July 2010 edition

Vrystaat

Free State Female Farmer Of The Year Awards: The Free State Dept of Agriculture is again presenting this year its annual Female Of The Year Awards, as part of the annual national competition. The event is aimed at encouraging and increasing the participation of women in agriculture and in matters of food security. In the Free State the event is organized first at district level, with then a provincial round for the Free State winners, who then go through to the national finals. The district finals are scheduled on 15 July 2010 at Jacobsdal, 16 July at Wesselsbron, 20 July at Ficksburg, 21 July at Vanstadensrus and 23 July at Vredefort. The categories are: Best Female Farm Worker / Best Subsistence Worker / Top Young Farmer Entrepreneur / Top Farmer Entrepreneur Smallholder / Top Farmer Entrepreneur Horticulture, Crops and Livestock / Top Entrepreneur Commercial. Horticulture, Crops and Livestock / Top Entrepreneur Export Markets Horticulture, Crops and Livestock / Overall Winner. For more information, contact Keke Ntsala at 076 429 7249 or kntsala@yahoo.com.

Langenhoven Park second most active suburb in SA: According to figures just released by the Knowledge Factory and their South African Property Transfer Guide, Langenhoven Park is the suburb in SA producing the second most property sales for transactions between R100 000 and R15 million. Covering the period 1 December 2009 to 28 February 2010, Langenhoven Park produced 79 transactions. Top of the list is Parklands in Milnerton, Western Cape, with 81. In third place is Protea Glen, Soweto, with 67 transactions, fourth, Midstream Estate, Centurion, with 64, with Douglasdale, Sandton with 61 in fifth place.

Zamas – its war: Following calculated blasts underground by so-called illegal zama-zamas miners at some Harmony shafts on the Free State Goldfields, killing at least four specialized prototype personnel of the mining company and injuring a score of other persons, it would appear that nothing short of an underground war is being waged by the zamas in order to protect their exploits. It would seem that despite a clamp down on their activities about three months ago by die Dept. of Minerals & Energy and the SAPD, zamas are continuing to operate, sending out gold deposits to powerful linkages on national as well as international level.

National

SA national debt going for 44 % of GDP: South Africa's national debt is expected to balloon to 44% of gross domestic product by 2015/16 before declining gradually, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is predicting. Africa's largest economy emerged from its first recession in 17 years last year, but still struggles with lackluster consumer spending, high unemployment and uncertainty about the outlook for Europe as its biggest trading partner. "It must be borne in mind that a sustainable part of the debt is used to finance infrastructure (such as) electricity generation, dams and roads, that will last beyond the current generation," Gordhan noted.

SA's employment situation “desperate”: Well-known economist Mike Schussler has described the employment situation in SA as “overwhelmingly desperate.” Speaking at the launch of trade union UASA's ninth SA Employment Report in Johannesburg, Schussler said that employment growth in SA's formal non-agricultural sector added only 2,0 % to employment numbers while overall employment including agriculture, informal and domestic workers, grew just 4,5 % over the last decade. Schussler said more South Africans received money from welfare than from employment with 12,8 million people working -- not all for money -- and 13,8 million people receiving welfare payments from the proceeds of five million taxpayers. "I don't know of any other country in the world where the recipients of welfare are greater than the amount of people who work." Schussler concluded.

New mining charter for SA: A new mining charter for SA has been launched this week with the aim increase black ownership in the sector after the previous agreement failed to do so, according to the Department of Mineral Resources. A review of the previous charter was prompted by concerns that a target to transfer 26% of ownership in the industry to black people by 2014 may not be met. The revised charter seeks to speed up black ownership, skills development, employment equity, procurement, housing and living conditions and mining beneficiation.

New VAT form available: SARS has made a new form for the remittance of Value Added Tax (VAT), the VAT 201, available on e-filing. The form will impact all vendors, specifically those involved in the import and export of goods. These vendors will now be required to indicate separately on their declarations all transactions involving the import and export of goods. Taxpayers who submit their VAT201 manually, must utilise the form as was provided to them by SARS. The updated form includes additional information fields that will have to be filled in like a filed for the calculation of input tax that applies to capital goods imported in respect of which a valid release document is held. For assistance, visit a SARS branch or contact SARS on 0800 00 SARS (7277) or visit the VAT page on: http://www.sars.gov.za/home.asp?pid=194.

DBSA fall in disbursements: It is reported that the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which is a key financier of municipal infrastructure, reported a 11,3% fall in loan and equity disbursements to R8,26 billion for the year to 31 March 2010, from the R9,31-billion disbursed in the previous year. The value of DBSA's approvals also fell to R18,8 billion during the period under review, from the R20,5 billion approved in 2008/9. However, the DBSA is insisting that in the context of difficult market conditions, which had placed strain on the bank's "sustainable" earnings and surpluses, it had "not compromised" on its developmental mandate

International

SA taxpayer to foot FIFA 2010 bill: According to hitherto unrefuted media reports, the hosting of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa is eventually to cost the country around R40 billion – up from R3 billion as stated in the original bid document submitted to FIFA in 2003. Meanwhile it is reported that FIFA is expecting to make a profit of some R45 billion from the 2010 World Cup tournament, almost tax free in South Africa, according to the original agreement. FIFA is registered in Switzerland as a non-profitable organisation.

G20 to split government debt by half: Information coming out of the G20 summit at Toronto, Canada, indicates in general that rich countries have agreed to cut the deficits on their budgets by half, and stabilise debt by 2016. The positions of the different G20 economies differ markedly. Japan's accumulated debt is an astonishing 227 %, almost twice as high as that of runner up, Italy, with 119 %. Yet, the position of these countries is not as desperate as that of Greece, as Greece's debt is financed from abroad. South Korea is the only G20 country not facing a budget short fall this year – rather a 1,1 % surplus – but the accumulated debt is 33,3 % nevertheless. The UK's present budget shortfall is the highest of the G20, 11,4 % and so marginally beating the USA (11 %) for top “honours.” Japan's shortfall is 9,8 %.

Chinese stake in SA gold mines: Mining Weekly reports that a Chinese-South African consortium, the Virgile Asia Mining Consortium, is bidding to wrest the liquidated Grootvlei and Orkney gold mines from the financially troubled Aurora Empowerment Systems. Virgile, based at Welkom has succeeded in attracting Chinese investors, but declined to discuss whether Grand TG Gold of Hong Kong is also a member of the consortium. It would seem that a team has been assembled that was able to run both the Grootvlei and Orkney gold mines. The consortium has bid a total of $51,5 million for the two mines and reportedly has sufficient operational expenditure (opex) to go ahead.