Paul Janisch

It's day 8. They didn't reply

In fairness to the DTIC, I haven't given them any reason to ACTUALLY want to talk to me.  However it is their job and the are paid to do it. 

Here's the bottom line.  The document that Y4Y regards as a code is not a code.  It's an opinion.  It's a dangerous document because the DTIC did nothing to discourage the YES4Youth people from publishing FAQs and from disseminating other communication to a myriad people.

This is a serious omission.  Slappie has been tasked with developing, monitoring and advising on policies and his people once again failed.  The consequences for this failure - probably performance bonuses.

There's an election next week people.  We have a right to clean and competent governance.  The anc has not delivered on this and they never will.  I'll say it again, Cyril is the only hope we have, the anc know it but they would rather sink the boat.

Here's a post from the past, one that I have posted twice, once in 2011 and then in 2017.  Amazing how nothing has changed. It's alarming how little has changed. Not amazing, alarming!

Is there any ANC left to organise a piss-up in a brewery?

Recently (actually 2011 but the sentiment remains and the language is much stronger) my friend  Kevin announced that the ANC couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. This is an appreciation of the anc government's ability to organise a piss-up in a brewery, or organise anything for that matter.

We know that many senior anc members enjoy the finer things in life, like Maybachs, Range Rovers, Glen whiskies, Hansa Pilsener and nice watches, the value of which could feed a small family for a lifetime. It therefore stands to reason that the taxpayer's money is plentiful for pilferage, especially during a pandemic - hence wastage is really not a concern.  This piss-up would have to cost millions and because millions are required and the anc is in fact broke - it will be an official piss-up organised by national government. Under these circumstances the organisation of such a piss-up would need to go to tender.

 Unsurprisingly the tender is likely to be awarded to some Digital Vibes  type company.  You know the type of company that knows fuck-all about piss-ups but  know an incredible amount about being paid for knowing fuck-all.  Vibes takes their 90% and finds some sodi pop to outsource another firm to source service providers for this event (who will never be paid).

Now the fun really starts

• The members of the very fractured  anc start fighting with each other about the guest-list, the venue, the date, the fact that the workers (who haven't been invited) weren't consulted.  Court action is threatened.
• The youth league and MKVMA have a practice run at a prominent nightclub, beyond COVID curfews, drop their trousers and threaten to boycott the event because the beverage of choice doesn't include Oros, which is a great mixer for expensive scotch. 
• The women's league insists that zuma is entitled to take another 50 wives before the event and that the weddings should be paid for by SAA.
• The above is retracted when zuma's spokes0jimmy realises that his principal's lady sunk SAA
• A court case ensues.  It's not clear who is suing who but an appeal is successfully applied for.  Four years are lost

Five years later piss-up organisation is revitalised, however there are few mishaps

• The road to the venue is littered with patches of what once was road and potholes are now the norm.  The patches of road compromise the hard suspension on the Maybachs and Range Rovers and other publicly funded personal modes of transport.  Helicopters are not considered as there are no more helicopter pilots left in South Africa as they all work in Australia.
• The licence to sell liquor at the venue has been irregularly awarded to dududoos, one of zuma's 800 children. He sees fit (because he is such a likable guy) to charge the taxpayer a premium for  the privilege of using his liquor licence.  Nothing like stealing from your own.
• The brewery itself (which once was profitable) has been sold to the saxonwold consortium which is made up of  recent mining charter beneficiaries. This has resulted in the brewing accouterments being shipped off to Dubai for saltwater purification purposes.

This story then gets out to the press who report on the corruption that occurred within the tender process and so the piss-up in the brewery is cancelled.  lesufi accuses the alcohol molecules of being racist because they effect more Africans per capita than any other race group. 

An inquiry is launched.  Nothing conclusive is found. 

Day 4 - one more day to go. Samuel Beckett was right

It would be a patent lie if I claim to be disappointed or surprised.

