The pot and the kettle

You can’t make this up. Trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel said during the recent presidential diplomatic and trade visit to certain African countries that a problem for SA businesses in Nigeria was the ever-changing regulatory environment and the inconsistent application of laws.

Talk about the pot and the kettle! Back at home the governing party is musing over whether to scrap property rights. And the labour minister is to be given the power to decide the ethnic makeup of employees. Our legal and regulatory environment has become a roller-coaster. Businesses may face capricious government intervention regarding their property and structure and risk becoming a plaything of political power brokers. If these proposals are enacted, Nigeria will seem a haven of peace to SA enterprises.

Willem Cronje Cape Town