What will our government try to tax next?
You've got to be ever so embarrassed when your country is on a taxing spree and still hasn't gotten to the Lebanese levels of creativity (they tried to tax WhatsApp once).
What's strange is that our government seemingly wants more and more but we're getting less. There's a reason people have turned to solar and why people are using private refuse removal. When it was the duty of the governmental institution, they were pretty terrible at providing. Should we be punished further for that inadequacy?
Thankfully, the courts in Gauteng thought not but what does it say for the authority to even try? It's pretty arrogant.
'Hey, we're not delivering. Give us more money so we cannot deliver some more, but better.' Even the English of it doesn't make sense.
ALSO READ: Homeowners caught in solar registration grey zone
At the same time, we're dealing with a bunch of corruption issues and while those implicated are laughing at the selected fall guy, they have the guts to think: 'Hmmmm a city cleaning levy sounds like a good idea.'
Well, it's not a good idea. You're supposed to keep the city clean. It's part of your job. Rates and taxes are there for that and making use of the municipal services is what the public pays for.
Take a moment to consider all the various taxes from fuel to VAT to income and if you're still holding on to your JSE shares after this tariff debacle, you're paying tax you didn't even know about on your dividends before the money reaches you.
Sure, that goes to national and has different allocations but still, all that and the government can't even pick up the trash properly? That this is being proposed in different municipalities is an indication that there's a national discussion afoot and non-service clearly seems to be a national problem.
So why can't they get the job done with the money they already have? Are things getting more expensive? Sure. We all feel that, but where we have to tighten our belts, those tasked with doing the job of budgeting, accountability and administration – otherwise known as governance – get away with putting on whatever fat they want and passing the costs onto ratepayers.
That is quite a ridiculous notion so it's awesome that the court gave it the ridicule it deserved.
ALSO READ: Court rules against City of Tshwane's cleaning levy
It's easy to let these little things slip by as they creep up. What's a couple of hundred here and there? Thing is, for a country with exceptional unemployment and awful economic stagnation, a hundred bucks here is already a lot to ask for. Here and there will be debilitating to most.
And government can argue it's targeting the people who buy houses in Cape Town for R150 million but then it needs to admit an even more embarrassing truth: the people who spend the big bucks on municipal rates can't even get the services they're paying for and need to fork out more on both tax and private service. C'mon.
I know it's not a popular thing to be nice to the rich guys, but I don't think any municipal administrator will be satisfied if they order a bottle of Hennessy and are presented with a quarter full open bottle of Old Brown Sherry with lipstick marks on the tip, then told to pay an extra bottle kissing fee.
ALSO READ: Court declares Joburg's non-sectional title refuse charge tariff unlawful
This is exactly why subsidies, redistribution and ideals of transformation have to be strategically managed. Of course richer people take on more of the burden for the betterment of society, at least financially. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is when you exclude them from that benefit by not offering the services that they pay for.