For those who wonder what I am waiting for - it's close to Godot

 

From: Paul Janisch 
Sent: Monday, 18 October 2021 07:53
To: [email protected]
Subject: Clarification on this clarification

Good morning YES department

Could you clarify as to whether this statement is official DTIC policy or merely an opinion that carries no legal weight

Thank you

Paul Janisch

Day 3 and no response from the dtic

Someone recommended I approach Jacques Marnus directly.  Why should I.  If this department has a designated email address for queries on a document that they publish then I as a concerned person should expect that this email will be answered - [email protected]. 

It won't be answered because they're like most other anc departments - not accountable, sheltered and guaranteed a bonus at the end of the year, which is awarded for ineptitude.

I'll give them a few more days or until the email bounces

Day 2 and no response from the dtic on the YES opinion

And the email has still not bounced

 

From: Paul Janisch 
Sent: Monday, 18 October 2021 07:53
To: [email protected]
Subject: Clarification on this clarification

Good morning YES department

Could you clarify as to whether this statement is official DTIC policy or merely an opinion that carries no legal weight

Thank you

Paul Janisch

---------------------------------------------------------

And to while away the time whilst we wait for Slappie's crew to get back to you - a little light entertainment.  Perhaps I'll re-record this and call it "Is it a code or an opnionism"

 

 

YES – but is it a code?

It's time for a bit of a lecture on the hierarchy of law in this country. I did run this past a renowned attorney yesterday (which was a Sunday). This is the way it works - I did have a drawing that explained it but it didn't come out in the post.

At the very top we have the constitution, not that the thieving zuma seems to think that it's on top. It is. Below that we have legislation – Acts and then we have sub-legislation which are like codes of good practice. The case law is on a par with the common law. It's law.

Everything else below that is merely an opinion and has no legal standing at all. Why do thing that the awesome awdoz and her band of merry social constructists get so pissed off when her opinions are ignored? It's because they are opinions, and carry no weight, hence my predictably rude piece on the awdoz a few years ago.

A certain issue has arisen with YES4Youth expressing an opinion. The story starts with a VA declining to give my client YES recognition after the process had been completed and absorption could be proven. My problem was that the client had already received the YES recognition in the prior certificate, this was in the early stages of the process. I argued that the YES code (and YES it is a code) focuses on absorption only, getting recognition at the beginning of the process is one thing, but that's a bonus. If you can prove absorption then you are entitled to the recognition.

Not so said the VA and referred me to the Y4Y FAQs somewhere in these FAQs it suggest that you can't count the YES people twice. I rejected this because it's an opinion. The VA then sent an email to Y4Y asking for clarity.

QUESTION
Company A registered for YES program in 2020 financial year which was their first year. The YES program ran until midway through the second measurement period (2021). The measured entity got recognition for the uptake in the previous verification, now they are being verified for 2021. They wish to claim for absorption under YES even though they did not register the "new" YES for 2021 financial year. Are they allowed to get points for absorption from the 2020 uptake?

They received this response

No,

They have already received their level up.

You cannot get an enhancement again based on absorption only. To qualify the ME would need to do another YES Programme ie a YEAR 2 and have 8 months by verification.

Trust this provides clarity

I have two problems with this. The first is that Y4Y is not the dtic, the second is that this is very clearly not backed by any code. I think this is superfluous, the dtic cannot pronounce on this issue unless it's from a gazetted code. Naturally I followed up with a pone call. I don't want to incriminate anyone here and this is not an incrimination - it's my opinion about an opinion.  I have a decent relationship with the people at Y4Y. They take my calls and are helpful. But I could not back this opinion up with a piece of legislation, sub-legislation or otherwise. The person suggested that I should read the codes (which I fucking do because I have no life and I write about them a lot) and then told me about a clarification note issued by the dti (as it was then known) from February 2020. I was aware of it but hadn't read it. I was obviously caught out. I looked for it on the DTIC's website. I couldn't find it, I looked in the publications, the speeches and it wasn't there. It does exist because it's on the y4Y's website. It is a lofty document that says you recognise the YES programme in the first year but you must demonstrate a commitment for absorption when you request this recognition. Once you've finished the process you need to go back to the verification agency showing that the people have been absorbed. The implication being that you can only have it recognised once. There's no signature on this document all we have is a dti letterhead and a issued by THE DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY - 24 FEBRUARY 2020.

