It seems to have been a particularly bad week for those of us who do not feed off the public purse but instead, fill it. Despots and bureaucrats world-wide have dominated the headlines with stories of greed, corruption, fraud and incompetence. I have no idea where Nokeng Tsa Taemane is, but the municipal manger there is clearly a non-performer as he is able to pull down a salary of only R542 000, way behind all his colleagues elsewhere in the country. It’s tough work allowing municipal debts to reach R36bn.
Did you know that Joburg City Power has a target for power outages in the year and it’s not zero! In fact it is 133 600 – an oddly precise number – and they look well set to exceed it. No doubt a celebration will be held when the target is reached. I wonder if those who sat in darkness so that the fellows could get there will be invited.
But it’s not just tax and rate payers who keep the wheels turning. This weekend the Live8 concerts will raise pots of cash from willing music fans. The organisers are keen to assure everyone that they hope and believe the money will go to the desperate and deserving poor of Africa. However, I am in no doubt that the major winners of this exercise will be the Mercedes Benz dealers of the Dark Continent. If you think I am too cynical, then note that Minister Manuel is suspicious that laundered ill-gotten gains are responsible for pushing local house prices sky-high. What puzzles me is how this could happen when one is required to produce everything short of a blood test just to open a bank account. Actually I think that it is mostly just relatively cheap money that’s fuelling the property boom; just like everywhere else in the world.
Spending of other people’s money continues in Cape Town this weekend when the full board of FirstBank of Nigeria hold their annual retreat (a quaint and possibly inappropriate term). Next week they move up to Joburg for the launch of that bank in South Africa. The MD must have been misquoted in the report which claims he said: “…the move to open the office hinges on four planks.” In any case, the arrival of FBN on the banking scene should be a stimulant for us all.
June’s All Share performance was a modest 3% with only a few smallish sectors showing a loss. Richemont was the big cap winner as the weak Euro / strong Dollar story coupled with news of rapidly growing numbers of Chinese tourists made buyers excited. Despite this, the year so far has been dominated by performance in excess of 25% by the resources (Sasol, platinums, Anglo & Billiton) while the financial and industrial index has remained in single figures. My feeling is that resources may have now done their best for a while, and that nothing quite so spectacularly good is going to happen in the next six months.
It is now closer to next Christmas than last Christmas. Wimbledon finals, Tour de France and the Durban July this weekend signal that the days are getting longer at last. Another less well known sporting event tomorrow is the 1km uphill box, desk and computer lugging event in which we here at Watermark will be participating
May your horse come in first.
James Greener
1st July 2005