You can't then be surprised when they opt out of the system. So, the government can't say it didn't see this coming. All it can say is that it was not prepared and had a hyperinflated sense of ego in this stupid game of chicken, expecting its public to just go along with its last-minute contingency.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
The JSE displays an unhealthy obsession with secrecy
When a company lost big on the stock market in 2020 and suspected possible market manipulation, it attempted to get information from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The JSE stonewalled them, baldly citing privacy and commercial confidentiality issues. This story of one company fighting to access information from a South African public body is playing out every day, across all spheres of government, and illustrates a culture of secrecy in our public administration. Five years ago, a small company, Inhlanhla Ventures, was placed in a difficult financial position. It had been investing in shares on the stock market through a broker. As part of their agreement, the broker would provide credit to Inhlanhla to invest – and then hold shares as security for those loans. However, if the value of any shares held as security dropped below a certain percentage, the broker was entitled to demand additional security or repayment of the debt. If Inhlanhla failed to comply, the broker would be entitled to take ownership of the shares held by it in settlement of Inhlanhla's debt. During the first quarter of 2020, the broker at that point held all the shares owned by Inhlanhla as security. A substantial part consisted of shares in enX Group Limited, a public company listed on the JSE. In May 2020, as a result of an unexpected, rapid and substantial decline in the price of the shares in the Inhlanhla portfolio, particularly the enX share price, Inhlanhla realised that the broker would be entitled to foreclose on the bulk of Inhlanhla's securities. Given the decline of the enX shares, which dropped from 700c per share at the beginning of April to as low as 320c per share on 14 May 2020, Inhlanhla was left with little option other than to relinquish its portfolio to the broker. However, a couple of days after the broker assumed ownership of those shares, the share price rose significantly, meaning the broker benefited handsomely. A rat? Inhlanhla thought it smelled a rat. By examining the trade in enX shares between April and June 2020, Inhlanhla believed that there were grounds to suspect market manipulation. If that was the case, Inhlanhla might be entitled to restitution for the losses it suffered. But it did not have access to the details of all the trades made in respect of the shares, and so it could not get conclusive proof to back up its suspicions. And so, Inhlanhla filed a request for access to information on the identities of the buyers and sellers of the shares and the sale values with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia). They also narrowed down their focus to the key period from 3 May to 19 May 2020. Public body The JSE is a public body and gets its powers and responsibilities from the Financial Markets Act (FMA). It – like all public and private bodies – is bound by Paia and so must disclose any information requested unless there is a legitimate ground (as set out in the legislation) for it to refuse the request. The JSE refused the Paia request from Inhlanhla, stating baldly that the information sought contained personal, confidential or commercial information and it was prohibited by the FMA and Paia from disclosing such information. As we have previously explained, the Information Regulator (IR) is a new body to which someone unsatisfied with a refusal of their Paia request can file a complaint. Believing that the JSE was incorrect in refusing their request, Inhlanhla approached the regulator. The Information Regulator investigates The IR issued an investigation report, finding that the JSE had no justification in refusing the request, ordering it to disclose the requested information to Inhlanhla. However, this order remains preliminary and Inhlanhla is waiting for a final decision from the IR's enforcement committee. In any case, lawyers acting for the JSE have already written to Inhlanhla, putting the company on notice that if the regulator rules in Inhlanhla's favour, the JSE will go to court to review that decision. This is why this story of one company seeking to get information from one public body in 2020 is relevant. The experience of Inhlanhla is just one example that illustrates South Africa's broken access to information system and how a culture of secrecy within our powerful institutions operates to stymie accountability. Similar stories happen every day, all over the country, with all sorts of public bodies. Municipalities, national government departments and state-owned entities all regularly refuse Paia requests, often based on a misguided interpretation of the law. Although the IR provides a useful mechanism before having to go to court, the delays in accessing the information sought are often ruinous or make the information eventually disclosed irrelevant because of the passage of time. The JSE's trite response The reasons given by the JSE in its refusal of the Inhlanhla request are also reasons we see repeatedly. One common refrain we hear from public bodies is that they cannot disclose the information because doing so would violate a statutory obligation they hold to protect personal, private or confidential information. Often, the public body refers to the Protection of Personal Information Act. Here, the JSE also said that the FMA prevented it from disclosing any confidential information. But this must be a misreading of the law, as Parliament could not have intended the FMA to act as a justification to refuse Paia requests. And, in fact, Parliament did not exclude Paia from the obligations under the FMA. The Act states that confidential information cannot be disclosed 