I mulled over this for a week. And then It occurred to me that this is an opinion, it's not a code. Hence it carries no weight. We can't rely on this. I actually sent the dti (as they were then known) an email this morning for comment – I was quite surprised the email didn't bounce.

I then spoke to the same person at Y4Y this morning and told them what is in fact the reality. The email that this person sent to the verification agency is wrong and has to be preceded by IT IS OUR OPINION THAT……… Because they based it on an opinion. In fact I would suggest that their FAQs now need to be either redrafted or preceded by a disclaimer that this is their opinion.

You may remember when some moron at the DTI published a gazette claiming that you were not allowed to recognise broad based scheme for all the ownership points. This was a gazette – it's official government policy. No one expected this and from what I head the bolsh was taken by surprise as well. He was forced to withdraw it within a few weeks. You can understand how a document of this stature can cause immense damage to the economy. The dti document in question is noise, but offers some clarity should you want use it.

I'll let you know what the dtic says should they bother to respond to my email – it hasn't bounced yet.

Everybody has their own opinions.

A bit more on the Yes4Youth programme

It doesn't seem that registration with the Yes4Youth programme is a requirement for compliance.  My reading of the information contained on their website , specifically this document tells me that it's another programme that corporates can get involved in.  It's not THE YES programme.  Its success is dependent on corporates paying a subscription and then contributing a percentage of NPAT to the programme. I would imagine that that NPAT contribution is used for enterprise and supplier development.

I have my reservations about this.  It just doesn't seem to have the will or desire to succeed.  We do however have a programme that we have launched.  The only thing we need to finalise is how the tax incentives are going to work.  In the absence of tax incentives I can't see the YES taking off at all.  We are all jaded now - I like what Cyril's doing with corruption but he needs to demonstrate a little more commitment to this.

I retract my statement in my last YES post (the definitive YES outline I must stress).  You don't need to register on the Yes4Youth website to get started.  Talk to us first.  

Youth Employment Service defined and sorted

My wife has correctly pointed out that my cynicism is not in anyone's best interests.  I'll see if I can temper it.

As you might or might not know - our man in Meintjies Street published the YES code recently. He was under a fair amount of pressure to get this done - and again I take heart that national issues took priority here.  The minister only published the YES, the other proposed amendments remain on ice.

As we have to come to expect (oops the cynicism creeps back) from the dti - it's big on lofty ideas but short on ANY detail.  The purpose of this blog post is to clear up the lack of information and tell you how to go about qualifying for it in a series of short steps.

1) What do you need to do to qualify

• You need to achieve the 40% sub-minimum under all three priority elements if you are a large enterprise.  QSEs need to achieve the 40% sub-minimum for ownership and one other priority element OR 
• You need to achieve an average of 50% of the points under the priority elements for large, QSEs must make 40%
• You need to maintain or improve your BEE level year on year

2) What are the targets

The attached spreadsheet attempts to help you with your targets.  The targets for large companies are the following - the higher of  

• 1.5% of the Y.E.S Measured Entity’s headcount in the preceding year; OR
• 1.5% of the Y.E.S Measured Entity’s average Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) from South African operations in the immediately preceding three years, converted to a headcount number by dividing that NPAT number by R55,000; OR
• a target as determined in Table 1 - Annexure A.

