So my potential net worth is about to take another plunge. Even more competition looms. The department of Home Affairs has published a list of the numbers and categories of professionals that the country quite desperately would like to see coming here from overseas to work. Now I am merely a geophysicist, but it’s not all that different from an astrophysicist, 200 of whom appear on that list. The report does not explain what these folk are expected to do but doubtless the nation will benefit from raising the level of discussions about “dark matter”, “Hawking radiation”, “Big Bangs” and “Black Holes”. However, to get the rest of us up to speed will require many more than the 1000 maths and science teachers that also appear on the list.
Did you know that there are now so many BEE verification agencies that they have formed an industry body named, (naturally) The Association of BEE Verification Agencies (ABVA)? That there is no need to add the letters SA to the name is proof that this piece of foolish legislation is unique to our southern tip. There was no mention of the agenda for their inaugural meeting, but I suppose they covered the topic of just how to distinguish their clients from the rest of the population. I am filled with despair that we are treading down that path again.
Another industry body also with little history but possibly more money, is the Casino Association of SA who took out a full page colour ad the day after the Budget to remind us of how much they had contributed to the fiscus. A trifle ingenuous I’d say, as it’s their patrons who pay most of the tax isn’t it?
The alarming part of the Budget from the market’s point of view was “the shot fired across the bows’ of Sasol. The state will set up a team to see if there are any grounds for levying a “windfall” tax on the company which has benefited from the recent high fuel prices and an historic state subsidy. The precedent this sets for any other industry or company that similarly enjoyed a hand-up or even a tariff protection from the state anytime in the past is concerning. Iscor (now Mittal), Telkom and Eskom are first to mind but there must be many others who could be thought of as “owing something back.”
Sasol has lost about R20bn in market cap this week and Telkom is also pretty soggy. Most pension funds (including Minister Manuel’s own) will have suffered greatly from this weakness. It’s a pity that this matter could not have been more delicately handled. By the way, it is clear from the price action of Sasol in the days before the Budget that news of this idea had leaked. There was huge selling on Tuesday’s closing auction. Please will the Securities Regulations Panel have a close look at this one?
What on earth can one say about a ceremony where Minister van Schalkwyk called the press around to watch him screw in a light bulb? And here’s a good tip from Australia. Beware the chap who pays all his bills with shiny new coins. He could well be an employee of the Mint doing a bit of unauthorised product testing.
Several readers pointed out that SA now has 5 teams in the Super 14 not 4 as I suggested last week. They are of course correct but who ever remembers the Stormers – who are barely part of SA anyway. Come on The Cats.
James Greener
17th February 2006
