Going for gold What does it take to be the best? Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10 000 hours of practice (combined with being in the right place at the right time). Some say hard work and luck. For an Olympic athlete to win gold requires more than hours of practice and good fortune.…
Taking the lead When Nazir Alli resigned as the CEO of Sanral, critics questioned his ability to lead, although acknowledging his undoubted management record. He was known to be dictatorial and even aggressive sometimes and that angered many. Wayne Duvenage, chairman of the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance said that Alli’s leadership style was detrimental…
Are we fit for purpose We start a new bi-monthly column this month, penned by political analyst, Eusebius McKaiser, and in this month’s column he poignantly asks if our state is fit for purpose. Does the state have adequate tools and skills to successfully implement its policies? We have posed this question many times before…
Budgets, transformation, poverty In an open letter to the Minister of Finance, following this years budget speech, an independent civic entrepreneur and sustainable systems researcher based in the Theewaterskloof municipality of the Western Cape Province, urged Pravin Gordhan to consider: 1) moving local economic development (LED) infrastructure; building it onto the top of the public…
The devil is in the details and not in the clouds In an interview with the SABC just a short while after his State of the Nation Address (SONA), this past month, President Zuma was asked what his expectations were of the country’s social partners – if there was something that he was specifically asking…
Beyond the call Shareholder value and the effective management of the stakeholder relationship are key to any business. While we already know that most businesses and organisations follow a far more integrated approach to this activity, just how integrated and how ready are we to adapt quickly to a constantly changing environment? These are two…
One hundred years… This issue marks the beginning of what is certainly a watershed period for the Accountancy SA journal. 100 years of publishing information that matters to the CA(SA). It started as a four page information brochure for a small group of members, and has over the years evolved into an integral part of…
Politics, poverty, empathy and the profession I recently had a very interesting conversation with a friend about the causal link between poverty and crime. Having worked for the African Union and with extensive knowledge of Africa, she very boldly declared that she just doesn’t get how we (South Africans) could very casually proclaim that there’s…
To bank or not to bank A banking ad on television by one of SA’s leading banks proudly states that in 2010, it provided R50-billion in loans to thousands of South Africans. It goes further and claim that “…R50-billion in loans is more than just a number: it’s a way to change lives”. And the…
From the pen – Small Is The New Big The analysts agree that, in order to realise our country’s desired employment figures and economic growth, the small and medium enterprise sector is a critical cog. It’s within this sector, where small start-ups exist, that job creation is a very real priority. But it is also…