Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President. We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

Blog Roll
http://thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
http://blogs.news24.com/needpoint
http://capetowngirl.co.za
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
http://thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
http://letterdash.com/one-eye-only
http://boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
http://amandasevasti.com
http://blog.empyrean.co.za/
http://letterdash.com/brencro
http://6000.co.za
http://chrisroper.co.za
http://pieftw.com
http://hamishpillay.wordpress.com
http://memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
http://thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
http://watkykjy.co.za
http://fredhatman.co.za
http://thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
http://www.clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com
http://nicharalambous.com
http://sarocks.co.za
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://01universe.blogspot.com
http://groundwork.worpress.com
http://iwrotethisforyou.me
http://fionasnyckers.book.co.za
http://attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
http://blogs.women24.com/editor
http://www.missmillib.blogspot.com
http://snowgoose.co.za
http://dreamfoundry.co.za
http://www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
http://alistairfairweather.com
http://www.zanedickens.com
http://www.nickhuntdavis.com
http://guysa.blogspot.com
http://book.co.za
http://baldy.co.za
http://skinnylaminx.com
http://blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
http://www.mielie.wordpress.com
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
http://stii.co.za
http://blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
http://twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
http://whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
http://trinklebean.wordpress.com
http://commentry.wordpress.com/
http://matthewbuckland.com
http://blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
http://gormendizer.co.za
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://moralfibre.co.za
http://gnatj.com
http://fsi.org.za
http://synapses.co.za
http://simon.co.za/speakza
http://cat-dubai.blogspot.com
http://khadijapatel.co.za
http://ravingfans.co.za
http://www.harassedmom.co.za
http://angelo2711.posterous.com/
http://www.macgeek.co.za
http://www.futurechurch.co.za

Thanks to Core, we have that access, but it comes at a price, a price which Core refuses to explain to online community, so continuing to maintain the perception that they are a monopoly focusing on one thing: profit, and profit only.

cmyplay.com has an interesting infographic showing the price of a 13” Macbook Pro around the world, and South Africa comes in second most expensive, just after Brazil.

Worldwide Macbook Prices

TUAW picked this up and have some interesting comments on their post.

If Core was paying attention, they could point out that the graphic shows greater differentiation between prices than the actual numbers show. If Core bothered to interact with the online community, they would be able to point out that the South African prices are similar to prices in other countries. If Core cared at all about customer perception, they’d hire someone to reach out to the online community instead of isolating and vilifying us. My Christmas wish (from last year really – I didn’t make one so figure I have some credit!) is that Core would stop their command-and-control ways, and enter into conversations with their customers.

I wish the world really was flat. And I wish Core would reach out to the online community in healthy ways.

1) Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to consumers, must provide the consumer
a) with the option to cancel his or her subscription to the mailing list of that person; and

b) with the identifying particulars of the source from which that person obtained the consumer’s personal information, on request of the consumer.
2) No agreement is concluded where a consumer has failed to respond to an unsolicited communication.
3) Any person who fails to comply with or contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed in section 89(1).
4) Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to a person who has advised the sender that such communications are unwelcome, is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed in section 89(1).

What this means is that anyone can collect your data, sell it to a third party who subscribes you to their newsletter, and sends you unsolicited email, and it’s all quite legal.

At least in the States it’s double-opt (meaning you have to visit a website, enter your email address, click “subscribe” – that’s the first opt-in. Then check your email and click on a link to confirm you want to be subscribed – that’s the second opt-in). This means that any time someone adds you to their newsletter without your explicit permission, they’re spamming you. This is the correct way of doing it.

Which leaves me in a pickle. South African law governs the emails I receive, and spammers are not in contravention of the law. I don’t know which law applies when South Africans start spamming Americans (the mail recipient, or the sender?), but wouldn’t it be wonderful if South Africa changed her laws about unsolicited emails? Both privacy.org and wikipedia define spam as “unsolicited commercial email.”

I wonder if I should keep on posting about South African spammers given they’re not actually breaking the law, but are still spamming. What do you think?

[Update: people can get burned by this, like Justin Hartman from Afrigator. Always ask the people you're emailing if they'd like to be added to your newsletter - don't automatically subscribe them, even if you're convinced everyone wants your newsletter. The few who don't might get you shut down.]

[Update: turns out I misunderstood Justin – he wasn’t shut down by Mailchimp (his newsletter service provider) because of complaints. He says, “According to Mailchimp our email lists were actually very healthy (i.e. not many complaints) but we just decided it wasn

[Update: turns out double-opt in lists aren't required, and South Africans can subscribe people to their newsletters without their permission. In my book, this exactly what spam is, but South African law doesn't agree.]

[Update: I've deleted Diane's details from this post. After emailing her, she promptly responded saying that I'd been on her database for over a year and only sent 3 emails in that time (which is true) and that I could've unsubscribed earlier, which is also true. She denies being a spammer and wants me to only go after bigger companies. While she's incorrect that she's not a spammer (i.e. she sent me unsolicited commercial email) she does say that she spends a lot of money monthly making sure she complies with the marketing regulations. Diane, legally you're in the right (i.e. you can subscribe anyone you like to your newsletter) but if you do that, you're breaching internet etiquette - double opt-in lists are the way to go. I hope you've stopped subscribing random people to your list.]