'unless disclosure is required or permitted in terms of a law or court order'. Paia is one of those laws. The IR, in its investigation report, confirmed that one of the objectives of Paia is to 'promote transparency, accountability and effective governance'. It is a vital cog in the constitutional framework which enables citizens to hold powerful institutions, government bodies and individuals to account. The JSE's reliance on the FMA is a betrayal of these principles. The JSE's stance is particularly galling, because as the IR's investigation report points out, its claims of blanket confidentiality on the details of who trades shares in listed companies, exactly when they do it, and how much they pay, go to the heart of a transparent market – especially when there are claims of market manipulation. As the IR report notes, our courts have emphasised the non-private nature of how companies conduct their affairs, especially when they involve publicly traded securities. The FMA, the regulator said, also supports this principle by promoting transparency in the financial markets. Early in South Africa's constitutional democracy, the Constitutional Court, in Bernstein v Bester, explained that a company's business was not a purely private matter. The Supreme Court of Appeal, in Nova Property Holdings v Cobbett, confirmed that this principle extended to companies' securities registers, which were 'not inherently private'. The IR investigation found that disclosure of information in this case was not unreasonable, as it pertained to market activities conducted under the regulatory oversight of the JSE. Commercial harm? The JSE also stated that it could not provide the information that Inhlanhla sought because to do so would violate the mandatory protection of commercial information of a third party. This is also an oft-seen tactic – the bald claim that commercial harm would result from the disclosure of the information. The IR stressed that a public body cannot make this claim as a 'mere assertion' and had to provide evidence of how disclosure would actually harm the relevant third party. But, despite the multiple court judgments explaining that disclosure of information must be the default and that access to information should be granted unless valid, specific and justified grounds for its refusal exist, public bodies like the JSE continue to issue bald refusals – and so the IR investigation rejected this claim, too. The JSE also claimed it owed a duty of confidentiality to third parties and so could refuse disclosure in terms of Paia. However, the JSE failed to seek third-party consent (as it was obliged to) and also failed to identify any agreement with third parties which provided such an undertaking of confidentiality – again, leading the IR investigator to reject the JSE's reliance on the ground of refusal. Public interest override Paia provides that, notwithstanding other prohibitions, the public body must assess whether the disclosure of the records would reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law and whether the public interest in the disclosure of the record clearly outweighs the harm contemplated in the grounds of refusal. The IR investigation noted that Inhlanhla had furnished the JSE with an analysis of the Traded enX Shares over the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 and that it had clearly invoked concerns regarding 'substantial contravention of the law', in the form of market manipulation. The IR took the view that the JSE had simply not properly engaged in the balancing exercise required by Paia to determine whether the public interest override would apply, and found that mandatory disclosure in the public interest was relevant or applicable under the circumstances. Where to from here? As mentioned earlier, the IR enforcement committee still needs to review and make a determination on the investigator's preliminary report. After that, either party can take the IR decision to court – as the JSE has already indicated it will do if it is ordered to make the requested disclosures. As the Inhlanhla story demonstrates, the process to challenge a refusal is so onerous and so lengthy that often someone seeking access to information is forced to give up. It's hard not to think that the public bodies know this and so know that – despite their misreading of the law and judicial precedent – their refusals of the public's Paia requests will probably go unchallenged. With public bodies defaulting to secrecy rather than transparency, and our access to information mechanisms taking years to resolve complaints, is it any wonder that we're in an accountability vacuum in South Africa? DM
Daily Maverick
10 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Three months later Trump's Afrikaner ‘refugees' knuckle down to hard reality in US
Three months after the first group of Afrikaner 'refugees' left for the US, many have gone to ground. A handful are speaking openly about their new lives. 'In the US, I had to face this painful truth: I don't know where I fit in anymore. Can I work for someone else? Will I ever feel 'capable' again in this new place?' This anonymous comment from one of the Afrikaner 'refugees' in the US was shared by the @amerikaners2025 X account — the closest thing to an official mouthpiece for the group — on 4 August. The account has repeatedly advised the Afrikaners, brought over in at least two groups on 11 and 31 May, to avoid sharing much about their lives due to media interest: hence the anonymity of the post. The author, identified only as a mother of five in her 'late fifties — emphasis on very', writes that she came to the US with qualifications including 'courses in Psychology, English, Geography' and 'Trained CADD [computer-aided design and drafting] & surveyor draughtsman'. In South Africa, she had 'owned businesses in sales, publishing, estate sales; revived an arts festival, designed logos and ads; trained marketers, did admin, managed charity projects' and more. In the US, she