The SA Institute of Business Accountants (Saiba) has issued a guide to its members clarifying what services can be delivered during lockdown.
 

SAA has shown itself to be one of the most incompetently run organisations in SA, and that’s saying something when you stack it up against Eskom and other state-run organisations. It needs a lifeline of R10bn from the state just to keep limping along. James Peron argues that it is time to get rid of the airline, just as other countries have done. It needs to be sold to a well-managed private operator, while keeping the SAA brand.

Monyweb reports that SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni's time may be up. Earlier this week the SAA Pilots Association and Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse filed a case against her in the South Gauteng High Court to have her declared a delinquent director over several financial irregularities and allegedly incompetent dealings. 

Dudu Myeni, the chair of SAA, cares little for the solvency of the national air carrier, nor does she seem to give a damn about corporate governance. The SAA in-flight magazine goes into the minutiae of race-based bean counting, and as such appears to be written for staff rather than SAA passengers. The airline has been dubbed "Hollywood" since it has "acting" rather than permanent postings for virtually all key appointments. SAA is one of the reasons SA's state-owned enterprises are dragging us to the brink of junk status.

Leon Louw argues that capitalism is the most abused and misdefined word in use today. Like "left wing" and "right wing". These words have become smears to stiffle debate and authenticate the state's capture of basic liberties.

President Zuma is in Davos with two senior economics ministers, Rob Davies and Ebrahim Patel. A greater deterrent to investment is hard to imagine, which is why no-one is taking Zuma seriously anymore.

National Treasury has launched a new online portal aimed at making it easier to register for tenders at all levels of government. It will also promote transparency and combat tender irregularities.

The High Court in Johannesburg has rejected the claim by former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig that he was the inventor of the company's "Please Call Me" service. But the court also threw out - on technical grounds - a counter claim by former employee Nkosana Makate that he was the inventor.

This is the letter that business should write to President Zuma, but won't. Just as business deserted South Africa in the 1980s under apartheid, if the government doesn't get serious about lifting the country out of the mess it created, the same could happen again.

Herman Mashaba, chairman of the Free Market Foundation, outlines some simple steps to set South Africa on the path to greatness. It involves getting government out of the affairs of ordinary citizens, and restoring respect for the rule of law. 

A third lottery licence is on the table and it exposes in fine-grained detail how the government outlaws efficiency, innovation and competition, while encouraging stagnation, inefficiency and cronyism, writes Ivo Vegter in The Daily Maverick.

A DRAFT bill has been tabled in Parliament which aims to prohibit state employees and their families from directly or indirectly holding more than a 5% interest in any entity that does business with the government unless prior approval is obtained from the relevant minister.

Dr Anthea Jeffery, head of special research at the SA Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) says the new Expropriation Bill, though better than its 2008 predecessor, still grants sweeping expropriation rights to all levels of government. It still allows government to expropriate and take possession all manner of assets before any compensation has been paid.

The ostensible purpose of the Licensing of Businesses Bill is to help control illegal imports, counterfeit goods, and poor quality products. But it looks, feels and smells like something from the apartheid era.