A massive marketing push by the financial services industry is urgently needed, according to government figures. "The irony is that the nation has the greatest array of financial products in its history, but makes the least use of them," says Kim Zietsman, Stanlib’s head of single-manager unit trusts.
A flat tax in which the ratio of tax to taxable income is the same at all levels of income — and which replaces various tax bands that feature in a progressive tax regime with a single tax — would allow the South African government to gather more tax at lower rates, Free Market Foundation (FMF) economist Jasson Urbach has argued.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Monday urged cricket-mad India to embrace soccer and lift the sport’s infrastructure in order to compete with other nations in the region. He said Fifa has special plans to improve soccer in India, who are currently ranked 165th in the world.
A new judge has not yet been appointed to hear the criminal trial of alleged child molester Cezanne Visser, alias ”Advocate Barbie”. The trial was delayed for a considerable period when trial Judge Essop Patel fell ill and was unable to resume, resulting in the trial having to start afresh before a new judge.
The elimination of the defending champions and a spirited performance against the odds were two of the features of a thrilling final weekend of league fixtures in the Vodacom Cup competition, which enters its quarterfinal stage this weekend. Holders the Valke went down 17-8 to the Blue Bulls last Friday.
Hulks of stepped, golden sand — looking from the air like rows of pre-Colombian pyramids — have long been part of Johannesburg’s cityscape. Now, they are fast disappearing as mining companies cash in on high gold prices and reprocess the mountains of what they once dumped as waste. Even dumps containing the lowest-grade ore are proving to be, well, gold mines.
Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, said on Monday that Khartoum has fully accepted the second phase of a United Nations plan to bolster a peacekeeping operation in Darfur, including the deployment of helicopter gunships. Sudan’s acceptance ”opens the door to new phases”, he said.
Durban fraud convict Schabir Shaik was on Monday admitted to the city’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital suffering from hypertension and depression. A KwaZulu-Natal health official said the Department of Correctional Services had "requested us to manage their patient who is suffering from hypertension and depression".
Japan’s leading toilet maker, Toto, is offering free repairs for 180 000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused almost 30 units to catch fire or send up smoke, the company said on Monday. The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March last year and March this year.
A powerful spring storm expected to be the worst of its kind in almost 15 years pounded the East Coast of the United States on Monday, bringing relentless rains, flooding rivers, and prompting evacuations from New Jersey to West Virginia. It was blamed for eight deaths across the US.