Red tapeEver thought what it would be like to start your own business? Whist one would think the government would encourage the establishment of SME’s, which would create employment, which would create stability and so and so on……
Instead it would appear that the South African government is so obsessed with control that it is in fact acting counter productive to the encouragement of entreperneurship, by passing laws and regulations which, quite frankly, swamp the SME’s.
One could probably live with the Companies Act, Closed Corporation Act, Income Tax Act (including VAT, fringe benefits and Capital gains), UIF Act and Skills Development Act, together with their encumbering onuses placed on the employer, because taxes like death are inevitable.

However, over that last few years a whole lot of new regulations have been promulgated, some obvious and some a little more obscure, and most are not size compliant.
So the entrepreneur needs to focus his attention and skill not only on the operation side of his little business but also on a host of other things which could detract from what he/she does best.
For example take the following:
Basic Conditions of Employment Act (necessary for fairness but quite onerous.)
Black Empowerment and its scoreboard.
The Employment Equity Act.
FICA (Enforced through the banks. Ever tried complying to these rule if you only have a box address)
Electronic submission of Annual Returns. (New since May 05 with its related fee)
Promotion of Access to Information Act.
National Occupation and Safety Act.
Etc
Good luck!!!!!

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