Economic & Sector Snippets – November 2010

Draft Property Sector Charter : Comments Invited

A draft property sector charter was published during October. The draft charter aims to achieve greater involvement on the part of black South African citizens in the property sector. The Minister of Public Works has urged the public and those involved in the property sector to comment. The draft charter was published in accordance with section 9(5) of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 and interested parties have until 13 December 2010 to comment. The draft charter can be viewed on our Master Builder KwZulu-Natal forum. Once approved and gazetted the charter will remain in force for 10 years.

Less Than 15 Gigatons of Coal Reserves Left In South Africa

According to an article published in the latest edition of the South African Journal of Science, the country has already used up 35% of its known coal reserves and may have less than 15 gigatons left. In the short to medium term, the RSA will remain largely dependent on thermal generated power to satisfy anticipated growing electricity needs. Minister in the Presidency, Collins Chabane said that government was "mindful that SA`s coal reserve were finite".

Positive Business Indicators : Reuters Econometer Survey

 The Reuters Business Econometer survey, which is an index of six weighted indicators, rose to 274.89 during October 2010 compared with 263. 96 in September, its highest level since March 2006. Consumer inflation is expected to average 4.31 percent this year 4.57 percent next year and 5.54 percent in 2012. Consumer inflation surprised again on the down side when it dropped to a 5-year low of 3.2 percent year-on-year during September. The Rand has made significant gains of 27 percent against the US Dollar since the beginning of 2009 due to the appetite of foreign investors for high yielding South African assets.

KZN Municipal Councils Sitting On R587 Million Housing Funds

The Housing Fund Monitoring and Reconciliation financial statements reveal that more than 40 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal province failed to use their full allocated housing budgets since 2002 to build new housing, leaving almost R600 million unspent, sitting in municipal coffers. According to the figures released, the eMnambithi Municipality is sitting on R62.1 million followed by the Newcastle Municipality with just over R56 million and the Msunduzi Municipality with R44.5 million. The KZN Human Settlements Department MEC Maggie Govender received praise for exposing this under-spending.

SARS Vat Refund Back-Log Reaches R1.7 Billion

Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Finance, replying in writing to a written parliamentary question disclosed that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) had a back-log of R1.7
Billion in outstanding VAT refunds which were owing beyond the 21 day prescribed payment period. He indicated that "VAT refunds have been a target for fraudulent activity; therefore any process change with a view to expediting refunds must take this risk into account and must balance the desire for service and efficiency with the responsibility SARS has to ensure that refunds are not erroneously paid".

Pieter Rautenbach