{"id":350318,"date":"2020-05-01T19:45:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T17:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=350318"},"modified":"2020-05-02T06:40:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T04:40:53","slug":"rebel-tech-is-shutting-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/350318-rebel-tech-is-shutting-down.html","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Tech is shutting down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rebel Tech, one of South Africa&#8217;s specialist computer hardware retailers, has announced that it is closing down.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#8217;s founder, Rune Ravnsborg, made the announcement to employees, suppliers, and customers <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rebeltechcc\/photos\/a.242301445804345\/3205074492860344\/?type=3&amp;eid=ARDWSTb8LnDeMw1ppb2CvZhceDFpmm0tOk5muw51lrAVi35TQYJf0JW-aBswt1ggUHOVeC86WG4pY6h0&amp;__tn__=EEHH-R\">on Facebook<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 situation and its subsequent challenges, the cards that were dealt were too much for Rebel Tech to overcome,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The decision to close has not been taken lightly and has been the most difficult decision I have had to make.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ravnsborg thanked Rebel Tech&#8217;s customers for supporting it over the past 13 years, as well as its vendors and suppliers for making it possible for them to serve their clients.<\/p>\n<p>He also thanked their employees.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you! To all the hard work and dedication put in by Rebel Tech\u2019s employees. Without you all Rebel Tech would never have been as special as it is. I never thought this family would have to break up,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With my final goodbye, I would like you all to stay true to gaming, be kind to others, and help small businesses where possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>MyBroadband asked Ravnsborg for further comment on Rebel Tech&#8217;s closure, to which he provided the following statement:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Further comments might be provided when the dust and heartbreak has settled.<\/p>\n<p>For now I need to focus on what I can do for my customers and staff.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frebeltechcc%2Fposts%2F3205080666193060&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"722\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Calls to end restrictions on ecommerce<\/h3>\n<p>Rebel Tech was an online retailer that specialised in the sale of computer equipment.<\/p>\n<p>Ecommerce has been restricted along with physical retail in South Africa due to the lockdown regulations that have been in place since 26 March to curb the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>The restrictions on the sale of computer equipment were lifted on 1 May, as South Africa <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/350052-good-news-for-it-hardware-sales-during-level-4-lockdown.html\"><strong>moved from alert Level 5 to level 4.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After five weeks of lockdown, however, it was too late for Rebel Tech.<\/p>\n<p>One of South Africa\u2019s leading national courier and delivery services, Time Freight, also recently started a formal consultation process which could <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/349247-prominent-south-african-delivery-service-set-to-close-its-doors.html\"><strong>lead to the closure of the company<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ecommerce and logistics companies in South Africa have been calling on the government to <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/349952-ecommerce-restrictions-are-a-mistake-online-stores.html\"><strong>allow online shops to sell more items<\/strong><\/a>, as they believe they can make it a far safer experience for customers than visiting a physical store.<\/p>\n<p>The level 4 lockdown regulations which were published on 29 April make special provision to gradually relax the restrictions on ecommerce.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Directions may permit the incremental expansion of ecommerce, taking into account the need to limit the extent of movement on the road, contact between people, law-enforcement challenges and the impact on other businesses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, prior to the regulations being published Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel suggested that government would not consider opening up the ecommerce sector completely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we open up any one category &#8211; let&#8217;s say ecommerce &#8211; unavoidably there&#8217;s enormous pressure to do the same for physical stores, or spaza shops for informal traders, so that there&#8217;s a fair competition platform,&#8221; Patel stated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need to make sure that we have a system in place that has wide society support.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/columns\/349782-dear-minister-we-cant-make-lockdown-decisions-based-on-fairness.html\">Dear Minister \u2013 We can\u2019t make lockdown decisions based on fairness<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rebel Tech, one of South Africa&#8217;s specialist computer hardware retailers, has announced that it will close down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":248723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[35,30090,64434],"class_list":["post-350318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline","tag-rebel-tech","tag-rune-ravnsborg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350324,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350318\/revisions\/350324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}