Economy/business

Trends

• Business appears to anticipate a repo rate cut in September by our Reserve Bank. Strangely, the Bank of America reportedly expects our Reserve Bank to start cutting interest rates soon – by 25 basis points at each of its following four meetings!
• Interestingly, the Investec chief investment strategist has warned that our interest rates are too tight and may well lead to a recession!
• Our consumers are also more confident about our economy, despite credit demand softening. The mere fact that our GNU will focus on economic growth, is music to all of our ears.
• The BER says that it expects a 2.2% GDP growth next year! That such a modest growth prediction is good news, says much about what went before!

 

News

• Support for basic income grants is growing. It is said that 47% of our population rely on these grounds and the World Communion of Reformed Churches urged our government to implement such a scheme.
• Our government has, in the same vein, suddenly developed a conscience and wants to care for the poor:
  • the GNU is said to be mulling VAT relief on essential foods; and
  • electricity prices are being reviewed – whatever that means!

Nah, cannot be for political reasons, can it…

• The expenditure on the above, NHI and of course the annual support of SOEs ( Codera says that this sum amounts to R300bn since 2009) will amount to a massive tab and there is much speculation on how the newly found sympathy will be funded. The obvious solution is tax – even better a once off tax to start things off properly; the following is the latest article I could find the topic: https://dailyfriend.co.za/2024/08/06/why-wealth-taxes-dont-work/
• A change of mind? The Department of Minerals and Petroleum Resources will be reinstating the PetroSA and Sapref We have, in comparison with our prior 30% fuel import, lately been purchasing 70% of petrol, diesel and jet fuels internationally. That it takes a change of government to understand this, is quite remarkable.
• Gauteng is reportedly in the final stages of approving a plan to build a high-speed rail service to Limpopo – I confess to being surprised, given our obvious social needs, but am sure that the Zionist church will welcome this!
• A welcome note of sanity: the MultiChoice/DStv monopoly on sport is set to terminate – good; the false note in this enthusiasm is whether the SABC has the capacity to deal with the intricacies of such broadcasts and, very importantly, given its inability to collect subscriptions, to pay the necessary royalties.
• Strictly business:
  • A recent reworking of the false sick note issue is an article an article saying that one should focus, not on the falsity of the sicknote, but rather the mendacity of the employee: https://businesstech.co.za/news/business-opinion/784156/woolworths-the-dodgy-doctor-and-a-sticky-sick-note-situation/
  • Buying another company? Consider this tax break: https://www.phinc.co.za/OurInsights/ArticleDetail.aspx?Title=Unlocking-a-hidden-gem-in-the-Income-Tax-Act–
  • Labour disputes is an evergreen source of income for destitute lawyers: https://bowmanslaw.com/insights/south-africa-labour-court-refuses-to-reinstate-unfairly-dismissed-she-manager-in-the-wake-of-workplace-safety-incidents/

 

Finally, the Wall Street Journal published a note saying that, when children grow up in a neighbourhood where more adults have jobs, those children are better off economically as adults themselves. Kind of follows, doesn’t it?

 

