In yet another illustration of what fun
it is to spend other people’s money, the carbon dioxide-belching talk shop that
was COP 17 donated 92 bicycles to the city before departing Durban 18 months ago. Presumably because some
have already mysteriously gone missing, a further R100 000 of rate payers money
will be spent buying more, so that every city councillor can “pedal to work”. Now
anyone familiar with the hills of Durban
and with the shape of most legislators will spot the flaws in this plan
With the exception of some resource
sectors where a few shares are clawing back shreds of respectability, most of
the market indices have been more or less stalled for a few weeks now. Even the
rand is a little stronger but that of course is because the US dollar has seen
a bit of weakness. The US
bond market is looking pretty shaky, with people becoming concerned at the
wisdom of lending money to the US
government for 10 years at just 2.5%. After all isn’t that economy showing
signs of life? And then there is still the niggling fear that the Fed will do
that “tapering off” thing with the money printing presses.
Two of the JSE’s larger listings reported
results this week and there was little to get excited about. SAB Miller are
hanging on grimly but Anglo American’s earnings are down almost a third. The
obvious drivers and sources of revenue for these two companies are quite
different but the simplest conclusions are that folk don’t have a lot of excess
spending power and anyone employing labour is finding life very hard.
Who knew that there was a National
Regulator for Compulsory Specifications watching over us from some eyrie in Pretoria? This week they burst into the limelight with
the announcement that at least one cleaning liquid had failed a “bacterial
efficiency test” and thus was unsafe for users. South Africans, it turns out,
have a right to disinfectants that kill a sufficient proportion of germs. In
addition, cases where distributors had ignored their obligations to complete forms
and pay a levy had been uncovered and these products should also be considered
unsafe for use until the paperwork is completed. Now that most of our air force
planes and helicopters are lying unused in hangers, we should all be grateful
that there is at least one state agency still able to keep us protected.
It is hard to conjure up as much
indignation and concern as the authorities are displaying over the allegations of
collusive behaviour that apparently infests almost every industry in the
country. If indeed the practice is as widespread and more importantly as
profitable as the triumphant investigators claim then one wonders why there is
no particular evidence for that in the published earnings of the supposed
cartel members. Or are the companies just as good at hiding the money from
their auditors as they are at avoiding raising suspicion among their customers
and clients that the tenders are not as competitive as they ought to be? Has
anyone asked if any of these alleged super profits might not perhaps flow back
to those awarding the tenders. And then there is always the worry that the
money raised with the fines and penalties for these unproven crimes seems to go
no further than the general revenue fund. Undoubtedly most of us will never
know exactly what happens when an eminently corruptible client with public
money calls in the suppliers of goods and services for a chat about what they
really want.
Finally the relegation matches that the
Lions were denied so unjustly last year are taking place. We will now get to
see if waifs and strays who largely comprise the Kings deserve their Super 15
slot. And most of the nation will temporarily shelve their prejudices and
keenly support the Bulls in their semi-final clash tomorrow. Pointedly we shall
not mention cricket where not only are the Proteas battling against Sri Lanka but
the growling noises coming from the forces that really control world cricket
are getting ugly and unnerving. What on earth is the point of reopening a case
against a disgraced man so long and tragically dead?
James Greener
JSE July 2013 month-end.
