The rand is in trouble

[Thor]

I wish we had the support of the government to back places like Mustek with incentives, because they are one of the only manufacturers that also has computer components and TV's manufactured locally right?

So in a way that could have kept IT costs to a low, because we want to upgrade now and boy oh boy is it a lot more expensive than it would have been this time last year....

 

[Ho3n3r]

I wish we had the support of the government to back places like Mustek with incentives, because they are one of the only manufacturers that also has computer components and TV's manufactured locally right?

So in a way that could have kept IT costs to a low, because we want to upgrade now and boy oh boy is it a lot more expensive than it would have been this time last year....

What computer components do they manufacture?

 

[diabolus]

What computer components do they manufacture?

I believe the Mecer brand is under them? Which we know is generally cheaper than say a Dell , despite having similar components.

I wouldn't quite say they manufacture components, they do assemble components into final products , the final result is most likely cheaper than buying the exact same thing with a HP/Lenovo/Dell sticker on it.

 

[.QQ.]

We will be just another African country soon.

Certainly seems to be heading that way.

 

[Ho3n3r]

I believe the Mecer brand is under them? Which we know is generally cheaper than say a Dell , despite having similar components.

I wouldn't quite say they manufacture components, they do assemble components into final products , the final result is most likely cheaper than buying the exact same thing with a HP/Lenovo/Dell sticker on it.

Right. Thought I was missing something.

 

[LazyLion]

No, it's not.

 

[krycor]

Pretty much my plan of action. Starting to wonder whether SA is the best option for retirement though....if they sort out the crime then it certainly will be at/near the top of the list. Until then other options are looking good too.

Yip exactly. I think the world is getting to the point where there needs to be reform on currency values. The US will object as per usual as they have the most to lose but it's coming. I'm optimistic about things turning around but at the sae time i'm thinking there is no point.. unless you live with the euro or dollar in a country where tax, interest and inflation is low, you kinda wasting your finite working life by earning less and trying to save for retirement where each passing year your target needs to adjust drastically because compounding won't save you when the currency devalues as much as ours has.

And in SA, currency devalue means goods go up whether needed or not.

We will be just another African country soon.

werent we always

 

[Sonic2k]

Give it 5 years, this place will be on the same par as Zimbabwe.
I do feel pity for those denialists on the forum, who will wake up one morning to discover their entire savings wiped out, and worthless, and reality sinks in

 

[Ho3n3r]

Give it 5 years, this place will be on the same par as Zimbabwe.
I do feel pity for those denialists on the forum, who will wake up one morning to discover their entire savings wiped out, and worthless, and reality sinks in

What's that?

 

[Sonic2k]

What's that?

You make a valid point, what savings... thanks for pointing that out

 

[Thor]

What computer components do they manufacture?

That's what I meant: as below, I am sure if they had more incentives that they could be manufacturing? Surely south Africa has the intellectual capacity in the private sector to develop more components if they had proper funding.

I believe the Mecer brand is under them? Which we know is generally cheaper than say a Dell , despite having similar components.

I wouldn't quite say they manufacture components, they do assemble components into final products , the final result is most likely cheaper than buying the exact same thing with a HP/Lenovo/Dell sticker on it.

 

[itareanlnotani]

We do have smart people in manufacturing.

Issue is that a lot of major input costs here are highly disproportionate, electricity is unstable, and staff costs are high per worker.
Being cheap doesn't help when you still need to import parts for manufacturing from oversea's.

We need to fix labour laws so that hiring and firing is easier. Unions need to go too.
That unfortunately is the antithesis of what the government wants.

BEE isn't helping either. With the government rabidly anti-business, its hard to survive here.

 

[Thor]

We do have smart people in manufacturing.

Issue is that a lot of major input costs here are highly disproportionate, electricity is unstable, and staff costs are high per worker.
Being cheap doesn't help when you still need to import parts for manufacturing from oversea's.

We need to fix labour laws so that hiring and firing is easier. Unions need to go too.
That unfortunately is the antithesis of what the government wants.

BEE isn't helping either. With the government rabidly anti-business, its hard to survive here.

I also think we should use our natural resources we are exporting raw materials for next to nothing and then importing the expensive finished products back.

 

[Space_Chief]

I also think we should use our natural resources we are exporting raw materials for next to nothing and then importing the expensive finished products back.

Our workers will say they're being exploited if not given European like benefits and salaries. We can't compete with Asia.

 

[HavocXphere]

I also think we should use our natural resources we are exporting raw materials for next to nothing and then importing the expensive finished products back.

Certainly. They need to create an environment conducive to that though rather than trying to force it.

 

[zippy]

My mum is smiling. I send her money from the UK every month.

 

[zippy]

We do have smart people in manufacturing.

Issue is that a lot of major input costs here are highly disproportionate, electricity is unstable, and staff costs are high per worker.
Being cheap doesn't help when you still need to import parts for manufacturing from oversea's.

We need to fix labour laws so that hiring and firing is easier. Unions need to go too.
That unfortunately is the antithesis of what the government wants.

BEE isn't helping either. With the government rabidly anti-business, its hard to survive here.

I don't see how that will help. Most of SA's major trading partners have similar labour laws. The problem is not labour laws, it's lack of sufficient numbers of people with skills needed produce quality goods at competitive prices. The U.K. has relatively high salaries yet it is able to export to the likes of China. I agree BEE is a burden. BEE should have run its course by now. Politically it was needed. But it's been so badly implemented that it has not significantly increased the skills in the country. BEE should have been accompanied by a large investment in training.

The problem now is that SA still has a large unskilled workforce which can become politically unstable at any time. Foreign investors see this. And they factor it into their risk assessment and this prices SA out of the market. They know you can't just ignore such high numbers of potentially unemployable people.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

I wouldn't quite say they manufacture components, they do assemble components into final products , the final result is most likely cheaper than buying the exact same thing with a HP/Lenovo/Dell sticker on it.

They definitely don't manufacture anything. They just assemble computers in the same way that most computer shops do. In their case they put a brand on the PC. That's all. Dell and co have Chinese companies manufacture components for them. In some cases they will use off the shelf components but most of the time it's their own variant.