An open letter  

 

My face warms up with love when I think of the laughs, the heartache, the journey and the crazy laughs we ve had before time made its decision . How I miss your being, your presence, your smell , the way you would get under my skin and I would literally want to struggle you with something , the way you understood me and I misunderstood you , time played its part yet it still feels like yesterday when we would argue about a hip-hop artist  and you would always let me win ,because you just dint care much about winning an argument .

The time we had , we ‘ve shared was borrowed time but the moments shared within that time are priceless , one day my child will know  of you in spirit , he/she will know  my other half, my  beyond free spirited brother , whom could make anybody feel appreciated by acknowledging them , a young man who had Ubuntu  and the energy that could sparkle  a deem room. Time played its tricky games with me and had already made its own calculations ,had me thinking that we still had all the time in the world to make things better for ourselves .

This is an open letter to you , me being happy to remember you and be able to smile sincerely from the core of my being, I miss you Ntsintsi J , never knew how much I loved you till the day I woke up and felt my soul drifting away from my body , no words could express the love I feel for you and funny how now the little things we did replay themselves in my mind now and again, just the other day I could see you making fun of umma ( our grandmother ) and her being very irritated with you but you just wouldn’t stop  or the way you would criticize my cooking with a bit of sarcasm  that just made my temper  go up the roof . Time is very strange in a sense that it doesn’t really make you forget anything but just makes you feel different emotions and appreciative of the allowance it gives you to either make things worse or better.

You know my heart  and I felt your pain  that had me swimming in guilt and regret , then I remembered how much you loved me and cared though I was harsh towards you , you were always warm and  loving towards me and I do miss that and I know you miss my bitching too J  , Time was never my friend but you were my beautiful brother and I do want to thank god for the time he gave us , whether it be us fighting , not understanding each other or just learning each other ‘s  moods , I am grateful to god for all of that .

Time allows you to appreciate your past but also makes it very difficult to embrace the future , to trust again and to allow any kind of love in , the trick is to dream  and believe that he who created all things knows best .You always hated it when I kissed you , so I am going to blow you a kiss and tell you one more time  i.e I love you bro and I am trying my best but damn I miss you ……Mcwaaaaaaaaaa!!

I hope you read this letter wherever you are.

 

Love

Your sister Phindile .

employment tax incentive 

Why is there an Employment Tax Incentive?

Millions of young South Africans are currently unable to participate in economic activity, and as a result suffer disproportionately from unemployment, discouragement and economic marginalisation. High youth unemployment means young people are not gaining the skills or experience needed to drive the economy forward. This lack of skills can have long-term adverse effects on the economy.

In South Africa the current lack of skills and experience as well as perceptions regarding the restrictiveness of labour regulations make some prospective employers reluctant to hire the youth.

As a South African employer you now have a great opportunity to boost the employment of young work seekers.

What is it?

The Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) is an incentive mainly aimed at encouraging employers to hire young and less experienced work seekers. It will reduce the cost to employers of hiring young people through a cost-sharing mechanism with government.

This incentive will complement existing government programmes with similar objectives.

ETI was implemented with effect from 1 January 2014. 

Top Tip: Remember you may only claim the ETI from the month of January 2014 for all qualifying employees. The amount which may be claimed must not be back-dated to October 2013.

Who qualifies?

• The employer is eligible to receive the ETI if the employer–
• Is registered for employees’ tax (PAYE);
• Is not in the national, provincial or local sphere of government;
• Is not a public entity listed in Schedule 2 or 3 of the Public Finance Management Act (other than those public entities designated by the Minister of Finance  by Notice in the Gazette);
• Is not a municipal entity;
• Is not disqualified by the Minister of Finance due to displacement of an employee or by not meeting such conditions as may be prescribed by the Minister by regulation.
  
• An individual is a qualifying employee if he or she–
• has a valid South African ID;
• is 18 to 29 years old (please note that the age limit is not applicable if the employee renders services inside a special economic zone (SEZ) to an employer that is operating inside the SEZ, or if the employee is employed by an employer that operates in an industry designated by the Minister of Finance;
• is not a domestic worker;
• is not a “connected person” to the employer;
• was employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after 1 October 2013; and
• is not an employee in respect of whom an employer is disqualified  to receive the ETI (i.e. the employee is paid below the minimum  wage applicable to that employer or paid a wage below R2 000 per month if a minimum wage not applicable).

Top Tip: There is no limit to the number of qualifying employees that an employer can hire.

 

How does it work?

Employer will calculate and claim the incentive on a monthly basis. The employer must follow these steps:

• Identify all qualifying employees in respect of that month
• Determine the applicable employment period for each qualifying employee
• Determine each employee’s “monthly remuneration”
• The EMP201 form was amended to include a field for claiming ETI,
• Calculate the amount of the incentive per qualifying employee as per the table below.

