Whatever it was that panicked the market
in the middle of the week has now been forgotten and the All Share index is
striving upwards again. This bull is not easily discouraged and the weakness of
the rand suggests that it is not non-resident money that has been coming in to
push things along. However resources company Glencore did arrive from London for a secondary
listing on the JSE this week and has rearranged matters a bit amongst the
heavyweights. Glencore has a market cap of around R700bn and is now the third
largest share on the JSE behind British American Tobacco and SAB Miller. Traditionalists
might be shocked to learn that Anglo is today only half the size of the
newcomer and is just the ninth largest share on the JSE. Naspers, at R400bn, is
our largest truly South African listing at present. Likely you could win a few
bar bets with that fact.
The European Central bank cut its
benchmark rate from 0.5% to 0.25% and this has spawned a blizzard of comment
mostly saying it’s a good idea and it ought to have the desired effect of
raising both inflation and economic activity in the area. Many proper
economists believe that a little inflation is a good idea. They cite the
Japanese example where that nation has suffered deflation and a never ending
recession. The concerning thing for those of us who think free markets are best
able to set the price of most things is that the committee of suits who make
these decisions is the same one whose
earlier decisions led to this situation.
We already all know what we ought to see
in the Public Protector’s report on Nkandla.
That a great deal of unauthorised spending of taxpayers money went into
making sure that No1’s little country cottage in Zululand
is comfortable and safe. However, the report takes almost 360 pages to say
this, so obviously there must be quite a bit more there than we suspected. It
certainly prompted some rather rattled behaviour from a cluster (what a lovely
evocative word) of cabinet ministers who are of the view that the report might
reveal things about the president’s home that the public doesn’t need to know.
What ever could that be?
Legislation is pouring out of parliament
at a terrifying rate and none of it appears to be lessening the burden of
regulation and red tape in which we are drowning. The law that can be used to
put you in prison if you dare to suggest that severe weather is on the way has
reached the statute books. While hoaxes can undoubtedly be annoying and even
costly for the gullible, this does seem an extreme use of state powers. In this
internet age many of us now use weather forecasts generated by overseas
services so what will the weather police do if Wind-Guru warns the kite-surfers
to expect gales and all they get is a gentle zephyr?
Last year 91 public entities wasted an
average of R3bn each of public money in “unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and
wasteful expenditure”. There is outrage that as yet not a single civil servant
has reportedly been fired for fraud or incompetence. This indeed is a great
deal of money but it is less than 3% of the state’s total annual expenditure of
about R1 trillion. Most of us probably fritter away at least that sort of
proportion of our own spending every time we go to the shops. Just start with
the tip for the car guards. Nevertheless they really ought to be a lot more
careful with our money. Another comparative amount is that the tax man has so
far this year refunded R21bn in overpaid taxes. That’s also a great deal of
money,
Sachin Tendulkar must have been very pleased
not to have emulated Sir Donald Bradman and scored a duck in his final innings.
That is what he nearly did score in the world cup final at Wanderers in 2003 when
I went to watch him for the first time. The Little Master managed a mere 4
runs. People who had travelled much further than I were incensed and shouted
for his return to the crease.
It is going to feel odd watching test
rugby on a Sunday evening. But then I don’t have to go to work the next day.
James Greener
15th November 2013.
