If you struggle to read this article or do not see the images, click here.

 

 

 

| in short |

| earnings threshold for minimum protections raised |

 

In terms of Section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) the Minister must determine which employees will be excluded from the application of certain sections of the BCEA.

 

It is important to take note that the earnings* threshold laid down by the Minister is currently on R115 572.00 per annum and will change to R149 736.00 per annum on 1 March 2008.

>>> Read further (full article)

 

 

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s reading of the 2008 Budget Speech came at a time of unease in the global market, with particular uncertainty as a consequence of the electricity crisis and a spike in oil prices internationally. Despite grave concern over how the government plans to spend its budget for the next 3 years, a sense of relief has settled over the average South African.

>>> Read further (full article)

 

 

Al ooit gewonder of jy ongeoorloofd daardie droom posisie ontsê was, of net te gerieflik misgekyk was vir ‘n bevordering, wel vandeesweek kyk ons na die 2006 saak van Dunn v Minister of Defence and others. Dunn, ‘n offisier in die Suid-Afrikaanse vloot, het aansoek gedoen vir ‘n pos in die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag, maar was, volgens Dunn, daardie pos onregmatiglik ontsê was.

>>> Lees verder (volledige artikel)

 

 

| nowheresville |

| the seriousness of prank calls |

On the evening of the 11 February 1972, Mr Beach was sitting in the pub of a hotel with a group of friends. They were, ‘running short of beer money,’ and Mr Beach said to the others, ‘It should be funny if we rang up and said there was a bomb here, and when everybody left we drank their beers.’ A few minutes later Mr Beach left the group and made a phone call to the police where he duly reported that there was a bomb in the building.

 

>>> Read further (full article)

 

 

| br!ghtshark |

| icasa goes for small fry, not worried about monopolies |

According to recent reports, some ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) inspectors are doing the rounds, visiting cellphone stores and confiscating cellphones not bearing the "ICASA approved" stickers. Some insiders claim that thousands of confiscating cellphones line the corridors of ICASA's offices as evidence.

 

Apart from feeling sorry for the small guys, trying to make an honest living, albeit with some grey imports, one really wonders what the sense in ICASA's madness is? After all, it is not really as if phones, not brought in through the "traditional" channels are any more dangerous than that shiny new dvd player that many has picked up from Hi-Fi Corp.

 

What is even more worrying is that ICASA is expending its energies on tackling this "issue", whilst large tele-monopolies do just as they please, with ICASA not as much as batting an eyelid.

 

Examples, for those who do not follow the industry that closely, include the high-price-vs-bandwidth issues, the Telkom-ADSL-capping-debate, the delays in unbundling the local loop, the flagrant disregarding of regulations without sanction, the well-known delays in licensing the second network operator, the bad drafting of regulations with loopholes galore and the failure to bring down telecom costs, to name but a few.

 

Although br!ghtshark is lucky that his phone does have the ICASA stamp of approval and doesn't face an impromptu confiscation of his phone, it is worrying that, instead of dealing with the obvious issues in the local telecoms industry, ICASA is targeting the small fry. Let's all hope sanity prevails now that ICASA has been given a bigger budget by Trevor Manual and that we all get cheap bandwith, and fast.

 

>>> Read more br!ghtshark ramblings at http://blog.brightshark.co.za

 

 

| rollonfriday |

| lawyer faces jail for a handshake |

A lawyer risks being jailed for a year for over-vigorously shaking a prosecutor's hand.

 

Kathy Rentas, a 49-year-old litigator from Florida, was attending the trial of her husband who had been charged with violating the terms of his probation. When he was found guilty and sentenced to 90 days' house arrest, Rentas went over to prosecuting attorney Jennifer Keene and asked to shake her hand. Keene, presumably slightly bemused at this display of gratitude from someone whose husband she had just banged up, agreed - and nearly had her arm pulled out of its socket.

 

Rentas, who was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case before joining Fort Lauderdale firm Becker & Poliakoff, was jailed overnight before being released on bail. She denies causing any intentional harm.

 

A spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office said that Rentas would be vigorously prosecuted and that "as a member of the Bar she should know better". 

 

(This section is made possible courtesy of RollOnFriday.com, visit them at www.rollonfriday.com)

 

 

| admin stuff |

|as boring as the small print |

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| contact us |

delport ward & pienaar

attorneys, notaries &  conveyancers
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| info@dwp.co.za |

 

 

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