultants to do the job, instead of having experts who should be full-time employees, or of having “temporary” employees in permanent positions for many years, such as in the Post Office and education departments.
Simon Price
via-email