Govt misses BPO targets
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has failed to reach Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) targets – saying a slowdown in investments and waning interest in the sector had led to missed targets. According to the department’s Medium Term Policy Budget Statement (MTPBS) the target for companies assisted with the BPO programme in the first [...]
DTI warns against online gambling
Online gambling remains illegal in South Africa and banks could question those South Africans that netted winnings from internet gambling sites, the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies warned today.
Speaking on the sidelines of the International Association of Gaming Regulators’ annual conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Davies said South Africans should not jump the gun on internet gambling simply because the Gambling Review Commission had proposed that the department allow for the licensing of online gambling operators.
The commission was set up by Davies in 2009 and released its findings earlier this year.
DTI welcomes online gambling ruling
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has welcomed a ruling by local courts upholding the illegality of online gambling.
This follows a drawn out battle between government and Piggs Peak Casino, which saw the casino shut access to South African based gamblers.
“The activities of Piggs Peak to offer South Africans access to online gambling in flagrant disregard of the laws of the country could be construed as a transgression of South Africa’s gambling legislative prescripts,” says the DTI.
Under the current legislation, any person found guilty of online or interactive gambling may be sentenced to a prison term of 10 years or a fine not exceeding R10 million or both.
“The decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa to dismiss the appeal by the Casino Enterprises, Swaziland, trading as Piggs Peak is an affirmation of the country’s stringent laws on regulating gambling and ensuring that South Africans are protected from the vagrancies of illegal gambling activities offered to them,” the DTI explains.
CIPC to clear backlog by August
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) says the backlog in company registrations will be cleared by the end of August.
The department says it has noted the public’s concern regarding registrations backlog at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) – but has requested that the new Commissioner, Astrid Ludin, be given a chance to clear the backlog by end of August.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the CIPC was battling a backlog of 50 000
transactions. Between May and July, only 2476 new registrations were completed while the commission also struggled to handle the 66 000 calls which were made to its call centre. Earlier this month, the CIPC claimed it was making progress in system developments and had put a plan in place to improve system challenges and deal with backlogs – adding that results would be visible within a week.
Cipro website gets busy
Following concerns over its performance, the Company Intellectual Property and Registration Office (Cipro) says its website has responded well to high volumes of visits over the past month.
The website has in the past been prone to shutdowns and technical problems. In March this year, the website received from between 14 000 to 18 000 visits per day.
“The recent high volumes are as a result of transaction relating to online name reservations, close corporation registration and restoration of de registered companies. During the last week of March CIPRO reported much higher volumes of transactions on its website than an average day,” Cipro says.
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