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Siyanda Mthethwa’s Kuloola is making life easier for people living in rural areas

Business, Food & Drinks, Fused, Stories of South Africa / January 16, 2023

BY Nkosazana Ngwadla

For most people living in the rural areas of South Africa, traveling to local stores or supermarkets is expensive and can take an entire day. But thanks to Kuloola, a mobile app by Siyanda Mthethwa, specially developed to tackle this issue, previously excluded communities have access to essential services.

Siyanda is one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans 2020, a SAB Foundation Social Innovation Awards winner, and an Accenture Rising Star Awards winner.

“Kuloola” comes from a take on “it’s easy” in the isiZulu language and, through his work, Siyanda has managed to make life much easier for people, by getting essential goods delivered directly to their doors.

However, that doesn’t even cover half of the impact Mthethwa has had on rural communities. Through the service, he has also managed to create employment for many residents, especially young women.

In previous interviews, Siyanda has mentioned that this is among the achievements that make him proudest: being able to hire and sustain employment for 15 young people, predominantly women.

With no prior management experience, he has been able to retain most of his staff because of a strong and inclusive management style. For Siyanda, Siyanda being able to work towards improving the lives of people in his own community has also been a moment of pride for him.

He says he was privileged to have access to opportunities and a good quality of life. It’s for that reason he wants to make a positive impact on the lives of people less fortunate than him.

Customers choose from predefined combo sets with basic products like rice, flour, sugar, oil, vegetables, dishwashing liquids, and toilet paper. Then, they can order delivery via mobile in three convenient ways: make a phone call / ask for a callback, SMS or send a WhatsApp message.

MaNgema, one of Kuloola’s customers told The Fuse, “Before using this system, I used to leave my house very early in the morning to make sure I get to the store on time, to avoid the long queues because many pensioners go on the same day. Buying groceries would be an all-day activity, and my bones are already giving up on me, so I would tire. But now, that young man has made things so much easier for me and my grandchildren – they can focus on their studies, and I can focus on my health.”

The effects of load-shedding on small businesses

Business, Fused, Stories of South Africa / November 7, 2022

BY Nkosazana Ngwadla

When Eskom introduced load-shedding, the lives of many South Africans completely changed. Some of the people who are at the receiving end of the shortest sticks are small business owners. The Fuse spoke to a few of these entrepreneurs to find out how regular power cuts affect the running of their businesses.

Zenzele Hair Salon

Mary owns a hair salon in Mdantsane, East London in the Eastern Cape, and without a generator, her business is hardly making the profit it used to. “The constant lack of electricity means I can’t let clients walk in because I can’t use any of the equipment on their hair. And now, the expenses of the business are unmoving. The rent alone is something we can barely keep up with. It’s terrible, I’ve got three employees whose families depend on their salaries. There have been instances where I had to buy groceries for some of my employees from my own pocket – it’s really bad. What’s more upsetting is in other parts of the country, power cuts happen for only two hours at a time, but here in the Eastern Cape, it’s three hours, standard. Don’t even get me started on the water outages as well, what a nightmare!”

Andile’s Handyman Work

Andile has always been very handy, and when his mother told him she couldn’t afford his education, he decided to turn his talent into a career. Being a handyman has been putting food on the table all his life. But now, load-shedding is threatening that. “I use electricity for most of my work, and every hour there’s no electricity, that’s money out of my pocket. I have a wife and three children, and I really want my children to have an education, but if I can’t work, I can’t provide that for them. It really breaks my heart – especially because it looks like this is the new norm for our country. And the people who can do something about it don’t care about everyday people, ordinary people like us. We don’t expect handouts, but we need our basic needs to be met so we’re able to work.”

Nobulali’s Nail Salon

“I run my nail tech business from home to save on rent costs and things like that. Every single time there’s a power cut, I have to sit and do nothing for two hours, sometimes three times a day! It’s ridiculous. The level of youth unemployment in South Africa is already sickening, and when we try to come up with ways to make a living, things like power cuts hinder our growth. It’s easy to just then give up, but I hope this doesn’t deter us from our goals – things will come around, hopefully.”

Eskom was unavailable to comment at time of publish. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha has previously commented on load shedding, saying that the continuous implementation of the deliberate power cuts by Eskom is mainly due to the need to preserve emergency generation reserves owing to a high level of breakdowns and the delay in returning some generating units to service.

South African rand sharply drops as Russia attacks Ukraine

Business, Newsroom / February 24, 2022

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The South African rand opened sharply weaker on Thursday, as investors dumped riskier assets after Russian forces attacked Ukraine.

