Roodepoort By-Laws concerning fireworks

 

The various festive seasons that are celebrated in South Africa due to the vast cultural differences shared by its people are usually times of happiness and great fun for those of us celebrating. These periods are normally times of feasting, gift giving, remembrance and socializing.

 

However, the practice of setting off firework displays has, for a relatively long time, been banned outright in most residential areas throughout South Africa due to the harmful and sometimes erratic manner in which they are used. Not only do they pose a danger to us and our children, but to our beloved pets, most of whom have significantly heightened sense of hearing and fear when trapped in confined spaces during these fireworks displays.

 

The municipalities of Roodepoort and Krugersdorp on the West Rand of Johannesburg, as with most other municipalities around the country, have stringent laws that govern the use of fireworks, both as public displays and as recreational entertainment.

 

Firstly, one of the most important aspects of the laws states that it is illegal to set off any number of fireworks inside of a residential area. This means that it is strictly prohibited, no matter what the reason for use is. However, over the past few years there seems to have been a downturn in effective monitoring of this from the police and security services.

 

Another one of the laws that usually finds itself used more often during these periods is one that states that ‘no person is to disturb the public peace by mans of shouting, quarrelling or any excessive noise’ between 10pm and 7am. This means that any party should either be stopped or at least have its noise levels controlled considerably after 10pm on any given night, or the violator could be charged with a fine of up to R2000 or three months in jail.

 

The bottom line is that it is illegal to set off any form of fireworks in a residential area. If you are caught committing the offense you could face jail time.

How to protect yourself against the January Slowdown

January is the time of year that is possibly the most difficult for everyone. Not only has the holiday season come and gone (and it always seems to be much too short!) but the financial expenses from the December period also start taking their toll. Either we tend to use our credit cards a bit too liberally and forget to weigh the consequences, or we are left struggling to get through the January window as a result of overspending.

 

For this reason, businesses also tend to have a slow January, as customers are more wary of spending money they now realize that they don’t have. It is important for businesses to also recognize this and adjust their approach accordingly.

 

A good way to do it is to review financial statements from previous December/January periods, look at how much stock was moved over that period and adjust your in-store stock accordingly (as a business, you don’t want to overstock, as this causes major cash flow problems in other areas of your business.

 

It may also be a good time to review expenses, as increasing profit requires either higher income (which over this time may be difficult) or lower expenses. Think of cutting down on some regular expenses such as paper, coffee, snacks, fuel, keeping your store or business open for extended periods (thus, incurring overtime) and general supplies that would not affect productivity if they are not available.

 

Maintain your customer relations over this period; these customers are more likely to support your business than new customers in the first month of the year. If you have a credit policy, make sure you follow it accordingly, and do not let customers walk way with bad debt. If you have a solid relationship with them, you are more likely to be paid back in time.

 

Don’t relax on staffing or marketing budgets. In some cases, getting through the January month will require extra marketing to keep your brand in the public eye. It is also important to remember that, if you are looking at cutting employee numbers, first ensure that productivity and future busy periods will not be affected by short staffing.

SA drops further in corruption perception survey

The perception of the prevalence of corruption in South Africa's public sector is worsening, with the country slipping further in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

 

The lower ranking, which places South Africa on par with its Brics counterpart Brazil, did not surprise industry commentators canvassed by Engineering News Online, who said that the ranking was an accurate reflection of increased negative perceptions about the prevalence of corruption in the country.

 

The CPI, released on Wednesday, ranked South Africa 69 out of 176 countries, with a score of 43, which is also the global average.

 

Last year, the index ranked countries out of a score of ten. South Africa scored 4.1 out of 10 and ranked 64 out of 183 countries. In the prior year, South Africa ranked 54 out of 178 countries.

 

The index rated countries according to perceptions surrounding corruption in each country, with scores from the "highly corrupt" at 0, to the "very clean" at 100.