Monthly Remuneration ​	Employment Tax Incentive per month during the first 12 months of employment of the qualifying employee ​	Employment Tax Incentive per month during the next 12 months of employment of the qualifying employee​
R 0 - R2 000 ​	​50% of Monthly Remuneration	​25% of Monthly Remuneration
R 2 001 - R4 000 ​	​R1 000	​R500
R 4 001 - R6 000 ​	Formula: R1 000 – (0.5 x (Monthly Remuneration – R4 000)) ​	​Formula: R500 – (0.25 x (Monthly Remuneration – R4 000))

 
In determining the first or the second 12-month period, only the months in which the employee was a qualifying employee are taken into account. For example, the employee may be a qualifying employee in the first three months but not a qualifying employee in the fourth and the fifth months. If the employee is a qualifying employee in the sixth month, the sixth month is month number four as far as the 12-month period is concerned.

Top Tip: For the next biannual reconciliation submission process in 2014, the EMP501 and IRP5 will also be updated with the necessary fields.

 

How long will it be available?

The incentive is currently scheduled to end on 31 December 2016 but its effectiveness will be reviewed to determine whether to continue with the incentive.

Something new

 It’s the new year and contrary to popular believe I have no plan for this year, as plans change very quickly ( God taught me that lesson many times and me being hard headed that lesson took a long time to sink in!), seeing that I know better now , trust you me I will do better( but I still have a dinky plan that is open to life’s mishaps ) . Something new I realised late last year was the fact that I love long drives , there’s  so much to take in from nature , the natural architecture of the mountains , the smell of clean fresh air that’s just warming to the skin and finds itself internally as well , the ocean , oh my GOD !!, I fall in love every time  when I  am standing by the ocean , appreciating  nature , feeling the waves air ,gods best creation in my opinion, makes me feel at peace as if I am more connected to the spirit guides somehow .  Something new ,I also realised was that I relate more better to folks who show their motions and share more / are  open about themselves who they are as appose  to  cold folks whom I cannot figure out if they are going south or west , as they can never open up about anything because they either have serious trust issues or just don’t see the value of people in their lives.

They say if you truly want to know a person  go on a road trip with them , and trust you me my road trip to Durban was very interesting , eye opening and also forced me to acknowledge that I really can be a stubborn ass cow sometimes ( it breaks my heart to admit this but  it’s the truth unfortunately ) . Something new  I appreciated was that  Matthew got us to ride bicycles which was something I hadn’t done since I was 12 years old  and I loved every minute of it , as it was like my childlike moment replay, it’s also fair to say that Simon and Sebs had an awesome time  ( priceless to see ) . Its so much fulfilling to share things and moments with friends  as those moments will be the only thing to hold on to when your journeys take different directions .

Something new , forcing myself to look at my faults , my disillusion attachment with perfection and high expectations  which no one can reach, it all sums up to me being a control freak actually ( in short ) , but I have to say this road trip was worth every moment  as I totally loosened up, from Simons crazy jokes and  Sebs easy going attitude , we made a great team  there in Zulu land, even if it was just for a minute . The curry food though is the one thing I will never try again , as eating and drinking water, feeling like my mouth was on fire , not  amaseballs, not pleasant  at all!!, I know Sebs would agree with me on that one .

Something new , I have never met a Zulu man who is kind and welcoming like Vusi was to us , as to be honest not all but most Zulu guys have no respect for women  and when you’re an opinionated woman its even worse , they are deep into their culture ways ( which to me seems like an excuse for them to justify their weired actions, e.g polygamy for one, I don’t get that  but ohh well  that’s a topic for another day)  , back to my point Vusi is a beautiful spirit as he has Ubuntu without trying too hard , which is something I don’t get to experience a lot living in Jo’burg ( well you don’t even get to see nor speak to your neighbours when you live in  Jozi, its crazy how self focused  everybody is ..) , so it was great to experience that first hand, it was warming to my heart and I felt welcomed . 

Something new, being seriously irritated for the first time with someone I always ….always joke and laugh with and  not being  able to escape him nor leave him because guess what we were on a road trip together , so good or bad I had to stick it out and work it out . Most priceless moment though was taking a walk with Matthew by the beach where I also had my  ahaah moment  , that is “you can be anywhere in the world with whomever , but you can never run away from how you really feel.., this shit just won’t go away until you deal with it, ( in my case which is never as its kinda pointless…)” .