Practice

News 

• Members misbehaving: a colleague drew a News24 article on how an attorney (I hesitate to call him a colleague) sourced backhand money from one of our water chiefs – I am tempted to say that, in the old days (said with a quavering voice) that gentlemen would have been on the Law Society red carpet already.
• An interesting article was published by Tech4Law on legal recruitment; worth a look: https://www.tech4law.co.za/business/staffing/biggest-mistakes-law-firms-make-in-recruitment/
• Justice denied… Moneyweb published a note on the civil justice system in the Pretoria High Court, which holds that there is a shortage of judges and an overload of civil trials in that court, with such cases now being allocated trail dates in 2029! Reportedly these lead times are the longest ever in the history of that High Court. A similar report (reflecting similar lead times) was published by BusinessDay on the Johannesburg High Court. A report by ENS on the performance/status of our courts may be of interest: https://www.ensafrica.com/news/detail/8916/key-takeaways-from-south-africas-20222023-ann
• RAF:
  • A claimant who had turned to court for payment delayed by the RAF led to the judge saying two things of interest, that the RAF is technically insolvent and unable to pay certain judgement debts against it, and that the RAF should not be singled out to take exclusive accountability for the failure of the compensation scheme, which is underfunded and unsustainable.
  • In this case the RAF CEO escaped coercive imprisonment for the RAF not paying on time: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/raf-ceo-avoids-coercive-imprisonment-for-failure-to-pay-judgment-debts/
  • On 6 August our Minister of Transport reportedly said that there are some 320 000 open claims outstanding against the RAF, of which more than half are four years and older. Of these, 9240 have been allocated trial dates. She said that the backlog situation is not sustainable from either a humanitarian or financial perspective. Amen.
• Speeding, in itself, does not mean a driver was reckless and absent which should be paid out by his insurer: https://businesstech.co.za/news/motoring/784128/speeding-lifeline-for-motorists-in-south-africa/
• Our Minister of Health is reportedly deeply concerned by the High Court judgement, which declared the requirement of a certificate of need, for a doctor to practice, to be unconstitutional. A first-year law student would have told him that – so, who is the legal author of the relevant text?

 

Hard news

• A note on what taxes are applicable, in deceased estates, may be of interest to young practitioners: https://www.sdblaw.co.za/OurInsights/ArticleDetail.aspx?Title=The-taxes-applicable-to-a-deceased-estate&utm_source=EV&utm_medium=email&utm
• Whilst on estates: massing is oft the only way to deal with communal property (held in marriages in community of property) in deceased estates. A short note on the requirements for massing is published in https://cilreyn.co.za/2024/07/13/understanding-estate-massing-in-community-of-property-marriages/
• Late last year the Constitutional Court shocked all by extending judicial discretion for the redistribution of assets held in marriages out of community, without accrual: https://caf.co.za/courts-discretion-redistribution-of-assets-in-marriages-out-of-community-of-property-without-implementation-of-the-accrual-system/

And another on the same topic: https://stbb.co.za/pulse-til-divorce-do-us-part-the-constitutional-courts-ruling-on-the-enforceability-of-prenuptial-agreements/

• In a similar vein is a note on the evolution of estate liability in permanent life partnerships: https://caf.co.za/a-crash-course-in-permanent-life-partnerships/
• A quite interesting note on your insurer, settling a liability claim (with you having to pay the excess), is worth noting, if only as background: https://www.adams.africa/mtho-maphumulo/liability-insurance-what-happens-when-the-insurer-and-policyholder-disagree-on-settling-the-matter/
• In consumer disputes, the burden of proof may rely on the supplier and the court has the discretion to determine who bears this burden: https://www.ensafrica.com/news/detail/8883/consumer-law-disputes-who-bears-the-onus-the-
• May a judge interfere with the terms of a settlement agreement? https://www.macrobert.co.za/insights/posts/alteration-of-settlement-agreements-by-courts-in-light-of-mafisa-judgment

 

Property

Trends:

• Residential property prices are still growing at less than our inflation rate, which implies that, in real terms, house prices continue to fall in price, significantly. This trend is expected to continue for the next months.
• Apartment vacancy rates are slightly down but below the 2023 level of 7.2%, at 6.7%. This obviously implies that rentals will probably rise.
• The office market is recovering, albeit slowly; the 2024 average vacancy rate was 14.6, Q1 2024 13.9% and in Q2 2024 13.1%.
• The industrial property sector grew by 6.1%, yoy, in Q 2 224 and rentals were approximately 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
• The following article may be of interest to agents dealing in commercial property: https://propertyflash.co.za/2024/07/30/office-space-resurgence-in-cre-deals-and-inquiries/
• It’s women’s month!
  • The majority of first-time home loan applications in Q 2 2024 were from women (60%).
  • 55% of all homebuyers (between the ages of 30 and 39) in traditional townships, were women.
  • Looking at the above, the following is understandable: women-only buyers account for 38% of all houses owned in the ≤ R750k bracket.
  • Women in Sectional Title (WiST)has launched a dispute resolution platform for women in partnership with ADR Ubuntu. Having looked briefly, I could not find the claimed adjudication by women only: https://www.adrubuntu.co.za/Our-Process.html

