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IOL News
25 minutes ago
- Business
- IOL News
Buy now or miss out: Johannesburg property market heats up
As interest rates decline, Johannesburg's property market is heating up, presenting a golden opportunity for buyers and investors. Don't get left behind—find out why experts are urging immediate action! Image: Karen Sandison / Independent Newspapers In a decisive move that could reshape the real estate landscape in Johannesburg, the South African Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by 25 basis points, bringing the home loan interest rate to an unprecedented low of 10.75%—the most favourable level since February 2023. This announcement has sparked urgent calls from property experts for prospective buyers and investors to act swiftly in this buoyant market. Denese Zaslansky, CEO of FIRZT Realty Group, emphasised the growing momentum in property demand since rates began to decline in September last year. 'We have witnessed a remarkable 38% surge in sales and an average price increase of 6% over the past six months,' she noted, pointing out that desirable locations in Johannesburg are already seeing diminishing stock levels. The implications of today's rate cut are significant for both first-time buyers and seasoned investors. Given that the current average home price in the city is approximately R1.6 million, qualifying for a home loan currently requires a gross monthly income of about R54,200. This figure is R3,600 less than it was this time last year, offering a golden opportunity for many who may have previously felt locked out of the market. Zaslansky warns, however, that time is of the essence. 'If property prices rise by just 5% in the next year, prospective buyers will face higher monthly bond repayments and will need to increase their monthly income by R2,700 to qualify for a home loan, should interest rates remain stable. This will erode the advantages gained from the recent rate cuts,' she cautioned. Today's interest rate decline comes in response to inflation metrics consistently lingering below the Reserve Bank's target range of 3% to 6%. With inflation reported at 2.8% in April, and economic growth failing to gain real traction, the decision reflects a broader shift aimed at boosting consumer confidence and justifying spending amid turbulent market conditions. 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 According to Zaslansky, a turnaround is imminent. 'We are highly optimistic that we will see rapid advancements in the property market as demand escalates. The number of new developments sprouting across Johannesburg is a clear indicator of rising investment in property, stimulating both job creation and overall economic growth in the region.' With the property market in Johannesburg offering rare opportunities for savvy buyers, Zaslansky's message is clear: the time to act is now. Ignoring this window may mean relinquishing the chance to secure a home at today's favourable rates and prices—an opportunity that may not last long as the market continues to evolve. BUSINESS REPORT
IOL News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Most South African farmers are black: why Trump got it so wrong
There are more black farmers in South Africa than white farmers,says the authors Image: Karen Sandison/ Independent Newspapers When world leaders engage, the assumption is always that they engage on issues based on verified facts, which their administrative staff are supposed to prepare. Under this assumption, we thought the meeting at the White House on 21 May between South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and US president Donald Trump would follow this pattern. Disappointingly, the televised meeting was horrifying to watch as it was based on misrepresenting the reality of life in South Africa. Issues of agriculture, farming and land (and rural crime) were central to the discussions. What is clear to us as agricultural economists is that the skewed views expressed by Trump about these issues originate in South Africa. This includes Trump's statement: 'But Blacks are not farmers.' In our work as agricultural economists, we have, in many pieces and books (our latest titled The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa's Agriculture), tried to present South Africans with the real facts about the political economy policy reforms and structural dimensions of South African agriculture. Writing on these matters was necessary given that official data – agricultural census 2017, as well as the official land audit of 2017 – all provide an incomplete picture of the real state and structure of South African agriculture. The reason is that the agricultural census, which is supposed to provide a comprehensive and inclusive assessment of the size and structure of the primary agricultural sector, and the land audit, which was supposed to record the ownership of all land in South Africa, are incomplete in their coverage. The incomplete and inaccurate official data provides fertile ground for radical statements by the left and the right – and novices on social media. This is why South Africa has to deal with falsehoods coming from the US. These