by admin | Apr 25, 2017 | News
Last year the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the City of Tshwane in its drive to remove 25 apartheid-era street names in Pretoria, and replace them with those who fought for the liberation of the city.[1] The street name changes will affect more than 27 000 businesses and property owners directly. In all these cases, title deeds will have to be re-issued. Furthermore, businesses will have to make significant administrative adjustments in order to accommodate the name changes.[2] Some of the costs of a street name change include: 1. New street name signage and installation cost 2. Title deed registrations for new addresses 3. Business stationery, including websites, letterheads, business cards and other corporate identity costs 4. Changes to maps and physical direction guides for new names 5. Advertisement necessary to give notice of new addresses As per the South African Geographical Names Council 849 names of residential areas, suburbs and national geographic places have been changed over the past 14 years.[3] Statistics show that the most name changes were made in Limpopo with a total of 318, followed by Mpumalanga with 136 changes. The Eastern Cape had 134 changes, the North West 127, KwaZulu-Natal 54, Western Cape 35, Gauteng 31, the Free State eight and the Northern Cape six.[4] Hendrik Verwoerd Drive, Cape Town, is now Uys Krige Drive housing businesses such as Siemens House and Protea Hotel Coen Steytler Avenue on the Foreshore was changed to Walter Sisulu Avenue. The Avenue begins at Cape Town Lower Heerengracht Boulevard circle, passing the CTICC and Cullinan Hotel. The road accommodates a number of finance and property services companies (e.g. Metlife...
by admin | Mar 8, 2017 | News
IDATA sponsored and attended the 5th annual Southern Africa Postal Operators Association (SAPOA) Postal Forum held in Durban last month. IDATA’s CEO Darryl Joubert gave a presentation of the importance of data quality in post operations, leading to increased revenue from bulk mailers and greater customer confidence. The conference theme was: Presenting the face of the Post & Logistics. Various stakeholders at the conference includedservice providers and CEOs of postal operators in the Southern African region. Delegates came together for an interactive meeting and to discuss innovation within the postal service. South African Post Office CEO Mark Barnes, who was in Cape Town at the time in discussion with Parliament on the banking license for Post Bank, gave his input via a Skype session with the conference attendees. IDATA is excited and remains optimistic about the future of the South African Post Office and other postal operators in Southern...
by admin | Oct 4, 2016 | News
On 7 September 2016 the National Assembly approved the nomination of 5 candidates to the office of the Information Regulator. The office of the Regulator will consists of 3 Full time members – Chairperson Adv Pansy Tlakula- a former Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Adv Cordelia Stroom – who presently manages business processes for Legal, Risk and Compliance at Sasria Ltd., and Mr Johannes Weapond – who is currently Chairperson of the Risk Management Committee Freestate Department of Public Works Once in office the most immediate actions the Regulator is likely to take are: drafting regulations to implement the Act, which will set out compliance obligations under POPI Act; and setting a commencement date for POPI, thereby triggering the 12-month period after which the Act will be enforced The earliest the Act is predicted to be enforced is mid-2017. Organisations will not be liable for non-compliance for a period of twelve months from the commencement date.The nominations are yet to be confirmed by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and thereafter finally approved by the President....
by admin | Sep 1, 2016 | News
3 reasons why Direct Mail appeals to customers What’s been your experience? Are you more likely to make a purchase based on something you first saw in print in your letter box or online in your inbox? Are you part of the 33% who find direct mail the most effective way to remember a product? How about the 79% of consumers who will act on direct mail immediately? Or maybe you’re part of the 74% of consumers who can’t wait to find out what’s in their letter box?[1] In a tough economy when businesses are slashing budgets and wanting a clear ROI on every Rand spent, there’s nothing like direct marketing to validate your marketing investment. Businesses love finding new ways to connect with customers, but what if one of the oldest ways is still one of the most effective? Part of direct mail’s longevity is its strong results, but those results don’t come without challenges. One important detail is making sure you have a strong list: a list with appropriate up-to-date information on your target market.[2] A well-executed direct mail campaign, combined with work in other channels, will get noticed and build engagement with your target audience. In fact, it must be considered for any one-to-one campaign, if strategy, time and budget are to align. According to the 2015 DMA (USA) Response Rate Report: Direct mail is over 7x more effective than all digital channels combined. Direct Mail, even with its higher cost, offers the same ROI as social media at 15% – 17%. 3.73% is the median direct mail response rate for warm prospects that have...
by admin | May 18, 2016 | News
The Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) readiness for the municipal elections was called into question when the Electoral Court instructed it to postpone by-elections in Tlokwe, North West, due to problems with addresses on the voters’ roll. The IEC then postponed by-elections around the country, suggesting the problems might be more extensive. The Electoral Court decision came months after the Constitutional Court last year also found problems with the voters’ roll in the area.[1] Several irate South Africans have since taken to social media to complain about the fact that after living at the same address for over 20 years, they are suddenly receiving an SMS from the IEC informing them that the IEC does not have their address. Lance Mitchell DFS, @sempir (2016, 11 April): “How could my home address change from one election to the next if I haven’t moved for the last 10 years? #IEC.” René, @runawayrene (2016, 12 April): “Registered at voting station at Umhlanga. Not asked for proof of address. How can IEC be sure I am legitimate?” Magasela, @NtokozoMagasela (2016, 13 April): “Registered #IEC I’ve always been a voter based in Diepkloof but as to how my address ended up being in Zola I have no idea!” The IEC has been sending the text messages in an effort to get voters to register their addresses ahead of the 3 August 2016 Municipal Elections.The messages are being sent to 5.3 million (whose cellphone numbers the IEC has sourced) of the 6.92 million voters for whom the IEC says they do not have addresses. Efforts to reach the remaining 1.6 million voters include radio adverts and...
by admin | Apr 15, 2016 | News
The Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) was formed in 2008 with the mandate of playing a significant role in promoting a culture of savings and investment in South Africa by working as a united body towards making financial services more relevant to the consumer.[1] ASISA represents the majority of the country’s asset managers, collective investment scheme management companies, linked investment service providers, multi-managers and life insurancecompanies.[2] ASISA issued a Standard on Unclaimed Assets that came into effect on 1 June 2013 and set out the tracing process that should be followed by life companies. It also stipulated what should happen to assets when beneficiaries cannot be traced. Since the implementation of the Standard on Unclaimed Assets, Life Insurers have reunited 431 364 policyholders and beneficiaries with their unclaimed benefits.[3] More than three million South Africans are owed more than R45 billion in unpaid benefits from retirement funds they have left already.[4] As of January 2016, the same Standard was extended to include Collective Investment Scheme assets. ASISA is engaging with the Financial Services Board on extending the principles contained in the Standard to cover unclaimed pension fund benefits. The main elements of the standard on Unclaimed Assets: Member companies have to report to ASISA once a year on efforts to trace policyholders or beneficiaries, and cases that have not been settled within three years. These statistics will be made available to the Financial Services Board Prescription will not apply. Therefore, an unpaid benefit is a debt of a respective company to a policyholder, but does not have to be paid after a period three years[5] A...
