THURSDAY, 12.30PM:
THE International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has submitted a written complaint to United States trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, noting that South African piracy of software, books and videos cost the US $105-million in lost sales last year.
The IIPA blames the situation on lax and unco-operative police, shoddy laws and the lack of strenuous penalties. It estimates that 48% of business software installed or sold in South Africa last year was pirated. It also points to an increase in photocopying of school and college books. Some South African printers have started producing outright pirate editions, while cheap grey-market imports have been coming into the country, especially in the Eastern Cape.
Though the IIPA expects the recently approved Counterfeit Goods Act to improve matters, it does not think the Act goes far enough. The alliance believes South African law should be strengthened to reduce the excessive burden of proof of ownership on plaintiffs, and increase the penalties for infringements, which are currently negligible. Limits on the legal costs plaintiffs may recover often force pathetic out-of-court settlements on them. The alliance wants the South African government to align criminal end-user piracy with US and European Union standards.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
116 000 FORMAL JOBS LOST IN 1997
LABOUR Minister Tito Mboweni said in Parliament on Wednesday that 116000 non-agricultural formal sector jobs, or 2,2% of the total, were lost in the year ending September 1997. Most of the losses were in the mining, construction and manufacturing industries. Small increases were noted in financial services, catering, accommodation and trade. However, new forms of employment are increasing, Mboweni said.
TWO DIE IN MINE ACCIDENT
TWO miners died and one was badly injured in a rockfall on Wednesday at Anglogold’s Vaal Reefs mine near Klerksdorp. The accident occurred shortly after midday at the Number 10 shaft, 1350m underground. The cause of the accident and the resultant damage are still being investigated.
PEPKOR BUYS OZ RETAILER
RETAIL group Pepkor has purchased an Australian clothing and household goods chain, Best & Less, for R360-million. Pepkor, which already has two UK holdings, aims to generate 15% of earnings from offshore businesses.
Meanwhile, there is considerable speculation that Pepkor chairman Christo Wiese has purchased a minority holding in the black empowerment company Molope Foods, chaired by Cyril Ramaphosa.
NORWICH TAKEOVER SUSPECT IDENTIFIED
SPECULATION that the mystery “third party” in the Norwich Holdings takeover battle is Orion Holdings-Board of Executors has been fueled by a noncommittal statement on the issue by BoE chairman Bill McAdam. Norwich is currently fighting off a hostile bid by black-controlled insurers African Life. The trading of large blocs of Norwich shares last week first raised suspicions that a relatively benevolent third party might have taken the field.
MUGABE SELLS POWER
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has repeated his government’s intention to sell a major power station to a Malaysian company, YTL Corporation. YTL is buying 51% of the privatised Hwange Thermal Power station, which produces 55% of Zimbabwe’s electrical power, for $600-million. The deal has been criticised by black empowerment groups, Western diplomats and the board of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Commission. Mugabe’s response was to fire the entire ZESA board. Mugabe’s government is currently running a 10% annual deficit.
MPUMA GETS HIGH-TECH AIRPORT
MPUMALANGA’s first international airport will be the first airport in Africa to offer precision computer approach facilities based on satellite technology, airport representative Johanna Makgalemele said on Thursday. African Eye News Service reports the new technology, called Differential Global Positioning System, will allow precision “fly-by-wire” approaches to Primkop International Airport near Nelspruit — scheduled to open in 1999 — and will be able to accommodate blind landings. The new system is unaffected by terrain and will allow all runways at the airport to be served by one unit, Makgalemele said. Current systems, which are two thirds more expensive, are based on VHF radio frequencies and only support landings from one end of the runway at a time.