Daan’s Snippets – 10th February 2020

Practice

Judge Cachalia says that our bench is now suffering, at all levels, from a shortage of skills: he says that the JSC has overemphasised race and other factors and has paid too little attention to skill and competence in the appointment process of those on the bench. The result is that our judiciary has been denuded of skills. This has spilt over as a decline in the quality of judgements.

Read this for yourself: https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/the-judiciary-did-not-escape-the-zumaera-unscathed?
(this site is experiencing a few issues, but I am going to leave it here for now incase it has a temporary fault – if you need to see it please contact Daan directly through his contact links below this Snippets article – Ed)

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Touting or maybe not? You may recall that, at some point, banks had taken the view that a separate bank-loyal conveyancer had to be appointed for bond transactions and that one conveyancer could therefore not do both the transfer and the bond. ABSA recanted and Standard Bank is in the process of doing a protracted test-run: the belief, probably correctly, is that if one attorney does both, the end result happens faster and is more efficient. The upshot of this is that the more aggressive conveyancing-reliant practices now market themselves on being on the Super Panel of such banks and thus persuade estate agents (who are understandably also hungry) to support them and to demand that the transferring conveyancer also does the bond. Understandable, but such practices still rankle amongst the more conservative of us. What is interesting is that the banks’ former conviction has been swayed by presumably earnest (hand-on-my-heart) promises and commercial pressures. My experience with banks was such that I particularly enjoy not being beholden to any of them.

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Our Registrar of Deeds, in his infinite wisdom and sagacity, has decided that-

• one does not need to lodge the copy of the advertisement for lost title deeds at our deeds office simultaneously with the day of advertising;
• the inspection period i.e. the period that an application must lie with the Deeds Office, being 14 days, commences on the day that the of the advertisement and application is lodged with the deeds office.

This means that the public has the right to object within 14 days of advertisement but one can lodge, by way of example, the application and notice of advertisement two weeks after the advertisement ran and, as long as the documentation remains available in the deeds office for 14 days, all is well. Nuts.

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I hold a short note on contingent rights in trusts written by Clegg: useful as an afterthought.

In a similar vein is an article by Nel on the comparison between testamentary trusts and the Dutch bewind, in Afrikaans; for specialists only. 

Ask me for a copy of either

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Take that you…  Sonnekus, in full cry, is a chilling indictment on one’s legal education, and, indeed, one’s ability to write Afrikaans: in a recent article on execution based on a bond, he ends off by saying that poor teaching of the law of things resulted in the misdirection of our Western Cape High Court by legal practitioners who were clearly not properly educated. Instructive, but heavy reading, in Afrikaans. Ask me for a copy.

Economics

If we take the state of our economy today, with 18-million people getting social grants, it means reprioritisation of the budgets will not pull us out of that problem. What we need is new capital, capable of creating new jobs and boosting manufacturing.” Motlanthe

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Finland’s government has collapsed owing to its failed attempts to eradicate inequalities in the country’s healthcare system. I have not checked but I would be very surprised if the taxpayer/indigent ratio in Finland is worse than ours. Yet, those that rule us are sure that they can pull this off…  https://www.politico.eu/article/finlands-government-collapses-over-failed-health-care-reform/

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The SA Chamber Commerce and Industry Business Confidence index declined to 92.2 in January – the lowest level since 1993. Quite an achievement by our political masters.

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New vehicle sales – a predictor of market conditions – is down by 1.6%. For every new vehicle financed, 2.09 used vehicles are similarly financed. Interestingly the ploys by new-car salesmen meant to stimulate the market, like offering terms of up to 84 months on car finance, has the result that one takes a future purchaser of a new car out of the market for another couple of years.

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Looking at the statistics for emigration (453,000 departing and 442,000 returning between May 2018 and May last year) one senses that these do not tell the full story. One hears of many leaving but of few who come back.

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It is said that Turkish power ships can supply us virtually immediately with power, at peak times, at half the cost of the “peakers” we currently use. TIA

Whilst on this topic: a private consortium has made a gas-to-power proposal that would provide gas-driven power available out of Richards Bay. The idea is that one would import liquefied natural gas and float this in the harbour in order to feed land-based gas turbines.

Business

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? In response to the goal of attracting new investment, our government has (again!) undertaken to make it easier and cheaper to invest here by streamlining processes and licence applications. Yawn, same old…

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There are thousands of learners, apprentices and candidates affected by Ceta (established in 2000 and under the control of the Department of Higher Education and Training) being placed under administration for financial mismanagement and maladministration. Essentially the problem is delays in the payment of training grants, bursaries and stipends. Yawn, same old…

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Ethics-washing: the practice of merely kowtowing in the direction of moral values in order to stave off government regulation and media criticism.

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Old farts rock! If you’re in your 50s you are twice as likely to start a successful business as a 30-year-old. Take a look: https://www.ted.com/talks/albert_laszlo_barabasi_the_real_relationship_between_your_age_and_your_chance_of_success#t-928837

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Coca-Cola has introduced a 2l returnable bottle that can be re-used up to 14 times and there-after, recycled. The retail price will include R9 as a deposit, which will be refunded on return. Good.

Quotables

They hate us and we hate them. There is no difference. England flanker Lewis Ludlam on the Scotland/England rugby clash.

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The darkness that surrounds us cannot hurt us. It is the darkness in your own hearts you should fear. The Joker

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every weakness. Joseph Conrad

Comment

Former president Kgalema Motlanthe is a respected avuncular figure but is certainly not part of mainstream politics. Such a pity because, of those in power he’s one of the few that speaks a language that appears eminently sensible. Take a look: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/motlanthe-weighs-in-on-what-is-needed-for-south-africa-to-create-a-capable-state-2020-02-07/rep_id:4136

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Is this a great job or what?? Dr Motene (employed by One Military Hospital) is officially assigned to the Union Buildings, presidential: a hell of a job for someone who writes sicknotes but isn’t allowed to treat the x-prez! Interestingly this civil servant…is the head of several companies, and the recipient of a Madiba Medal of Outstanding Service… a civil servant with a known outside job… and is reportedly known as The Fixer. If Nummawan wanted he could have had treatment here for free – like most South Africans; but no. Whichever way your speculation leads is a negative reflection on the x-prez: if the medical services here is not good enough why must we share with a poor but he does not; if the medical services is good enough, one wonders how long he will stay in Cuba?

Lighten up (blackish and getting worse)

Roger went to apply for a job. After filling out all his applications, he waited anxiously for the outcome.

The employer read all his applications and said to Roger, ‘We have an opening for people like you.’

‘Oh, great,‘ Roger replied, ‘What is it?’

‘It’s called the door’.

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Hear no evil, speak no evil, and you’ll never be invited to a party.

Oscar Wilde

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But mum I don’t want to go to America.

Hush child and keep swimming.

Contributed by:
Daan Steenkamp Attorneys
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