described getting 'rejected for entry-level hotel jobs for being 'overqualified''. She writes, however, that she has been hired by a care agency to 'care for a few select seniors', while also being shortlisted for an interview with a business consulting agency. Much speculation about lives of 'refugees' A great deal of speculation — and lashings of schadenfreude from some quarters — has been attached to how the lives of the Afrikaner 'refugees' are playing out stateside since US President Donald Trump made his controversial decision to prioritise them for resettlement in the US, while official channels seem to have gone entirely silent on the topic. In the absence of much formal communication, a whole community has sprung up online, with would-be 'refugees' — often attaching 'MAGA' or American flags to their X bios in the apparent belief that this could aid their chances — swapping information about what to expect from the process. Several online figures have emerged as beacons — some of whom are Afrikaners based in the US who are happy to offer advice. One is Sonell van Niekerk, a Biblical content creator based in North Dakota, who gives candid warnings to would-be 'refugees' about the challenges of the uprooting — such as 'the constant missing of your friends and family that you need to live with'. Says Van Niekerk in one recent video: 'It's almost like there's a limb on your body that's missing… You go through stages of grief. You get angry, you get depressed, you get sad.' Van Niekerk has also warned followers that upon arriving in the US she had to work three jobs to survive, one of which was cleaning houses. She advises that the support of a church is indispensable. Another online guide has emerged as fellow expat Andrea Shea, who recently published 'a guide to help you build your refugee case', covering 'how to present a well-founded fear of future persecution using both personal experiences and objective evidence'. However, the towering figure in this community is Chris Wyatt, a former US military YouTuber whose following has almost doubled over the last few months as his content has increasingly focused on offering advice to would-be Afrikaner 'refugees'. Farmer sent to NY flees to South Dakota Wyatt has, in the last two months, posted video interviews with two of the 'refugees', the first being farmer Charl Kleinhaus. Kleinhaus told Wyatt in late July that the refugee programme sent him to Buffalo, New York, somewhat to his horror: 'I thought I'd go to Texas, Montana, somewhere like that where there's farming, but it didn't happen like that.' As a result, he chose to leave the assistance programme after eight days and make his own way, having made contact with a farmer in South Dakota through another South African who had worked on the same farm. The farmer bought plane tickets for Kleinhaus and his family to South Dakota and supplied them with a fully furnished house. Kleinhaus said: 'The biggest challenge is here you work, hey. There's no kitchen lady you call to sweep the house, or clean the house, or stuff like that. You do the work yourself.' He said that even farm owners worked from 'morning till 11pm at night' with no farm labourers to call for help. 'You guys work,' Kleinhaus told Wyatt. 'You play, but you work much harder.' Kleinhaus also expressed apprehension about the upcoming winter in South Dakota, in which temperatures will drop to -30°C. Because the original group of refugees is spread across a vast country, there seems to be little contact among them. Kleinhaus told Wyatt that the '59ers', as the original group call themselves, have a WhatsApp group but 'don't chat much any more'. Alabama 'refugee' had three jobs In late June, Wyatt interviewed another 59er, Errol Langton, whose family group accounted for nine of the original 59, and whose stepdaughter — back home in South Africa — has accused him of rank opportunism, including not being an Afrikaner. Langton now calls home Alabama, which he says he requested. He told Wyatt that he had a gig selling life insurance, which kept him busy driving all over the state — but clarified that he hadn't earned anything yet, as it was commission only. Langton said he was interviewing for another job and starting a third job. 'You're not given a job, you're not given anything,' warned Langton. 'This is the last month we have [state-sponsored] accommodation.' In a subsequent interview with Wyatt in July, Langton said he had secured a job at a car wash. An anonymous refugee X account, @AfrikanerPOV, posted a video on July 12 of 'the accommodation that we were placed in from our arrival in the USA', showing a basic two-bedroom apartment. This is the accommodation that we were placed in from our arrival in the USA. It was a 2 bedroom 1 Bathroom apartment. We had basic furniture (some of which we could have taken with us when we moved) that was provided as well as linens,towels,kitchen utensils. #afrikanerrefugee — AfrikanerPov (@AfrikanerPov) July 12, 2025 The same account has posted: 'We are working and staying on a farm at the moment', and advises that 'refugees' do not need to inform employers about their refugee status, 'if you do not want to'. The account also informed one would-be 'refugee' that it is possible to return to visit South Africa: 'Your case worker will discuss it with you as well when you get like the initial rundown as well after you arrive — you will just need to apply for a travel document and you will need to inform them why you want to go back.' However, he or she strongly advised against this: 'Why would you want to visit a country you fled for your safety but I know for some people it is a make or break subject but I will definitely not be going back for any reason whatsoever.' Despite the work and cultural challenges of their new lives, all the accounts mentioned have stressed the transformative nature of the feeling of safety in the US. 'More important than anything money can buy?' posted the 50-something woman on the Amerikaners account.