Something new , cheers to travelling more , trying new food (not hot ones though ..!), having fun , getting older while still having my swagger on point , having a positive mind set , reading more books  and finishing the ones I started already , doing more yoga, thanking  god daily, being  gugu gaga once in a while with my friends babies/new borns on the way, being patient and more tolerable to the very few close friends I have , lastly dreaming bigger, working hard and smart while enjoying what this new year has in store for  my beautiful spirit J.

Love

B,

Free mind#

They say we sometimes try to feed what is missing inside us by looking for people who will complement us and validate us in areas where we feel insecure and in doing so we sort of fail to realise that most things that start with self,have to be dealt with by ourselves  with deep introspection and acceptance. We live in a society where we are all so busy trying to look important , be acknowledged, be entrepreneurs,  be cool , don’t want to age , want to travel overseas, so that our peers may think we are better  and are making it , want to impose our believes and religion on to others without consideration, more men want to have kids but don’t want to get married,black women are pressurised to look and sound more white than white women themselves ,then you have white women who want to have black women’s bodies , we are in such a chaotic pleasing state that we forget  about checking in with ourselves, our spiritual side and mostly giving love to ourselves . The one thing I have come to appreciate about myself is that I am in a space where I am learning to be more grateful and less critical of self and my life choices.

When someone says “Be grateful” , it sounds like the most simple thing to do , but its not  as its actually easier to be negative and have nothing good to say about anybody , than being grateful and acknowledging the spirit guides presence daily . I had an opportunity to meet two most artistic guys whom are so open minded it literally blew my mind away. Free minded beings , who don’t label folks nor distance themselves because of their weiredness ( ok confession: I reeeeally have a thing for weired guys, it’s a bad habit of mine J) but back to my point , these two free artistic minded men I met at our company conference reminded me of how important  it is to not loose side of you, who you are and what you stand for, take Matthew for example very intelligent ,reserved , nerd looking but very kind and respectful ( I think ) to other cultures  and doesn’t even take himself seriously , just having a conversation with this man  reminded  me of the fire I used to have , but somehow died  along the way because of all the things that have happened in my life. Then you have Daniel a grafity artist who is so talented , sweet , calm yet very smart , talking to him reminded me of how free I used to be with my artistic side , never shy ‘d away from it at Tertiary but embraced being different and was constantly pushing my writing abilities and socialising to the fullest .

What happened to the free minded me? that’s the question I asked myself after parting ways with Matthew and Daniel . The only answer that came to mind was that I lost my inspiration of writing because I was trying so hard to separate myself from thinking about love , nor feeling anything that has to do with love , because in my crazy mind this is how I looked at things , :”if I am honest , open to the idea of love and friendships , then comes attachment  and the  reality with all that  is this: folks still lie , cheat and disappoint, so whats the point “ . What I have come to realised now is that” love lives within me “, it doesn’t matter how hurt in the past I was, or how rejected I felt when I fell in love with someone who only cared about himself and money , or how crushed I was about my little brother’s death  , fact is to love is a choice , to be grateful it’s a choice , to choose to let go its a choice ( it might be hard but its good for the spirit) and to except the bad and embrace the good means you moving forward with hope .

The free mind vs an open heart, everybody has a way in which they deal with whatever challenge life presence but nobody is ever taught how to be happy , how to embrace good change , how to really let go of your guard and trust , how to not be  jealous if another person has achieved more than you and are proud of it , on the other hand one may argue and say I have been taught all of that because I come from a positive environment   and what nots ( again it all depends on your foundation , family and mentality ) . In my case it is a mixture of colours that god keeps repainting and refining ,  so with that I will say that I had to learn not to hold on to pain , learn to be the best me I can be presently , learn to be enough as I am ,learn how to except my guilt and move on from it, learn  how to listen to someone who needs a friend even if it’s a stranger in a taxi, learn how  to trust in my capabilities , learn to respect  God for the huge part he plays in my life and growth as a being , learn to not put limitations onto myself but be able to transition with all this change  , learn to be patient with myself and my weired side I don’t sometimes understand , but mostly  I had to learn  how to love me again ,keeping in touch with my mom & brother in spirit  as that is very important to me and there’s no shame in it.

Sometimes you may think you have nothing but only to find out that you have everything you need and you are exactly where god wants you to be , so my little piece of common sense is gods timing is always perfect ,don’t hold on too tight to the person you love because they still  need room to breathe and find themselves and figure out how to add to your happiness, truly enjoy the good moments because when you’re really sad they will  pop up and you ll find yourself cracking up with laughter just because of those memories .

As my grandfather would say :” expression is the best form of healing , making mistakes and learning  from them “, my version is remixed a bit with my own experience  i.e free your mind and heart and let love flow with all its bliss  and challenges and see what happens…..

