South Africa has dropped a number of slots on an international ranking of the International Finance Corp, which currently ranks South Africa 67th in the ease of starting a business in the country concerned. Apparently all the papers and documentation required make it really difficult in South Africa and we lag behind countries such as Rwanda, which is 11th in the world after improving from 64th the year before.

Clearly, some improvement can be made. If there is another problem, and I think that stops people investing in South Africa, and it is a major problem, it is the CCMA procedures and rulings which really do tend to favour employees and waste considerable amounts of employers’ time. While there are no doubt cases of unfair employment, it now seems that almost no labour dispute ends up anywhere but in the CCMA, and it is for example, a pity that you cannot get cost orders against the other side. In other words, you win your case and prove that the person was fired, or that they just marched out on the job and resigned without any reason to do so, but you end up not getting legal costs against them, which means that the employer is going to lose either way – either on time and legal fees or in money.