 QSEs follow the table in Annexure B

 3) Getting started

• You need to go to the Yes4Youth website and register.  I don't know what happens after you register but I'm sure you'll get an email from them.  I am willing to bet that the verification agencies will want proof of registration.
• You need to create NEW jobs for NEW people.  You can't put existing people in new jobs.  On this point - it is likely that there will be some sort of an employee tax incentive (ETI) offered.  The full ETI benefit can only be derived from new employment.
• If you can't create new jobs then you can place these people with other EMEs or QSEs.  The YES code does not appear to say that these EMEs or QSEs need to be black-owned
• The positions need to be sponsored for a minimum of 12 months.
• The code does not require the use of the EAP when it comes to the youth employed.  They must be between 18 and 35 and meet the definition of “Black People” as defined in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 as amended by Act 46 of 2013

4) What do you get if you achieve the targets

Here's the incentive

B-BBEE RECOGNITION
Achieve Y.E.S Target and 2.5 % Absorption	Move 1 B-BBEE Recognition Level up on the Scorecard
Achieve 1.5 x Y.E.S Target and 5% Absorption	Move 1 B-BBEE Recognition Level up on the Scorecard + 3 Bonus Points to the overall Scorecard
Double Y.E.S Target and 5 % Absorption	Move 2 B-BBEE Recognition Levels up on the Scorecard

5) When can you derive the benefit?

The code is silent here.  I don't like using logic when it comes to the dti but in the absence of any clarity - which will never be forthcoming from the dti or the BEE Commissioner, I'll revert to logic.

The promotion is based on the employment of people for 12 months.  When you see the term "absorption" it then seems that we are talking about a person being offered a permanent contract after 12 months.  

Absorption

We are used to this term under skills - which could mean an extension of paying for studies or offering a fixed term contract after the completion of studies/learnership.  The amendments talk of full time employment.  However the YES absorption must be different.  It can't be that you have to absorb 2.5% of the people on the YES programme. I think that the percentage absorption is linked to the total number of full time staff.  If you have 100 staff then you would absorb 5 of them and double the YES target and you go up two levels.

 6) What's missing

 A lot of official clarity - but I think this blog post will clear that up.  We need to know what the tax incentives are and the minimum wage requirements.

Already we have a plan to make use of the ETI to bring the costs of the programme right down and we have a company that is ready to start hiring on your behalf.  We're ready to begin.

 

YES bolshie bob loves me

Ain't that the truth.  The more I think about our esteemed minister of trade and industry the more I realise that he is worse than zuma when it comes to destroying an economy.  His first world mind resides in the second world and operates in the third world.  It is most happy when he creates rules and red tape.  That's his thing.  And now it is our thing.  Last weekend I spent an afternoon calculating the skills score under the construction code. It took a whole afternoon.  Why ?I asked myself.  Is transformation going to happen because there is one idiot in Pretoria who thinks that the harder we make it the more transformed we will become as a country?  It must be because bolshie bob has a phd in something.

I come back to my play in one act in which I spoofed a series of phonecalls that davies receives from a variety of black businesses complaining about the complexity of compliance and why they should have to implement and measure those programmes.  A recent article by Deon Oberholzer adds more clarity.

The dti proposes a number of clarifying restrictions that seek to ensure that “real black-owned business” would be exempt... It’s not rocket science to understand why this happened.  The voice of black business is getting stronger and the argument is that they are supposed to be the beneficiaries of BEE, even if they are successful and large. It is common cause that the cost of BEE is high and often a serious financial burden on business. If it wasn’t, black business would not have bothered to lobby government for exemption.

Oberholzer postulates that this ultimate exemption will allow large black businesses to conduct their business with SOEs and government and those corporates that insist on high levels of black ownership and that white businesses will just supply to them.  Ultimately the means of production remain in the current hands and black business is only known for its ability to act as an agent.

Very special is our bolshie bob.  Cyril remove this moron before he destroys the country completely.  He is the one standing in your way, forget the eff.  It's this man who is killing the Youth Employment Service, making a mockery of thuma mina and forever pigeonholing black businesses into part time players.

