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This Month’s Sponsor
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Education Project for the Children of Kenya
Our Mission believes that an education holds the key to a healthy adulthood; the Wana Duma Education Project is dedicated to removing barriers that children in Kenya and elsewhere in the world encounter which impede their access to education. We believe that an educated child who has developed good life-skills is more likely to become a leader, a steward of the environment and help lay the foundation for a stronger community. Visit this site.
IN THIS ISSUE
- Business: Latest on Corruption in South Africa
- Business: Problems for the South African Wine Industry
- Business: Small Business In South Africa Being Hampered
- Education: Historic Recordings from Radio Stations
- Education: Students in South Africa Failing Again
- Immigration & Business: UK Visa For Hong Kong Residents
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1. Business: Latest on Corruption in South Africa
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South Africa, despite commitments made several years ago, has to date failed to establish a public register of beneficial owners – the person or people that ultimately benefit from a company’s operations. This laxity allows government officials to continue doing business with the state, despite a prohibition of such, and shell companies to continue to operate as vehicles for money laundering. To read the full report, go to our NEWS DESK link.
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2. Business: Problems for the South African Wine Industry
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South Africa’s embattled wine industry could lose an estimated R1.5bn worth of stock as it runs out of space to store excess wine within the next few weeks as the new harvest starts amid the ban on alcohol. The liquor industry is suffering a third alcohol sales ban after 12 weeks of restrictions in 2020 after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the prohibition. In addition the bottling and glass packaging industry is also seriously affected. Consol CEO Mike Arnold said in an emailed response to questions. “The first two bans together resulted in losses of more than R1.5-billion to the glass packaging industry.” Arnold also warned of likely job losses at Consol and most parts of its supply chain, adding any major extended loss of demand, at short notice, was "catastrophic." To read the full report, go to our NEWS DESK link.
Editor's Note: It appears that the government has listened to the voice of reason as they have immediately lifted the ban on sales of liquor. So one of our associates immediately ordered 400 cases of the best wines in South Africa, CHEERS.
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3. Business: Small Business In South Africa Being Hampered
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The Small Business Institute (SBI) has raised concerns around the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill which was published for public comment in December 2020. The SBI said that the planned changes will provide sweeping powers for both the minister and a proposed ombud, potentially encroaching on, and overriding, already established civil and contract law in South Africa. “Defining arbitrarily what constitutes an ‘unfair trading practice’ and granting powers for an Ombud to intervene in ‘contractual arrangements or other legal relationships’ between ‘small enterprises’ and ‘any other party’ could well lead to indiscriminate intervention and the potential for ‘ombudpreneurs’ who would not be prevented under the amendments from vexatious or frivolous claims,” said SBI chief executive John Dludlu. He added that the Amendment Bill would contribute excessively to the ‘already eye-watering amount of red tape’ confronting micro, small, or medium enterprises (SMMEs) and is unlikely to promote the prompt payment of invoices. To read the full report, go to our NEWS DESK link.
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4. Education: Historic Recordings from Radio Stations
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Looking for a creative venture during stay-at-home? With funding from CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources), multiple organizations (including the Riverside Church in New York City, the Library of Congress, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, and WGBH Educational Foundation) have digitized more than 3,000 reel-to-reel recordings from WRVR-FM's 1961-1971 broadcasts. During this 10-year time span the radio station played interviews, speeches, and musical interpretations on topics like civil rights, war, and fine arts. These clips included commentary from ordinary citizens and notable scholars, namely Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Pete Seeger. Readers can help the project collaborators by participating in a crowd-sourced effort to correct the computer generated transcripts of the recordings. Click on a record from the main page to find instructions (as well as a link to a transcription tutorial). The corrected transcripts will be available alongside the media on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website, where transcripts of other public radio broadcasts can also be found (corrected or simply read and listened to). Visit this site.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2021
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5. Education: Students in South Africa Failing Again
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The share of South Africa’s biggest private school group Curro was on track for its worst day in more than seven months on Tuesday, after it warned of a sharp profit fall for its year to end-December, amid falling pupil numbers and pressure on parents. With Covid-19 disrupting schools in 2020, Curro said in a trading update it had seen an increase in outstanding school fees in its financial year and had more than doubled its provision for bad debts, while pupil numbers also fell in the last half of the year. To read the full report, go to our NEWS DESK link.
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6. Immigration & Business: UK Visa For Hong Kong Residents
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A new visa scheme offering millions of Hong Kong residents a pathway to British citizenship went live on Sunday as the UK opened its doors to those wanting to escape China’s crackdown on dissent. From late Sunday afternoon, anyone with a British national overseas (BNO) passport and their dependents can apply online for a visa allowing them to live and work in the UK. After five years they can then apply for citizenship. To read the full report, go to our NEWS DESK link.
Editor’s Note: Visit our immigration page.