 

BDO South Africa manager Pierre Kilian told Engineering News Online that the "message" South Africa was transmitting to the world in a variety of ways, was that corruption was condoned and that public funds were misused, which was influencing people's perception.

 

He pointed to media headlines over the past year reacting to expelled African Natioanl Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema's tender fraud case, the ongoing arms deal saga, the bailout of State-owned South African Airways and the reshuffling of Cabinet Ministers, besides others.

 

South Africa ranked ninth from the top in Africa, but when compared with the ranking of neighbouring Botswana, South Africa was a long way off from improving how corrupt it was perceived as.

 

Botswana, with a ranking of 30 and a score of 65, was perceived as the least corrupt country in Africa. Kilian noted that Botswana had adopted an approach of zero tolerance with regards to corruption and backed this up with action.

 

Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Namibia, Ghana and Lesotho all ranked ahead of South Africa.

 

South Africa has been on a gradual slide downhill over the past few years and would most likely continue to decline if a zero tolerance approach was not adopted soon, he said.

 

Corruption Watch executive director David Lewis agreed, saying that investors shy away from corrupt environments and customers would seek service providers elsewhere.

 

While there have been indications of a more serious approach from government, conflicting messages were being sent.

 

Kilian and Lewis said that strong policy and legislation were in place to efficiently deal with corruption, but that enforcement lacked.

 

Corruption Watch, which received about 100 reports of corruption a month and more than three reports a day, believed that business and the public should intensify their involvement in tackling the challenge.

 

Transparency International chairperson Huguette Labelle added: "Governments need to integrate anticorruption actions into all public decision-making. Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people."

 

Meanwhile, South Africa remained ahead of three of its Brics counterparts, namely China, with a ranking of 80; Russia, which ranked 133; and India at 94, but tied with Brazil, which jumped to 69, from a ranking of 75 last year.

 

The index pointed out that 90% of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa and 78% of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa scored below 50.

 

Globally, 70% of the countries scored below 50, with the European Union and Western Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia recording that 23%, 66%, 68% and 95% of each region' countries scored below the halfway mark.

 

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand maintained their top three positions, with scores of 90 each, while Sweden and Singapore again placed fourth and fifth with scores of 88 and 87 respectively.

 

Myanmar and Sudan recorded the fifth- and fourth-lowest scores, with 15 and 13 respectively, while Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia once again were seen as the most corrupt with scores of 8.

Tracking of Business Growth on the West Rand

 

ROCCI, the Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce, has recently begun taking steps to ensure that business growth and statistics on the West Rand of Johannesburg will be properly documented and tracked.

 

The development plan set forth by the Region C local government stated that the entire region’s commerce industry, as well as all surrounding fields will be drawn into the Economic Growth Plan within the next few months. This Economic Plan intends to act as a guiding strategy in the development of economic growth initiatives, and as such, will form part of the economic growth plan being set into place across the country.

 

The importance of economic growth statistics in this day and age is paramount. Not only does the access to these figures give business owners a better idea of which areas they might need to improve on, but it also allows the entire region, under the guidance of ROCCI to implement an economic growth and development plan that suits all parties involved.

 

In the next few months, ROCCI will be working closely with business schools in the West Rand in an attempt to capture and evaluate all figures and statistics for the registered ROCCI members. This will provide a better idea of the economic growth on the West Rand, as well as provide a starting point for any further inquiry into the development of business in the region.

 

The Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce (ROCCI) is one of the biggest Chambers in South Africa, and is comprised of over 100 businesses in the Roodepoort area in Johannesburg. Contact ROCCI on (+27) 86 111 3304, send an e-mail for additional information, or visit the ROCCI website to find out more about what is on offer, or how it would benefit you to be a part of this ever-growing inter-business network.

 

ROCCI welcomes “Roodepoort stays under Johannesburg"

The Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Rocci) is relieved at the Dept. of  Local Government’s decision to maintain Roodepoort as part of Johannesburg and not to have it incorporated into the newly envisaged West Rand Metro, which would include towns such as Westonaria,Carltonville,Randfontein and Mogale City.