The Diamond Life @ The Bank, Rosebank, Johannesburg, Sat 19 September

Sent out by anythinggoes.co.za on Sept4 2009, this spam is about some new club launch in Jozi. Didn’t subscribe, lads.

C2IT Computer Hardware

c2it@wec2it.com sales@c2it.co.za prize@c2it.co.za

These guys make me chuckle. Their disclaimer at the bottom of their newsletter says,

We support responsible and ethical email marketing practices. Please know that we respect your right to be purged from this marketing campaign. Removal from this email distribution list is automatically enforced by our email delivery system. Please click here to start the process for email deletion.

Wow, they “respect my right to be purged from this marketing campaign.” What about my right to not be added to it in the first place?!?! They also say,

The person addressed in the email is the sole authorised recipient.

Authorised by who? Not by me, that’s for sure.

We encourage and support best practices in responsible email marketing.

Great! Best practices are double-opt in lists, otherwise you run the risk of annoying some random person out there who posts your website and your email addresses on his blog. I look forward to seeing if this post shows up higher on Google listings on searches for C2IT Computer Hardware.

These guys are also very, very annoyed by C2IT’s spammy practices.

[Updated: some Eagle-eyed car group selling Fords and Mazdas]

[Updated: kaleidoscope advertising and marketing say they got my name from Google.]

Amlec Security CC

Amlec Security cc
15 Claybourne Street, Central, Pietermaritzburg
Tel: 033 3429966 Fax: 033 3429965

http://www.amlec.co.za

sales@amlec.co.za and patricia@amlec.co.za
They sell security stuff…and want me to buy some. No idea how I was subscribed to their list.

Using the above exchange rate, $1,999 = R15,869.16. That’s a difference of R8130.84 which is 51% markup. 51%!!! Are you kidding me? This is unacceptable; I’ve sent an open email to Core asking why this is. Why do you, dear South African Apple user, think this is? And what can be done about it?

The email reads:

From: Roger Saner
Date: 31 May 2009 11:52:28 AM
To: Greg Hill
Subject: Pricing for MacBooks, StopGrey.co.za and Core’s strategy to interact with Apple users

Hi Greg

I’ve been directed to you by Rene Firsing, who gets the contact emails sent to ZA Store via the website. I’m very confused about a few things, and she said that probably only a Core Executive could answer my questions.

My first question is about prices. Today’s Rand/Dollar exchange rate is 1$ = R7.94. You charge R24,000 for the 15 inch 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro ( http://www.zastore.co.za/macbookpro0810.php ) and it’s available from the Apple site for $1,999 ( http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro )

Using the above exchange rate, $1,999 = R15,869.16. That’s a difference of R8130.84 which is 51% markup. Do you apply 51% markup to all of your products?

My second question is about Stop Grey.co.za, a website which makes no definite claims, but makes lots of hints – and uses a fair amount of scare tactics – as to what will happen to someone if they buy a grey Apple import. Do you hope that people will be convinced to buy from Core, even when they are so much more expensive than grey imports?

Core is widely perceived as a command-and-control old-style organisation who doesn’t understand that who you are is more important that what you sell. My final question is this: what is your strategy to start and continue an online conversation with Apple users in South Africa, so that you can continue upholding the good reputation Apple has, while at the same time repairing the damage Core is doing to the Apple brand?

Regards
Roger

 
[Update: No response yet. Resent to Greg on 7 June 2009.]
[Update: 702 ran a piece this morning on Cool Apple Buddies in Sandton. While nothing to do with Core, it's all Apple, and since Core claim to be the official Apple people in South Africa, it would be prudent for them to response. I resent this open letter to Greg today, 15 June 2009.]
[Update: resent 22 June 2009. Have confirmed with Core that Greg is indeed the person to send this email to, and that I have his correct address. Greg must be really busy.]
[Update: resent 1 July 2009. Deafening silence.]
[Update: resent 16 July 2009.]

I’ve developed a few e-commerce websites for South African clients, and each time I go through the same process with them. To get to the point where it’s possible to sell products online, you need:

• A business plan to show to a bank where you will
• apply for a merchant account.

This means you’re paying something around R200 a month so that you can accept credit card payments…AND per-transaction fees of around 5-8%. Not that you’ve accepted any payments yet, but you have the capability. Then you need a payment gateway, which you’ll typically pay around R100 a month for, and you’ll also pay a per-transaction fee, either a set fee or a percentage.

Once all this is done, it’s time to set up a website with a shopping cart, and start selling. The costs look like this:

• R200/month for the merchant account, plus 5-8% transaction fee.
• R100/month for a payment gateway, plus per-transaction fees.
• Monthly website hosting fees, say around R100/month.

Total monthly costs: R400 plus per-transaction fees.

So before we even get to the website design and development costs, we’re looking at R400/month. Obviously people moving small volumes of product can’t spend R400 a month to do this, which is why most SME’s don’t have e-commerce sites.

A great solution is to have PayPal active in South Africa, but they’re not going to do that any time soon, or probably ever. Since I’m a drupal developer, I posted a thread on groups.drupal.org (which has grown quite a lot) to ask what payment gateways people use, and pretty much heard the same story.

So, 2 questions:

• Is getting a merchant account the only way of accepting credit card payments online, if you’re a South African?
• If so, is there an easier and more cost-effective way of doing this>

See you there!