 

Love

Switdifferent

 

 

Friendship  Relations

Complexity is the name of the game when it comes to friendship relations, you ‘ll find your patience , your loyalty and tolerance  being tested time and time again, up until you bear your soul open to  reality , shake away the shallowness , expectancy  to truly enjoy the bliss that comes with creating a friendship and maintaining one . We all were raise differently , come from families that vary i.e from money ,values, education,  to being raised by single  parents and yet fight to be appreciated , not to be stigmatised by our back rounds , somehow all those factors come into play when we start building friendships ,be it as young adults or just plain adults . It’s called friendship relations, takes time to make it solid yet can be destroyed within seconds, as bad decisions play a deceiving game with good decisions, selfishness overrides consideration and thoughtfulness, these are friendship relations .

They say blood is thicker than water, at this point in my life I wouldn’t agree with that statement even if someone pointed a gun in my head, as I have been surrounded by beautiful  spirits in my lifetime ,some still with me and some no longer present , but their role will always  influence me positively  as that is how I choose to remember them . These are friendship relations, they bring about our insecurities , progress , change , disappointments all bottled up with a bit of jealousy in it, that sometimes disguises itself and comes out in the words we utter in anger . Loving someone is a risk that you have to take without  fear but believe with trust that what you offer to your friend is enough to make the friendship grow and be strong , with all the challenges that the spirit guides might throw  at you , these are friend ship relations.

It’s the most priceless motion to feel when you find yourself being close to a person that you think about  as soon as you see something  crazy  or going through a life changing experience , that one person who appreciates  your awkwardness ,weirdness  and you even call each other crazy names without anybody taking offence, that one person who is human enough to make mistakes and apologise openly , that one person who will tell you where to get off when you start acting all arrogant and big headed, that one person who will be there and not judge you when you fail instead take you out for a movie just to help you shake off the bad mood, that one person who will love you as you are and embrace you even when they feel a bit jealous , these are friendship relations , they look attractive from a distance but hard to maintain .

I have learned that as much as its important to spend time on your own its good for the soul to have good friends and be around folks who will stop everything  to just be there for you .  These are friendship relations , they are like seasons yet we sometimes prefer them to stay  neutral which is impossible when you are dealing with human motion. New beginnings come  with a lot of change and growth , meaning when the friends you grew up with starting saying “you have changed “ in most cases its them who have changed and cannot handle the progress in your life , these friendship relations are diverse in every way imaginable and to narrow them down will be delusional thinking on  my part .

I cannot erase the memories I have shared with folks I knew as a kid , as a teenager and as an adult , as the love there is too strong to be shattered by any bad feelings  about things  we cannot even change , point is  people grow up , some focus on making money , being selfish and spending life as a spinster, some start families and build their nests so big that it warms their heart with love , some travel and explore other cultures because they feel lost in their country of birth and are constantly yearning for meaning in life  and then you have those that just want to belong . These are friendship relations , they truly are a blessing and a learning path that never ends .

 

Love :Switdifferent J

 

Its another year and this past June 16 , I literally dint want to do anything , just because on the 15th it was Ntsintsi's birthday, my little brother:):: (as i did not feel like being around house DJs and crowds of kids who still care about their appearance and less about themselves and around guys who think  all the chicks give a fuck just because they drive big cars and they are wana be celebrities and what nots), its so weired to think of him and realise that his really gone . The truth is god has a way of suprising one with beautiful  spirits that kinda shift ones focus and way of thinking , which brings me to Mo , a sweet spirit that was free enough to explore Arts and Main with me and just loose ourselves in the art . We watched this knowledgeable documentary about Samora Machel and how he became the man he was known to be ,to his people in Mozambique  and i must say that after watching that documentary i truely appreciated Africa more , its a pity how low we sometimes rank ourselves and abilities and constantly think the Europeans are above everything .

Our forefathers were not afraid though they were living in an era that wanted them to be frightened all the time , they rose above that and pushed through their circumstances and that should be motivation enough to make all these young kids want to be more , make the effort and stop having this dependent mentality.

An all round good experience and i have a good feeling that my journey with my freakish friend Mo is just  the beginning ,which brings me to my sometimes moments , i.e I realised that sometimes plans change , and we have to let folks be, let go of the friends we love with hope that they will one day find their way home , let go of the one person you know is ment for you, let go of the past and blaming other people for your decisions , sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to just do you , as my thing is if GOD has soooo much faith in me and thinks i am worthy of the best ...why shouldnt i believe that ?? ....

Do you as best as you can and crack someone up once in a while :-), life is really short.

ME TIME IN CAPE TOWN@PRICELESS:-)