Well, we should waste very little time in recording that as usual the All Share index set a new record high this week and that the 26 000 level is under severe threat. The cause of the bull fever this week is that the rand has gone … let’s see now … ah yes, stronger and the gold price is soaring and SA Football Association has opened its shiny new headquarters. And then, don’t forget, the government has assured us that everything is under control and that it’s merely our perceptions that make us concerned about crime.
The men with binoculars have been scanning the plains north of Joburg and report that it looks as if the governor is no longer shuffling down the trail leading towards higher interest rates. Indeed, they report ever larger herds of bureaucrats, politicians, cronies, crooks and as well as the game rangers are gathering at the water holes which are filled with cooling money from the purse of the taxpayer. All are drinking deeply and are mostly at peace with each other. None are aware of the growing dissatisfaction amongst us lesser beasts clamouring for our elected leaders and paid protectors to get away from the troughs and deliver on their promises and obligations. Night is falling and already far too many predators are about.
Today, I saw for the first time the impressive announcement about the African Information Ethics Conference that begins on Monday in Pretoria No fewer than eight taxpayer-supported outfits are proud to co-host this rubbish, where, we are assured, “quality of information will also feature prominently”. Given that the advert appears just 48 hours before the starting gun, they have already reneged on that promise. This ultra-short notice disappoints me, because undoubtedly I have long been a supplier of African Information of probably doubtful ethics. I should have been there in the front row with my sharpened pencil and notebook. And I bet the lunches will be terrific.
Just what is the purpose of all the red tape and regulation that tangles and submerges our industry? This morning the smiling (why?) face of a regulator beams out at me from a story about how a “Cape-based asset manager” had misappropriated hundreds of millions of client money. This was not the same “financial group” that has allegedly been supplementing the income of the Cape Judge President. There’s definitely something dodgy in the air down there and the mountain certainly has distracted the regulator from his duty.
I received invitations to attend both the rugby and the cricket match in the city this evening. The cricket one was quite easy to decline as I am not fond of the Twenty-20 format. Every wicket and boundary is celebrated by formations of skimply dressed young women leaping onto platforms positioned around the boundary rope and dancing wildly to loud music. I don’t like this. My seats are too far from any of the dancers to permit me to get the full impact of their energy so it is better I don’t go. The rugby heralds the start of 17 weeks of the Super 14 tournament that seems to be designed to tire and humiliate our players before the tri-nations and the world cup. There is a lot of scrumming and kicking and rucking to come this year so I don’t think I should start as early as the 2nd of February. Actually, the weather is building up very ominously around the office now and it is very likely that Wanderers (which is just down the road) will get washed out.
Keep safe please.
James Greener
2nd February 2007