Investor sentiment was also dampened by Fitch Ratings pointing to difficulties containing spending and warning that recent strong revenue growth may prove temporary, in response to Wednesday’s 2022 budget.

At 0555 GMT, the rand traded at 15.2800 against the dollar, around 0.9% weaker than its closing level on Wednesday.

Global stocks dived, while the dollar, gold and oil prices rocketed higher.

Overnight, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in eastern Ukraine but Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that Russia had launched a “full-scale invasion”.

Around 0930 GMT, Statistics South Africa will release the January producer price index (PPI), providing further clues about inflationary pressures in Africa’s most industrialised economy. Economists polled by Reuters predict PPI will ease to 10.5% from 10.8% in December.

From 1030 GMT onwards, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will address lawmakers on the budget, which forecast public debt would peak sooner and at a lower level than earlier expected.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

Image credit: Flickr

Winners and Losers: Who Pays and Who Gains in South Africa’s Budget

Business, Newsroom / February 23, 2022

(Bloomberg) – South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, six months into the job, presented a budget that backs up President Cyril Ramaphosa’s focus on businesses in a bid to add jobs.

The minister announced some tax relief to boost investment and consumer spending, which should help stimulate the economy. However, he had to balance that with measures to stabilize and eventually reduce government debt.

Here’s a short list of winners and losers from Wednesday’s budget announcements.

Winners:
Corporates:

Godongwana followed through on a pledge first made two years ago to cut tax for companies. The reduction in the rate — to 27% from 28% for the year starting April 1 — is the first since 2008. The move that will cost the government 2.6 billion rand in revenue for 2022-23 should boost investment and reduce tax avoidance. It also brings South Africa closer to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development’s average corporate tax rate of 23%.

In a further step to spur companies to help employ young people in a country with a youth unemployment rate of 56%, the government will increase an employment tax incentive by 50% to a maximum of 1,500 rand ($99.70) per month.


Big Emitters:

The Treasury will extend the first phase of its carbon tax by three years until December 2025. That means companies such as Sasol Ltd. and the state-owned Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. can benefit longer from tax-free allowances and revenue-recycling measures. The carbon price, though, will rise progressively each year.

Motorists:

Car owners, users of public transport and other consumers will get some relief from the Treasury not increasing the fuel and Road Accident Fund levies for the first time since 1990. The cost of a liter of fuel rose about 40% last year due to the rebound in oil prices, pushing consumer inflation to the highest level in almost five years. Taxes make up a third of what motorists pay at the pump.

Middle-Income Taxpayers:

Tax brackets will be increased in line with the 4.5% inflation the Treasury projects for the 2022-23 fiscal year, shielding people who pay personal income levies from so-called “bracket creep.”

Below-inflation adjustments to personal income tax brackets and fuel levies are usually an easy source of extra revenue for the state.

The relief is mainly targeted at people in the middle-income group, the Treasury said.

Welfare Recipients:
Monthly social grant payouts to pensioners, military veterans and people with disabilities will increase by 5%, compared with only 1.6% last year. The child support grant will rise by 4.3%. Millions of people rely on these payments as their only source of income and the adjustment should boost consumer spending.

Losers:

State Workers:

Civil servants will have to accept the Treasury’s hard line on pay increases or face possible retrenchment. The budget shows total compensation will only grow by an annual average of 1.8% for the next three years and while it allocates 20.5 billion rand in 2022-23 to meet the cost implications of a 2021 wage deal, there is no extra funding provision beyond that. This could anger labor unions representing the 1.3 million people employed by the government.

The Wealthy:

People with business interests who pay provisional tax and who have assets worth more than 50 million rand will have to start declaring specified assets and liabilities at market values in their tax returns.
The Treasury says this will “assist with the detection of non-compliance or fraud through the existence of unexplained wealth,” which means the super wealthy may end up paying more.

Sugar Producers:

The struggling sugar industry could face further reduction in demand when the health promotion levy on sweetened drinks increases by 4.5%. That could hurt companies such as Tongaat Hulett Ltd. The government will also start consultations to lower the tax threshold for sugar content and extend the measure that was first announced in the 2017 budget to fruit juices.

Alcohol and Tobacco Industry:

An increase of 4.5% to 6.5% in excise duties on alcohol will add extra pressure to an industry that was hit hard by some outright sale bans and more than two years of trading restrictions as part of South Africa’s Covid-19 regulations.

In addition to increases of 5.5% to 6.5% in the levies on tobacco products, the government proposed a flat excise duty on nicotine and non-nicotine solutions. That will add to the price of vaping products.

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Samsung unveils its newest Galaxy S

Business, Reuters Video, Tech / February 10, 2022
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