Many observers in business reckon that South Africa's labour laws are too restrictive and actually hamper employment and damage business. Well, be that as it may, the Labour Relations Act is now being amended - this time to address labour broking and child labour (among other things), so it remains to be seen whether its critics are correct as our
labour laws set a new course.On the digital TV front, it appears the plans are in place... But
where's the money? The Department of Communications is confident it can successfully "kick-start" the rollout of digital terrestrial television (DTT) despite the funding shortfalls experienced by some of its key entities. However, as Democratic Alliance MP Marian Shinn said: "One wonders why funding was not secured before projects were embarked on... if one looks at DTT, (the deadline) is a couple of months away and set-top boxes have not been acquired." A fair question - it's usually a good idea to have all the funding arranged
before beginning a project.
Kudos for Cape Town:
Amazon Web Services is ready to expand to the Mother City. The new AWS Developer Support office will provide technical assistance for customers.
Here's a bit of a surprise on the environment front... Scientists have reported that
the Arctic Ocean could be a significant contributor of methane. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and the scientists report finding concentrations of the gas close to the ocean surface, especially where sea ice had cracked or broken up.
Now it's our turn to help... Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) went 'outa' to bat for us against e-tolling but, as you know, those legal eagles don't come cheap and
now the alliance needs cash to continue the fight. It's running an SMS fund-raising campaign this week to raise the money needed to continue its battle, so it's time for us to break out those wallets...
Remember, whatever you donate will be a darn side less than you motorists would be dishing out to Sanral as tolls.
Rod Baker, content director
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CAPE TOWN - The manufacturer that wins the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) contract to build R123bn of new rolling stock over the next 20 years will be forced to accept a black economic empowerment partner chosen by the agency. 
South Africa's new legislation related to food labelling and advertising became mandatory on 1 March 2012 and is sure to cause a few headaches for business and consumers alike. The new legislation is aimed at keeping in line with international trends and providing the consumer with a more informative base on which to make purchasing decisions for foodstuffs, as well as reduce the amount of 'misleading' marketing that many manufacturers make use of on their product labelling. 
South African consumers will soon notice Freshpak Teas have new names, highlighting their functional ingredients rather than their functional benefits. Freshpak Shape will now be known as Freshpak Hoodia, Digestive as Senna, and Energy as Ginseng. 
Fin24 reports that R1,15bn belonging to investors in Cash Managed Funds (CMF) and ten other companies has allegedly been blown by Corporate Money Managers (CMM), and that the curators of the company - and ten others - are trying to recover money for people who invested in CMF. 
Times Live reports that while the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) has won the battle to prevent e-tolling on Gauteng's highways, its hefty legal expenses have left it broke, and it will launch an SMS fund raising campaign this week to raise the money needed to continue its battle. 
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Executives from news media, publishing, TV, film, music, IT and internet media businesses (see list below) have got together with existing standards and licensing organisations to work in coalition on a cross-media global project that will result in better and easier management of copyright in the online world. 
Telkom and KT Corporation have completed a diagnostic review and harmonised their respective findings and are now in the process of finalising the terms of the Potential Strategic Venture. 
A group of retired chartered accountants are to be moved in to the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges to work as chief financial officers (CFOS). 
