Regrettably, this week at least two friends were caught up in criminal incidents. One was brutally murdered and the second was stabbed several times with a screwdriver. Undoubtedly, these families of educated, skilled and law-abiding tax-payers will soon be looking to see where else in the world they will be more appreciated and protected. Becoming a victim of violent crime is no longer just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and falling prey to one of a small number of criminals prevalent in any society. In this country now, each and every one of us is under almost continuous scrutiny and assessment of our potential for being a useful and valuable target. Whatever the degree of violence, the risk for the perpetrators is almost nil and the rewards can be substantial. It is the perfect recipe for growth and that is certainly happening at a terrifying rate.
Equally disturbing is the reaction of those of us who have escaped the latest bout of local banditry. We merely put our heads down, give thanks that it wasn’t one of our immediate family and continue living in the abnormal society that South Africa seems to make its own. Those who are in power are therefore also able to pretend that nothing is wrong. This gives them the time they need to indulge in the interminable and complicated witch-hunts within their ranks. They consider that this pointless and wasteful sort of activity is government. To many outsiders it feels as if the process is designed to protect and promote criminally incompetent officials at the expense of those who might actually be capable of doing their job of being a servant to the tax-paying public.
One clear example of how we are all managing to hide from the collapse of a civil society is the way we keep on buying this stock market up to ever higher levels. Judging from the behaviour of the rand it looks as if foreign investors are also happy to send their money to Johannesburg. Human nature is certainly dominated by the emotions of greed and fear. As long as the assailant’s bullet or knife misses a vital organ, we are off to the races, shopping, consuming and investing. Surely, there must be a huge fire smouldering out there somewhere but no one has yet spotted the smoke. At present, the flows of wealth are still camouflaging everything else.
A must-have investment guide came to light this week in the form of a document that was given to the country’s largest fund manager by his client – the country’s largest pension fund. Reportedly, it “details a tight mandate” to ensure that the fund manager “performs at the maximum”. The board of trustees of the pension fund have decided to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance issues into all of its decision-making. No mention of return or performance, but I suppose that the aforementioned document covers those matters. It would be churlish not to note that the JSE’s Socially Responsible index has delivered a return of 25% so far this year compared to the All Share’s more modest 23%. Maybe they are onto something.
My mood of despondency has not been lifted by today’s cricket test victory in Pakistan but perhaps on Sunday after the All Blacks have been sent home and the ‘bokke have trounced Fiji, things will look brighter. Maybe after the World Cup, Jake White will come home and run the country.
Please keep vigilant and safe. It is a jungle out there.
James Greener
5th October 2007
