In South Africa we have the National Consumer Commission (NCC) which is meant to protect consumers from unfair business practices. Mr Hardin Ratshisusu is the current Consumer Commissioner. Exactly!

The NCC established in terms of the law, the CPA (Consumer Protection Act). The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition is responsible for the law and the regulations that flow from it. If, as a consumer/customer, you are treated badly, or unfairly by a business/shop you can report them to the NCC. In theory the NCC should be among the agencies that are at the forefront of the recently reported kids poisoning incidents.

Those who have a luxury of complaining seem to prefer social media or Hellopeter over the NCC. It is unclear how long it would take for the NCC to earn a reputation for doing its work efficiently, and effectively, with a public profile similar to the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, or the CCMA. Continue reading “Stop Harassing Consumers with Direct Marketing Calls – the CPA Regulations Amendment Input”

This is an unpublished draft – work in progress

This text is Part 3 of the articles about the same subject. Part 2 was posted in  August 2014 and Part 1 was posted on  October 2019. It would be to your benefit to start by reading both parts, or at least Part 2, before reading the rest of this text.

Like the previous articles, if you are reading this text, you are most likely an aspirant entrepreneur, or an investor, who has interest in a student accommodation business. It is good business practice to do proper research when entering a market, rather than rely on random blogs on the internet.

It is important to note that the best effort was made by the author to get accurate information for this article. However, the information provided here was accurate on the date which it was published. Practices and statutory provisions change frequently, and it is the responsibility of interested parties to keep up with those changes, rather than the author of this text. Continue reading “The evolving E and L of Students Accommodation PESTEL – Part 3”

This text is a sequel of the October 2019 post about the same subject. The previous post can be read on this link. It would be to your benefit to start by reading it, before reading the rest of this text.

Like the previous article, if you are reading this text, you are most likely an aspirant entrepreneur or an investor who has interest in a student accommodation business. The assumption is that any aspirant entrepreneur or business person is familiar with what PESTEL is, and can infer the E and the L that is the subject of this text. Continue reading “The evolving E and L of Students Accommodation PESTEL – Part 2”

Government, and its entities, exist to service the public. Due to the volume of clients, the service mostly meets the expectations of the clients, which expectations are sometimes already lowered due to past experience or reputation.

In the event of dissatisfaction or information gap, clients need a point of contact where they can register their specific queries for attention. In this regard, the government, and in this case the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), has a call centre that clients can contact. The DHET Call Centre maybe contacted through a voice call on 0800 87 2222 or via email on callcentre@dhet.gov.za Continue reading “How government red tape (handles) queries, the case of DHET”

Prospective postgraduate students ought to be familiar with ways to find information, especially if it impacts their lives personally, such as funding sources for their own studies.

At the risk of stating the obvious, one of the best places to find information about postgraduate funding is the financial aid office in each university. Continue reading “NRF Postgraduate Scholarships 2021”

In an ever changing world, innovation is not only welcome, but ought to be encouraged. Such innovation includes innovations that enhance service delivery by the state, and its entities.

However, more often than not, innovators or entrepreneurs, as the case maybe, would expect to be paid for their innovation or product. Or an NGO may expect to be partly funded for their proposal that will, presumably, help the community. At the same time, government has responsibility to exercise care in the spending of public funds.

Among others, there is the infamous Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) that regulates how government should buy services. The main provisions of the PFMA are that government should, as far as possible, buy products or services using an open and fair competitive bidding process. But there are exceptions that apply in evidently exceptional circumstances. Continue reading “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of misplaced pitches to government”

Below is a list of 495 Internship opportunities at the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Closing date: Friday, 07 February 2020 at 16:00

Click here to Download

2020 Internship Programme Advert

By law, institutions that provide post-school (after Matric) education are supposed to be appropriately registered in South Africa, and the courses they offer, are supposed to be accordingly accredited. But this does not stop some from pretending to be institutions in order to make money out of unsuspecting students who are desperate for a spot in the post-school education.

The post-school education system has got public and private institutions.

The public institutions are the 26 Universities, and 50 TVET Colleges. They are easy to identify and the list can be found on the internet or check this link.

There are many private post-school education providers in South Africa. The easiest way to check whether an institution is appropriately registered is to get the name of the institution, then contact the DHET Call Centre on 0800 87 2222 / callcentre@dhet.gov.za to ask them. Continue reading “How to check whether a higher education institution is registered in South Africa”

This text is primarily written to be used for reference, particularly for entrepreneurs/investors who wish to participate in student accommodation. It is very important to note that the information here is accurate on the date which it was published. Practices and statutory provisions change frequently, and it is the responsibility of interested parties to keep up with those changes, rather than the author of this text.

NB: Please check the updates at the bottom of this article before reading further. (Aug 2024)

This text should contribute to the E and the L to the entrepreneur’s or investor’s PESTEL analysis.

There is a persisting demand for student accommodation that is a result of growth in access to education that has outpaced infrastructure growth. This applies to both Universities and Colleges.

For its part, within the prevailing fiscal environment, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has budgeted for infrastructure for Universities and Colleges. Continue reading “The E and L of the Student Accommodation PESTEL”