include Trump's statement that black people are not farmers in South Africa. South Africa is to blame for providing inaccurate data to feed these false narratives. The facts presented here should allow a more nuanced interpretation of South Africa's farm structure. Firstly, there are more black farmers in South Africa than white farmers. And not all white commercial farm operations are 'large-scale', and not all black farmers are 'small-scale', 'subsistence' or 'emerging'. Most farm operations can be classified as micro, or small in scale. This is important so that one doesn't view South Africa's agriculture as mainly white farmers. Indeed, we are a country of two agricultures with black farmers mainly at small scale and accounting for roughly 10% of the commercial agricultural output. Still, this doesn't mean they are not active in the sector. They mainly still require support to expand and increase output, but they are active. The facts In the wake of the circus in the Oval Office, we were amazed by the total silence of the many farmers' organisations in South Africa. We have not seen one coming out to reject all of Trump's claims. The only thing we can deduce from this is that these falsehoods suit the political position of some farmer organisations. But at what cost? Will many of their members be harmed by trade sanctions or tariffs against South Africa? The US is an important market for South Africa's agriculture, accounting for 4% of the $13.7 billion (R247bn) exports in 2024. When Ramaphosa highlighted the fact that crime, and rural crime in particular, has an impact on all South Africans and that more black people than white people are being killed, Trump's response was disturbing, to say the least: 'But Blacks are not farmers'. This requires an immediate fact check. We returned to the text from our chapter in the Handbook on the South African Economy we jointly prepared in 2021. In the extract below, we discuss the real numbers of farmers in South Africa and try to provide a sensible racial classification of farmers to denounce Trump's silly statement. As highlighted earlier, the two latest agricultural censuses (2007 and 2017) are incomplete as they restricted the sample frame to farm businesses registered to pay value added tax. Only firms with a turnover of R1 million qualify for VAT registration. We were able to expand the findings from the censuses with numbers from the 2011 population census and the 2016 community survey to better understand the total number of commercial farming units in South Africa. The Community Survey 2016 is a large-scale survey that happened between Censuses 2011 and 2021. The main objective was to provide population and household statistics at municipal level to government and the private sector, to support planning and decision-making. Data from the 2011 population census (extracted from three agricultural questions included in the census) shows that 2 879 638 households out of South Africa's total population, or 19.9% of all households, were active in agriculture for subsistence or commercial purposes. Only 2% of these active households reported an annual income derived from agriculture above R307 000. This translates into 57 592 households that can be considered commercial farmers, with agriculture as the main or only source of household income. This corresponds in some way with the 40 122 farming businesses that are registered for VAT as noted in the 2017 agricultural census report. If we use the numbers from the agricultural census it is evident almost 90% of all VAT-registered commercial farming businesses could be classified as micro or small-scale enterprises. If the farm businesses excluded from the census are accounted for under the assumption that they are too small for VAT registration, then the fact still stands that the vast majority of all farm enterprises in South Africa are small family farms. Graphic Image: Source: StatsSA There are, however, 2 610 large farms (with turnover exceeding R22.5 million, which are responsible for 67% of farm income and employed more than half the agricultural labour force of 757 000 farm workers in 2017. Graphic Image: Source: StatsSA (2020b) – based on additional analysis of the 2016 Community Survey Another way to get to farm numbers is to use the 2016 Community Survey. Using the shares as shown in Table 2, we estimate there are 242 221 commercial farming households in South Africa, of which only 43 891 (18%) are white commercial farmers. (This is very much in line with the VAT registered farmers but also acknowledging the fact that many white farm businesses are not necessarily registered for VAT.) Let's consider only the agricultural households with agriculture as their main source of income, surveyed in the 2016 community survey. We end up with a total of 132 700 households, of whom 93 000 (70%) are black farmers. This reality is something that policy makers and farm organisations find very difficult to deal with and it seems that Trump also found this too good to be true. We have tried here in a long winded way to deal with farm numbers and how to get to a race classification of farmers in South Africa. In the end we trust that we have managed to