Durban, KZN, SA – Zamani Oliphant has been appointed as the incoming executive director of the Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association (SAFLIA). She will start on 01 February 2026, and will work alongside outgoing executive director Jirka Vymĕtal for a handover period.An attorney, she joins from LexisNexis, w ...more

Christopher Lionel Astill, or as we knew him at the Apeco office, CLA, was a smart businessman who knew how to ‘use’ people for their knowledge. I don’t mean that in a horrible way. It’s just that he, by his own admission, was not very savvy when it came to product.Especially technical issues. He would rather tap i ...more

Portugal shows there is much more to being a successful footwear exporting nation than just offering low prices. ‘Welcome to the industry of the future’. ...more

As per coincidence, the day that S&V published the October Pill about the Development Aid which was focussed on the results obtained by UNIDO in Ethiopia, I was able to access a document published by UNIDO on their website called "Independent Evaluation of LEATHER INITIATIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE EMPLOYMENT CREATION (LISEC) &ndash ...more

Benedict Spinoza (1637-1677) had many great contributions to the field of philosophy, especially his book entitled Ethics. In that great book he talks about false and true ideas. He mentions that a true idea, specifically the truth of an idea that you hold in your head is a very powerful intellectual tool. He draws a distinction between i ...more

Firstly: Happy New Year with my best wishes for good health and great bottom lines!Of CNN – and PETA – of lionfish and Burmese pythons – and whether Leather has wings (with apologies to Lewis Carroll)Let’s start by admitting that the leather industry has negligible recognition on the world stage. Except for those o ...more

Stents are used to remove narrowings (stenosis) in blood vessels, stabilize the vessels and thus prevent heart attacks or strokes. However, the implantation process damages the inner wall of blood vessel, and in addition a foreign body material is inserted into the blood vessel wall. Both factors can contribute to restenosis of the affect ...more

Safety footwear suppliers in SA are awaiting a response this month (December 2025) from the National Regulator for Compulsory Standards (NRCS) on various aspects of the implementation of the updated safety footwear standard, SANS 20345: 2023, which comes into force in April 2026.A major concern is the period that will be allowed for safet ...more

Why traditional radios and CCTV are no longer enough in complex threat environments Global case studies showing measurable impact on response times, safety, and transparency How LTE, 5G, and AI enable continuous, multi layered intelligence for faster, more effective decisions The opportunity for South Africa to leapfrog legacy sy ...more