 

News:

• SAHARA was launched last month – this is a residential alliance which may interest agents: https://propertyflash.co.za/2024/07/24/residential-investment-development-summit-reside-announces-launch-of-southern-african-home-and-residential-alliance-sahara/
• Ramaphosa proposed that state land be released for land reform purposes – a move which drew wide acclaim.
• Local communities wanting a piece of the labour pie in developments within their area, is probably not untoward. The problem comes when such an ‘institution’ insists and enforces that insistence. How does one respond to construction mafioso? Take a look: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2024/Practice/Dispute/dispute-resolution-alert-23-July-2024-the-construction-mafia-the-not-so-new-normal
• Speaking of which; will your insurance pay when you suffer losses to such an opportunistic grouping? https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/industry/court-to-decide-insurance-dispute-after-construction-mafia-raid/
• This week past, I was approached by a purchaser who had been informed by the auctioneer at a sale in execution, that, despite the contractual terms, he need not to pay arrear levies to the body corporate within which the property was situated. Take a look: https://cilreyn.co.za/2024/07/13/are-you-obligated-to-pay-arrear-levies-when-purchasing-a-sectional-title-unit-part-1/
• How to rate a potential tenant: https://cilreyn.co.za/2024/07/13/tenant-red-flags-and-how-to-avoid-them/
• The owners of offices, indoor sporting facilities, educational institutions, places of entertainment and public assembly must have obtained (and should display) an EPC certificate by last Friday. Failure to do so can lead to a maximum fine of R5m or five years goal. This applies to organs of state also – look for these certificates as they are supposed to be displayed!
• In KZN you can often judge the race of the owner of property by his choice of fence and gate; the owner in this case got to keep his flashy garage door! https://www.dotnews.co.za/Code/Article.aspx?qry=yKPR5eDKNlaukY9Ps7iCg8oSMqzbfblSE9FWc0FqyyMdbBb4GU-fj3uAPQBXpQRl_gcLOqWIleTE1ks8NXtAjXySs8tX03IQYunl9RWRsDg=-NOPAD

 

Comment

Political parties doing flip-flops in order to set their sails with the wind, is probably the norm. This is what is happening in our GNU; politicos, driven by poll failure, are suddenly saving, repairing and rescuing what their parties had controlled two months before. Whilst one appreciates the change of direction, hopefully for the better, I am chagrined by the blithe communication that these actions are for the betterment of all, whilst, just yesterday, this did not count.

 

Lighten up

A cocky lawyer had just bought a new sports car and he couldn’t wait to show it off to all his colleagues.

He parked at the side of the road and opened the driver’s side door, when suddenly an 18-wheeler truck appeared out of nowhere and took the driver’s door with it.

‘No! My Jaguar, my Jaguar!’ The lawyer shouted, knowing that, no matter how well a mechanic tried to fix it, it would never be the same.

A policeman saw the car without the door and came over to see the man was okay.

‘You are a lawyer, aren’t you?’, the officer asked.

‘Yes, I am, but what does that have to do with my car?’, the lawyer asked.

The officer replied: ‘You lawyers are always so materialistic. All you care about is your prestige and your position.’

‘You must have been holding the car door at the time of the impact – I bet you didn’t even realise that you didn’t have your left arm, did you?’

The lawyer looked to his side and exclaimed, ‘My Rolex!’

 

 

 

Written by: Daan Steenkamp
https://www.daansteenkampattorneys.co.za/ 

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