Land acquired under unlawful or inappropriate laws such as during apartheid have been under contestation since SA’s regime change in 1994. But no-one can just claim land “willy-nilly” and the process is normally governed by the state. In SA, under the 1975 act, only the state and parastatals can expropriate land.  

Three years after Neotel was founded, CEO Ajay Pandey says the group is still finding the burden of expectations to be a heavy load. His fledgling company is steadily gaining a foothold in the SA telecoms sector, and is on track to make R3bn in revenue for the year to March. But customers, desperate for genuine competition, are still putting Neotel under unrelenting pressure to drive down costs. Neotel claims it is making headway in its rollout, and now carries 99% of its traffic over its own network, and expects to be able to offer potential access to 80% of the population well before its 10th year of operation (as required by its licence agreement). 

With tax revenues about R60bn behind target this year, the SA Revenue Service (Sars) is targeting employees’ travel allowances to bring in more revenue. From March 1 next year, the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill of 2009 will require taxpayers who use personal vehicles for business purposes to keep a logbook to claim business travelling expenses.  

Charity organisations, which reportedly account for an estimated 30% of social services in SA, are among the victims of the financial crisis. Child Welfare SA executive director Ashley Theron says dwindling donor funding is threatening to affect the services the organisation offers.