We now wait to see how long it takes bolshie to publish the final amendment where he places scant regard for those who politely tell him how wrong he is.

 

 

YES, the YES is a priority, but not at the price bolshie bob has set

It seems to have started with this article, although I would like to believe that my play in one act really clinched the deal.  Bruce Whitfield wrote

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has added an unexpected new financial requirement to companies that participate in the Youth Employment Service (YES). It threatens to undermine its ambitious goal of getting one million young people to gain workplace experience within three years.

The DTI will require companies wanting BEE recognition for their participation to contribute 2.5% of their company’s payroll to bursaries before they can qualify for benefits under its codes.

About 100 companies have signed up for the initiative but YES CEO Tashmia Ismael says some are concerned that the new financial requirement places an unreasonable burden on firms. “The word deal-breaker was used by some companies,” Ismael said, “They are telling us this will influence the decisions they make.”

The YES campaign had anticipated the funds it raised in the early stages of the project would provide it with a kickstart to encourage smaller and medium enterprises also to open their doors to interns on short term work experience contracts. The 60 day DTI consultation process means a delay for the implementation of the project until June. “It’s not going to fly,” one CEO told me on condition of anonymity. Large companies are expected to engage actively with the DTI over the changes.

 Not that such journalism has ever swayed our esteemed Stalin disciple from straying off the path of completely destroying the economy.  But this time it might just have.  Last night I got an email from my friend Thinus with this article attached.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has agreed to remove an onerous bursary target previously set as a precondition for any firm seeking to receive empowerment credit for their participation in the newly launched Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative. In an unusual step, the department made the adjustment in the middle of a 60-day public-comment period.

I don't trust bolshie bob at all.  So I had to check - and it's true!

Preliminary comments received since the Gazette on 29 March 2018, are indicat-ing concerns regarding the proposed qualification criteria “11.2.1.2” which re-quires entities to score full points on the 2.5% target for “Skills Development Ex-penditure on Bursaries” in order to qualify for the Y.E.S BEE recognition.

the dti views the participation in Y.E.S to be in line with the objectives of B-BBEE policy and has keen interest that there be maximum impact resulting in empowerment of young South Africans. In order to create certainty and ensure rapid take up in Y.E.S, the dti has agreed to delink the Y.E.S and the Bursary target of 2.5%. This means that the Bursary contributions will not be a precondition to obtain BEE recognition as a Y.E.S participating entity.

This is a significant victory for business. I think it suggests that the presidency is listening to the challenges faced by business in South Africa.  bolshie bob lives in a red bubble, he seems to think that business has all the money in the world to subsidise his fantasies, perhaps Cyril has reminded him that he can't rule by decree.

However the underlying message here is that this 2.5% of payroll target is too high.  If the comments suggested that this was a dealbreaker then what these comments are saying is that the 2.5% of payroll is too much money.  And it is too much money.  This kind of money doesn't exist in the economy at the moment.  It might have been a better idea to set targets as a percentage of staff.  If you want an idea of how much money we are talking about take a look at this post from 2014.  These figures are from about 2012.  Standard Bank would need to spend about R400m on bursaries.  Even a mid size company would have to spend well into the millions.  And don't forget that black business doesn't have to contribute to this at all.

Comments are due by the 28th of May this year. My comments will be posted on this blog by next week.

Company	Salary bill	Target spend (6%)	Target bursary spend (2.5%)
Standard Bank	14 796 000 000	887 760 000	369,900,000
MTN	6 709 000 000	402 540 000	167,725,000
NASPERS	8 738 000 000	524 280 000	218,450,000
AECI	2 976 000 000	178 560 000	74,400,000
FirstRand	10 620 000 000	637 200 000	265,500,000
Telkom	9 861 000 000	591 660 000	246,525,000
Nampak	3 535 000 000	212 100 000	88,375,000
JSE	405 000 000	24 300 000	10,125,000
Nedbank	9 349 000 000	560 940 000	233,725,000