show that there are more black farmers in South Africa than white farmers. Their share in total output is smaller than that of their white counterparts. The National Agricultural Marketing Council puts black farmers' share of agricultural production as roughly 10%. But these numbers are also incomplete and largely an undercount. It will always be challenging to get to the real number of black farmers' share of agricultural output as nobody would ever know whether the potato or the cabbage on the shelf came from a farm owned by a black farmer or a white person but operated by a black farmer, for example. As South Africans know, the labour on farms, in pack houses, distribution systems and retail are all black. So, the sweat and hard work of black South African workers are integral to the food supply chain in South Africa. Let's get these facts straight and promote them honestly. The Conversation Image: Supplied
IOL News
16 hours ago
- General
- IOL News
Yoga in rural schools: How it raised pass rates to 100%
Young and old from Congo in Inanda were taught how to do yoga ahead of the International Day of Yoga on June 21. Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers Yoga's implementation in rural schools has dramatically increased the pass rate, rising from under 50% to a perfect 100%. This was shared by Sivananda World Peace Foundation President Ishwar Ramlutchman at a curtain-raiser event in Congo, Inanda, ahead of the 11th International Yoga Day on June 21. Ramlutchman said that five years ago, they started visiting rural schools and have seen how yoga benefits pupils. 'We learned that some had a 46% pass rate and others 55%, but they never increased to 60%. Today, we can safely say that those schools now have a 100% pass rate,' stated Ramlutchman. 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 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. Next Stay Close ✕ He said yoga stills a child's mind through meditation, even the technique of sitting quietly and breathing. 'When you breathe, you take in oxygen and it energises the mind. So your mind becomes alert,' Ramlutchman explained. 'So when you're studying, your mind, it's alert. And therefore your memory becomes sharp. And you start to learn to remember what you have learned and what you have been taught in classrooms.' Sivananda World Peace Foundation President Ishwar Ramlutchman. Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers Ramlutchman said they have also partnered with the Department of Education, and they will continue to go into all communities to serve pupils in rural areas. High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to India, Professor Anil Sooklal, said India offers several scholarships annually and more than 40,000 African students are studying in India. 'I would like to see more South Africans from previously disadvantaged communities come and study in India,' Sooklal said. 'I'm encouraging our communities to look also at India because India provides world-class education. 'Let us encourage a few of our matriculants here, and we will find this scholarship together with the Indian government, and let them go and get exposed to international education and to study.' He said India is a world leader in pharmaceuticals and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. Sooklal said it would be wonderful to have a few students from Congo studying in India on scholarship. High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to India, Professor Anil Sooklal. Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers He said it was a privilege to see children as young as three embracing yoga. 'I'm also told that in the schools that have embraced this, our children are doing much better and producing excellent results,' Sooklal said. He said yoga is one of humanity's treasures and should be embraced globally. Sooklal said it was important to concentrate on the poorest as many youth are unemployed and need confidence-building, and that is what yoga does. 'Yoga is not only about the physical practice, which is important to ensure that we have healthy societies and communities, but more importantly, nurturing the mind,' Sooklal said. 'The more we can sharpen the mind and get them to concentrate on education, yoga is an important tool in that, because through education, we can empower society.' Young and old from Congo in Inanda were taught how to do yoga ahead of the International Day of Yoga on June 21. Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers KwaZulu-Natal International Business Association (Kiba) President Omi Singh said he was impressed by the presence of children. Yoga will help their bodies and minds. He encouraged mothers and grannies to take what they learned about yoga home with them and hold small yoga classes in their communities, with neighbours and friends. India-South Africa Chamber of Commerce's Pradeep Ramlall said: 'When we talk about yoga, it is about our life. Life is very precious, and you have to guard your life through various means. One way you have to protect this life is by protecting your health. And yoga gives you many benefits to protect your health, to prevent diseases and to strengthen your mind.'
