Well there’s no need to worry about the price of money in the country for a while. The dream team have pronounced that it’s perfect. And from the various numbers coming in they may well be correct. Inflation is down again, cars are selling like hot cakes and purchasing managers are in expansive mood. The share market has been churning around, a shade off the all time highs although many individual shares prices have long been up in unexplored territory.
Reporting season is rapidly approaching and the news from the retailers is very good. South Africans are doing their patriotic duty and buying stuff. Unfortunately we are clearly not paying enough for some of it, as some local clothing manufacturers are being threatened with closure because they can’t make enough money to pay their workers the minimum wage. Add to the mix that Massmart shareholders this week approved Wal-Mart’s arrival in SA, and we consumers can look forward to even lower prices. The trade unionists and socialist politicians are apoplectic with confusion about whether this is a good or a bad thing.
The Cabinet reportedly rejected the finding of their own appointed independent investigation into the impact that four wide ranging bills on labour will have on employment. The answers failed to mesh with the opinion they have of their infallibility in arranging their citizen’s lives. Oh dear. Better they all just resign from those jobs which are paid for with other people’s money and join the rest of us out here competing for a living.
What is happening at Neotel? Their just published annual report reveals they lost more than R1bn in the year to March 2010. Now, firstly that’s not exactly speedy reporting for a business that is supposed to be delivering the long awaited cutting edge communication services to compete with Telkom. Then the board’s response to the loss is that they are “satisfied that the company has adequate resources to stay in business for the foreseeable future”. Well, if staying in business means having no visible marketing or products then that claim has proved correct for at least 10 months. More puzzling, however, is that one of Neotel’s partners has declared themselves “satisfied with Neotel’s business performance”. Amazing! In the meantime Telkom itself is very excited about borrowing $127m from some overseas folk. Now it is none of my business (in fact most of this stuff isn’t) but I wonder if anyone at Telkom has thought deeply about what will happen to their repayments if the rand does what luminaries like Nobel Laureate Stiglitz demand and falls in a heap? They must be expecting really great performance from their bafflingly named cell phone system (8.ta ?!)
I just loved the piece about the SABC CEO being allowed to resign “with immediate effect and leave with a small payout and his dignity intact – six months after he was suspended”. In what possible way can a resignation after 6 months of suspension pending investigation into “irregularities” be described as either immediate or dignified? The national broadcaster is a dreadful mess. Why, for example, should they need to employ non-English speakers in the English language services? Job interviews should be conducted by phone with candidates being invited to read a list of words provided by disgruntled licence payers.
I suppose we ought to trust the national cricket selectors – although we can all have grave doubts about their bosses, the clowns who manage the game – but I guess that tonight’s colloquium down in the riverside bar will have a word or two about leaving out local boy David Miller. Goodness, that Cricket World Cup has been a hard one to bring home and I do wish the squad every success. But first they need to tame these Indians at home.
James Greener
21st January 2011