IOL News
12 hours ago
- IOL News
Jubilee Metals' Roan copper concentrator in Zambia achieves operational success
Jubilee Metals, diversified metals producer with operations in South Africa and Zambia, has full re-startedoperations at its Roan project in Zambia. Image: Supplied Jubilee Metals Group's Roan copper concentrator in Zambia is fully operational following an upgrade, exceeding July's targeted production by reaching 384 tons of copper units. The mining group, which aims to become a significant copper explorer, miner, and producer of concentrates and refined cathodes in Zambia, stated in an update on Wednesday that Roan's production in August was already above the targeted production rate of 350 tons. The Roan project, first announced by Jubilee in 2021 and upgraded in phases, is the cornerstone of the company's copper production ambitions alongside the Sable refinery. Jubilee is currently disposing of its South Africa-based chrome and platinum operations, with agreements in final form, and a shareholders' meeting is being scheduled soon. Jubilee's share price sank 5.4% to 70 cents on the JSE on Wednesday afternoon. 'I am pleased to report significant progress across our Zambia portfolio, which has all the assets we need to maintain momentum on our copper expansion strategy,' said Jubilee's CEO Leon Coetzee in a statement. He said that they were building a robust copper production profile by dedicating processing capacity at Roan to a combination of third-party sourced mined material and process tailings, while advancing the Munkoyo and Project G mining operations to feed an expanded Sable refinery. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading In addition, the Large Waste project is forging ahead, and the group's copper exploration footprint is being expanded. The Munkoyo and Project G mines are being developed to be the anchor source of copper material for cathode production at Sable. Further large-scale exploration properties have been secured, Coetzee said. Munkoyo consists of a series of nine open-pits, and resource drilling is underway to establish the potential of combining these pits into one large open-pit operation. The Large Waste tailings dump is understood to contain over 240 million tons. A review of the total surface stock portfolio was done. A monetisation program is underway to sell the lowest-ranking non-core tailings assets, with about an $18 million deal value already transacted over the past six months. Munkoyo's open-pit operation's drilling program has started, with an initial eight holes completed in partnership with a mining and exploration company. Drilling results are being reviewed, and early indications suggest potential to combine pits 2 to 4 into a single large open pit to offer increased mining flexibility and throughput. Discussions are in progress with a partner to further expanded Munkoyo and develop Project G while undertaking an exploration program of the new exploration properties. Jubilee's copper production for the first half was impacted by power and infrastructure challenges, and Roan was placed under care and maintenance. Following a successful Roan restart, copper unit production reached 757 tons in the second half, with annual production reaching 2 211 tons versus the guidance for the 2026 financial year of 5 100 tons. Further capital-dependent projects either underway or targeted to start next year could potentially increase annual copper production by about 10,000 tons. Coetzee stated that the energy-related challenges faced earlier this year helped them emerge with a clearer, more focused strategy backed by secure power supply and higher-value material supply agreements. Sable is undergoing an expansion to offer an annual processing capacity of about 14 000 tons of copper units upon completion, which is anticipated in the first quarter of next year. Mining at Munkoyo was temporarily halted for July and August 2025 while the extended pit design was completed based on the drilling results, and ore delivery to Sable is set to recommence in September 2025. On the Large Waste project, Jubilee plans to roll out a series of 25,000 tons per month modular processing units on-site, based on the design at Roan. BUSINESS REPORT
