Traveller management system

  “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble…” If you need reminding, these are the opening verses of the song of the three witches in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. What, you... 

Customs and port authorities

One of the most intriguing aspects of life, for me, is the origin of words. In the customs and international trade environment, in particular, words are used mostly devoid of their meaning. This is... 

Sacu’s fifth report card

A trade policy review, or TPR, is a review mandated in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreements, in terms of which its member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated... 

A step forward?

Does Africa’s proposed enhancement of trade efficiency and promotion of economic growth in the Tripartite Free Trade Area – comprising the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (Comesa),... 

Is white chocolate a chocolate?

Is there such a thing as white chocolate? I remember, while growing up, my grandmother, who owned a roadhouse and a café, telling me that there was no such thing. She told me that white chocolate... 

Egg-spectations

What word best rhymes with ‘chicken’? it's ‘sicken’, of course. How appropriate then that this piece is about a ‘sicken’ chicken. Let me apologise in advance if I am sickening you with all the... 

Tyre import rumblings

In the Government Gazette of September 29, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) extended an invitation for comment, by October 13, on the proposed introduction... 

Mirrors and dumping duties

Mirror, mirror against the wall, which country has had an investigation for the extension of an antidumping duty launched against it? “Well, the People’s Republic of China, of course”, the mirror... 

A natural disaster

Alas, this article is not about the state of the South African economy; if it was, it would have been titled a ‘national disaster’. Instead, it focuses on the customs treatment of natural... 

VAT revamp

Earlier this month, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published its ‘Discussion Paper on Value-Added Tax (VAT) Modernisation’, and those who wish to submit comments should do so by October... 

In knead of help

Why did the person sell yeast? To raise some dough. Well, in the case of Anchor Yeast (this year’s centurion) it appears that it might well not be raising enough dough, prompting it to approach... 

Reflections on expanded BRICS

Please – ‘b’, a consonant – ‘r’, a vowel - ‘i’, a consonant – ‘c’, a vowel – ‘s’, a vowel – 'i’, a consonant – ‘s’, a vowel – ‘u’, a vowel – ‘e’, a vowel – ‘a’, and a vowel – ‘e’, which displays as... 

BRICS rank and file

On August 22, the BRICS circus rolled into town – into Johannesburg, to be exact – and was set to remain there for three days. Why the city, named after two surveyors, Johann Friedrich Bernhard... 

Camera

I wanted to have ‘Lights, camera, action’ as the headline of this article but then it dawned on me that there is hardly any electricity to power the lights; its supply is intermittent at best. As... 

Fowl play

How time flies! As I sat down to write this piece, it was the first day of August. The date may not be of significance to you, but this will largely depend on whether you have been counting down... 

Metal export restrictions

For many years, I have spent Friday afternoons ‘eagerly’ scrutinising the Government Gazette. I contend that most of the gazettes are published simply for landfill and recycling purposes, as they... 

Signed languages

South Africa now has a twelfth official language, following the historic signing of the  Sign Language Bill into law by President Cyril Mamaphosa on July 19. South Africa is  the fourth African... 

Agoa-less?

Exactly 701 days! That’s the time that remained, at the time of writing, before the expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), the legislation introduced on May 18, 2000, to assist... 

Frozen in time

Exactly 1 589 days previously at the time of writing, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) had published in the Government Gazette – on February 22, 2019 – its... 

ATA Carnet turns 60

On June 22, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) joined the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of its ATA Carnet at the thirteenth World Chambers... 

Flickering economic growth

On June 15, the Africa department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a note titled ‘South Africa's Economy Loses Momentum Amid Record Power Cuts’. It evoked the words a former... 

Greedflation

Inflare is Latin for ‘to blow into’ or ‘inflate’. No prize for guessing the word from which inflation is derived, but can you guess where, when and why the word came into being? The US would have... 

PROVE IT

There is an age-old rhyming Russian proverb, “doveryay, no proveryay”, which became hugely  popular in English in the 1980s as “trust but verify”. This was  after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of... 

Another bad report card

I wrote piece on June 6, which was reminiscent of the days gone by when your teacher gave you your school report in a sealed envelope addressed to you parents. Back then, you had the power to delay... 

Sounds like a melody

What if government policies were like a musician’s song catalogue? You would expect the songs that made it on to the album to be the musician’s best efforts. They would have to be even more so if... 

Standardising ‘nationality’

I recall a time when, as a much younger me, I was in absolute awe of centenary celebrations. It was a time when neither anyone known to me nor the possessions that my family owned had turned 100... 

Let us . . .

Let us do what? How about “Let’s grow South Africa together”? If you need reminding, this was the title of the governing party’s 2019 election manifesto. I recalled it when I saw government’s... 

Brothers in arms?

Are the World Customs Organisation’s (WCO’s) Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) brothers in arms or combatants? They seem... 

Citrus fruit dispute sequel

It’s said there are seven foods that have led to war and that civilisation is a mere 24 hours and two meals away from barbarism. It probably depends on your definition of barbarism, as we might... 

Logistics Performance Index

On April 20, the World Bank released its ‘2023 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) Report’, subtitled ‘Resilience and Reliability are Crucial in the Performance of Logistics’. The Bretton Woods... 

Enabling fair trade

Assuming you are reading this piece on its date of publication, in 34 days’ time, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) will be celebrating its twentieth year of... 

Getting less for more

The phenomenon where you “get less for more”, also known as shrinkflation, is today’s reality. For a quick refresher on the product equivalent, you should reread the piece published in this column... 

Dedollarisation

So, will South Africa be joining, or should it be following, dedollarisation – arguably because South Africa is a Brics nation? Should you need reminding, Brics is the acronym for the supposed... 

Face the IMF’s music

To face the music means to accept the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions. The saying originates from an age-old tradition where disgraced officers were ‘drummed’ out of their regiment. In... 

SA not so happy a place

Aristotle contends that there are things we want for their own sake, while everything else we do is for us to be happy. Happiness is by no mean a simple concept; the ancient Greek philosopher... 

AEO – oh no!

On March 10, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) released a notice titled ‘Become an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and enjoy the benefits’. Strangely, but unsurprisingly, Sars’ AEO... 

Incoterms® centenary

According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), “Incoterms® is the world’s essential terms of trade for the sale of goods”. Incoterms®, a registered trademark, is the abbreviation for... 

Greylisted

It is customary to dedicate this column to the Finance Minister’s Budget speech which it is presented, and this year it was delivered on February 22. It thus speaks volumes when the speech is... 

No national crime disaster

The headline message of the Third Quarter Crime Statistics, released on February 17, is that more than 83 murders and 138 rapes are recorded daily, making South Africa one of the most violent... 

Unmitigated disaster

As I pondered the title of this week’s piece, there were many candidates: ‘Electric dreams’, ‘Powerless’, ‘Power grab’, ‘Married to the problem’ and ‘When a disaster is born’. And ‘disaster’...