West Coast Business News & Directory.

West Coast councillor Onel de Beer suspended

Some leaders of disgruntled ANC Western Cape members who backed former ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota’s plan for a national convention, have been suspended from the party and more could follow, the ANC’s Western Cape leadership said. City councillors and the party’s Dullah Omar (Cape Town metro) regional executive members Mbulelo Ncedana, Ebrahim Sawant and Brain Heber, ANC Boland...

Why Africa Is Re-Examining Renewables – Darling on the West Coast of South Africa

by Mark Hankins For too long, renewable in Africa have been associated solely with offgrid projects for poverty alleviation. However, things are changing fast. As renewable energy markets heat up in the rest of the world, as electricity prices rise, and as power shortfalls loom, power planners are reconsidering renewables. Mark Hankins examines...

BHP are exploring offshore gas fields along South Africa’s west coast.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – BHP Billiton said on Friday power shortages in South Africa had caused a decline of 8.2 percent total production at its three aluminium smelters. The three smelters, two in South Africa and one in Mozambique have a combined capacity of some 1.43 million tonnes, or about 3.7 percent of world output. Power shortages in Africa’s strongest economy have this year hit key...

Iron grip closes on Langebaan lagoon

BirdLife South Africa (BirdLife in South Africa) says time is running out for the Langebaan Lagoon – one of it’s most precious Ramsar sites, and part of the West Coast National Park and Saldanha Bay islands Important Bird Area (IBA). Langebaan Lagoon is the most important wetland for waders in South Africa, regularly accounting for around 10% of South Africa‘s coastal wader numbers....

Pictures from the storm in Langebaan Lagoon

Storm pictures from the weekend in Langebaan Lagoon, Club Mykonos Marina on the West Coast of South Africa Waves of 9.5metres, caused havoc on the West Coast over the weekend, a rubber duck was smashed against the rocks at the mouth to Club Mykonos marina, 3 people were on board, one person is still in critical condition in the hospital, ...

Office space to rent in Vredenburg on the West Coast

Office space to rent in Vredenburg on the West Coast Click Here

Failing to train your staff will sabotage your business

What should you spend your money on when you open a business? If you are a retailer you might think that the more stock you have the better. But what if you haven’t trained your staff to deal with, and specifically, sell to your customers? Your stock range is likely to stay just as wide as it was when you opened the store! I live very near the Lakeside Mica and have always found that the staff give...

Unions campaign against Walmartisation

The Wal-Mart chain of discount stores has become a US, and international, business success story. But the flip side is demonstrated by the term ‘Walmatisation’ which has become a rallying call to those opposed to the use of casual labour, on low wages and without any social benefits. Local union Saccawu is accusing leading SA retailers of following this trend and they are campaigning strongly...

BIG BOX ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDIES

These studies are from the USA but the same thing is happening in South Africa Below are summaries and links to key studies that examine the impact of Wal-Mart and other large retail chains and, in some cases, the benefits of locally owned businesses. For ease of use, we’ve organized these studies into the following categories, although they do not all fit neatly into one category. (Also see...

Local service excellence

For the last 3 months I have been having problems with my Laptop power supply, finally yesterday it stopped working all together, and that was it, I was moving to the UK where things worked. Let me give you the sequence of events, which frustrated the heck out of me. So the power supply stops working after another Eskom power cut, it just doesn’t come back on, I still have power and log onto the...