Debate alone does serious harm

The fact that the African National Congress (ANC) agreed after persistent demands from the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) to place a discussion around the issue of the nationalisation of South Africa’s mines on the agenda of the forthcoming National General Council (NGC) may be little more than a ploy to make the debate go away, if some sources in the ANC are to be believed – but it is nevertheless causing some real harm to the industry’s investment prospects at a time when the country can ill afford it.

Read more: Mine nationalisation

SARS and SARB disclosure programmes

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) recently announced voluntary disclosure programmes for exchange control contraventions to be regularized for three categories of tax contraventions.  Both programmes are to run from 1 November 2010 until 31 October 2011.

Read more: Tax amnesty

Daddy, where do bulls and bears come from?

Most people would at least have a basic idea of what the terms bull and bear markets mean. In very short: the one is a market on the up and the other a market on the down, and mostly used in the context of the stock market. Where the terms come from is less clear, with some interesting possibilities.

Read more: Final word

New online assessment tool launched

Just how well governed is your organisation? The answer to that question may be more complex than initially meets the eye; and with the King III™ Report broadening the scope of regulation in South Africa to businesses of all sizes, answering it is important for many more directors. Assessing governance posture can be an expensive and complex exercise, which is why the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA) has launched a tool to help gain a quantitative indication of the state of their governance.

Read more: Business governance

SA Wines keep scoring off 2010 tournament

While pundits continue to calculate the material value of South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, one of the sectors to have derived a tangible benefit has been the wine industry, with packaged exports still on the rise, despite the continued strength of the rand and the protraction of the worldwide recession.

Read more: WC benefit

The power of networks and the strengths of weak links

“Worth a read?” is not your ordinary book review; it is a meta-review. In other words, it provides an overview of the opinions contained in a variety of book reviews published in the media at large. This week, we take a look at "Superconnect: The Power of Networks and the Strength of Weak Links", written by Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood, and released in South Africa in July 2010.

Read more: Worth a read?