 

Now that this is settled ROCCI calls on the Johannesburg Metro  to ensure infra-structure development in the Roodepoort area  is hastened, so that it complements the growth and development of Johannesburg as a ‘truly first class African city.

 

What are these infrastructure developments we speak about that will lead to the creation of employment and growth. :-

 

• The upgrading and consolidation of all informal settlements 

 

• The possible creation of a second Cosmos City in reducing informal settlement

 

• The implementation of the City Improvement District concept to Florida and Roodepoort CBD’s for self-sustenance

 

• The improvement of road surfaces and road signage – the latter especially pertinent to Ontdekkers where directional signs are so faded that it cannot be read

 

• The creation of a’ Small Business’ Business Park especially for the manufacturing sector with a bias towards the eagerly awaited beneficiation sector.

 

Article done by: Mr. Roy Panday

Tourism in The West Rand

The West Rand of Johannesburg is well known as an industrial hub, and in the last decade has increased its business capacity to the point where it now has a booming trade and development infrastructure.

 

A large part of this increase in exposure has come from the tourism industry, which has also grown on the West Rand over the past few years. The region plays host to a number of important sites and opportunities in the field of tourism, such as the world-renowned Cradle of Humankind, situated only 50km away from Northwest Johannesburg. The Cradle contains countless wonders, including lodges, weekend retreat opportunities, caves to be explored, authentic South African restaurants, wildlife reserves, hiking trails and various other adventurous activities.

 

Around the Cradle of Humankind, and in the heart of the West of Johannesburg, you can cater for almost any need. Conference venues at the various hotels, resorts and business parks allow for business meetings, whether large or small. Team building exercises are as exciting as ever, since there are countless activities hidden away, if you look hard enough. Everything from Bungee Jumping, hiking trails. Game drives and weekend retreats to hot air balloon rides.

 

The Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce (ROCCI) is one of the biggest Chambers in South Africa, and is comprised of over 100 businesses in the Roodepoort area in Johannesburg. Contact ROCCI on (+27) 86 111 3304, send an e-mail for additional information, or visit the ROCCI website to find out more about what is on offer, or how it would benefit you to be a part of this ever-growing inter-business network.

 

ROCCI on Coal 3 in addition to Kusile and Medupi

 

Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba’s allusion to a third coal fired power station, whilst sure to raise controversy, heated debates and the ire of the green economists has to be seen in context of SA’s reality.

With both power stations only coming on line by soonest 2014 with the possibility of a further delay, it in no ways alleviates our current tightness of electricity supply to the state of self-sufficiency.

Coal power given the country’s rich resources still remains the cheapest source of energy and therefore the suggestion to build Coal 3 is both timely and visionary.

Nuclear power has its own challenges in respect of risks and costs and current plans to build 3 new nuclear plants by 2029 will bring us back to the 2008/9 era of outages due to demand.

The potential of Shale gas supplementing our energy grid is also a long way off in the horizon.

It is for these reasons that the Chamber welcomes and supports Government on any move to ensure the continuity of electricity supply to meet its immediate and future needs.

ROCCI however cautions Government not to burden the ‘already overburdened tax payer’ with  carrying the costs of Coal 3 in line with the user pay principle, so articulated by Eskom in recent years in disguise of its Build programme requirements.

The tax payer pays its fair share of tax in expectation that in return it will receive the basis services required of its government which includes Electricity.

Any new build programme must be funded by the Government by raising loans and bonds against such capital investment. The consumer is liable for what he or she consumes and adjusted annually as per the CPIX.

Eskom has demonstrated clearly that it does not ‘believe in presenting a forward budget for the revenue collected. What we see and get instead are massive staff parties and bonuses paid to its directors.

Business says Enough is Enough and Government should take heed.

Article done by: Mr. Roy Panday

 Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ROCCI)

Tel:  086 111 3304