Inside Track

Soapbox Inside Track : Latest Posts

11 December 2009 11:37

PIN cards: They're not as good as you think

Chip and PIN cards have shifted the risk on to customers.

JOHANNESBURG - After several months of fighting with shop assistants as to why my signature was unnecessary with a chip and PIN credit card, I decided to turn it into an experiment on how vigilant these stupidly stubborn shop assistants actually were. Over the last two months I have signed my signature either as an X or a squiggle (something resembling what a two year old would think of as "writing"). Not once in two months has any shop attendant or teller checked my signature. I have even carried out the experiment on my non PIN based card where signatures really are necessary for verification. Same result. This is a very different experience to the US for example where shop assistants carefully compare signatures, check the card for anomalies and request your ID. The US has not moved ...

Read post

09 December 2009 12:29

NHI anyone? Expect waiting lists to grow and grow

Taxpayers will receive substantially less healthcare benefits.

JOHANNESBURG - With only 5.3m taxpayers in South Africa, a national health plan will either have to limit the services available or provide substandard healthcare to all South Africans.

At a round table discussion on health reform held by the Helen Suzman Foundation, Chris Archer of the South African Private Practitioners Forum gave some very sobering figures on what exactly equal access would mean to people who currently use the private sector.

The private sector enjoys a healthcare spend per capital of around R9 000 per annum. This is a stark contrast to the R1 300 per capita spent by the public sector. Keep in mind that the people who pay for their healthcare in the private sector are the same people who fund the public sector. Archer argues that if you redistribute a...

Read post

07 December 2009 15:39

Breaking the camel's back

80% of people cannot afford an electricity price hike.

JOHANNESBURG - A survey of 2 000 people has proven what all of us already know - we just can't afford Eskom price hikes.

TNS Research Surveys found that eight out of ten people feel that these price increases will be very difficult to cope with and only a quarter feel that the prices are justified by the need for greater power capacity.

Already middle income South Africans have been hard hit by this recession and have experienced a fall in real income levels. With the average household spending more than 40% of their income on debt repayments, where exactly will we find the hundreds of extra rand to pay for our electricity consumption?

Given the proposed increase of 35%, the amount of total household expenditure spent on electricity will increase from 3% in...

Read post