IOL News
17 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Gauteng High Court's mediation directive faces legal action from accident victim
A car accident victim is challenging a directive by the Gauteng high court which makes mediation mandatory before civil trials are heard. She demands her day in court and says she cannot afford mediation. Image: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers WHILE the Constitutional Court has declined leave to a law firm to directly approach the apex court in an urgent bid to overturn a directive introducing mandatory mediation in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, a vehicle accident victim who is also objecting to the directives will take her plight to court. The Durban-based woman, who is left a paraplegic following the accident, will turn to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria later in June to ultimately have the directives issued by the head of the court overturned. She said her accident occurred six years ago and she eventually obtained a court date issued in 2023 for her hearing. Her matter is scheduled to be heard in August this year, but her case is now first subject to arbitration in terms of the directive. This follows a directive issued by Judge President Dunstan Mlambo earlier this year that the Johannesburg and Pretoria high courts no longer allocate trial dates for civil cases (cases where evidence is being led, such as damages claims). Litigants, who in these cases want a judge to determine their issues, must first prove that they have tried to resolve their issues via mediation. A trial date will be allocated only if mediation does not resolve the issues, and they can prove via a certificate that they did try it. The Office of the Chief Justice earlier explained that there are no alternatives as the Gauteng Divisions simply cannot cope with the heavy workload. Judge Mlambo also commented in his directive that the bulk of these cases are, in any event, settled on the day of the trial. Thus, the mediation route is the practical solution so that judges can be freed to adjudicate over other matters. The woman will meanwhile bring her application in two parts - the first is that she and others may retain the court dates they have secured before the new directive came into force in April. The second part in which she is contesting the legality of the directive, will be heard at a later stage. The accident victim in this new legal challenge explained that it is expected of her (and others) to first pay the mediation fees before a mediator can adjudicate her case. She explained that before the accident she was a hairdresser. As she is now wheelchair-bound, her only income is a social grant. She is also HIV-positive and struggles with health issues. She said in an affidavit that this application is to ensure that she has her day in court. The applicant stated that the directive differentiates between plaintiff litigants and the RAF regarding the amount payable for mediation and when it's payable. The RAF, she claims, is only liable for R15,000 per mediation, which only becomes payable 30 days after the receipt of the mediation report. A plaintiff, on the other hand, must pay the balance of the mediation fee upfront. 'If a plaintiff litigant does not pay, no mediation can be conducted and no trial date can be obtained,' she stated. According to the plaintiff, she cannot pay for mediation and this will result in her being denied justice. She also questioned the constitutional validity of the directive. Gert Nel Inc Attorneys, through its director Gert Nel, in his now failed bid to the ConCourt, questioned whether this move for mandatory mediation is constitutionally sound. In an affidavit accompanying his urgent application, Nel said there are constitutional limits on judicial power.
IOL News
18 hours ago
- General
- IOL News
Sandfields community to restore temple hall by January 2025
The damages to the Sandfields temple and its hall(left) Image: Supplied THE Sandfields Siva Subramaniar temple hall, in Sandfields, devastated by the June 2024 tornado, is set to reopen by January 2026, thanks to community support and rebuilding efforts While the 95-year-old temple suffered minimal damage, the hall was completely destroyed. Vijen Subramunier, chairperson of the temple, said the temple stood the test of the 'powerful' tornado. 'There was some damage to the temple's roof, windows, doors and part of the ceiling. However, there was not any damage in the shrine where our murthies (sacred images or idols of deities in Hinduism) are housed. 'Following the tornado, our team made a decision that the temple should be fixed immediately. Through the support of the various religious organisations, businesses and the public, we were able to restore the temple within weeks and resume with our prayer services,' he said. He added it cost about R250 000 to repair the temple. Restoration of the temple commenced soon after the tornado. Rebuilding of the hall is expected to start next month. Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo/Independent Newspapers Subramunier said the hall and its contents were not spared. 'The hall was used by the community and surrounding areas for various activities. The senior citizens club, local school and civic organisations, among others used the hall for their weekly meetings or other events. It was also used for funerals and memorial ceremonies. Following the April 2022 floods, it was also used as a disaster management centre and provided shelter for residents whose homes were damaged.
