So that’s 49 000, done and dusted for the
All Share index. Once again it is soaring upwards at a stupendous rate. This
index should return close to 3% for April. Looking a little deeper for the
shares responsible for this run, quite a few of the Real Estate Investment
Trusts (REITS) scored rather well suggesting that investors are still seeking
income from the higher dividend yields that this sector tends to offer. The
smaller “niche” banks and financial service companies also got a good push.
Another performer to catch the eye is Telkom, a company that is hard to trust
or like. At the other end of the scale Net1UEPS Technology is getting hammered
for the dishonourable mentions it received for its role in the state benefits
payout systems. There has also been some weakness in the rand and the bond
markets recently. These two frequently move in tandem as foreigners enjoy the
considerable liquidity of the latter when gaining or shedding South African
exposure.
“We are in need of an equity injection”
sounds so much more sophisticated than “Give us money.” Eskom is using the
first of these phrases to hide the fact that they have almost no control over
the rate at which they spend. Their expenditure appears to show no appreciation
of their income. What a calamity for this massive utility which once upon a
time delivered the cheapest electricity on the planet. Way back then Eskom was
rarely in the news except to boast of yet another innovation or milestone in
the methodology of using fairly low grade coal to generate a nearly
uninterrupted supply of electricity. Today the behemoth is constantly in the
headlines with tales of woe quite often involving mysteriously missing money,
management and morals. But the biggest tragedy is the impact that the
relentless rise in price and fall in supply reliability of Eskom’s product has
made on industry. If any branch of government is responsible for keeping a
scorecard of curtailed and cancelled operations arising from these
developments, they are wisely keeping it very quiet. But probably no one in the
litter strewn-corridors of power is all that concerned
As has been repeatedly pointed out, the
price gap between the cost of a live rhino and the street value of the horn on
the end of its nose is so large as to
ensure that poaching will be almost impossible to stamp out. The recent theft
from an official strong room of all the recovered and naturally harvested horns
shows the level of corruption and temptation. So too does the arrest of a Parks
employee found wandering in the Kruger allegedly looking for cattle. I have
often wondered if it would be possible to engineer the genetics of the poor
beast to render the horn toxic, but in the meantime the traumatic and
undignified process of injecting poison into prong seems to have some success.
Forget about SA catching up with Nigeria.
Pretty soon our GDP level will be on a par with Pitcairn
Island. After a pair of back to back four day weeks, there are
merely three official work days next week. Education, one of this country’s
least successful industries has, however, decided to close for the whole of the
week and send the children home. Naturally this opportunity has been seized
gleefully by their parents and the kingdom is rapidly filling up with holiday
makers. Let’s hope our accommodation and leisure industries will make up the
shortfall in business. The poor ill-educated masses are going to need waiter
and chamber maid jobs one day. But
that’s not all. The following week some genius has plunked the General Election
into the Wednesday, triggering another public holiday and of course sending the
kids home again while their school halls get used as polling stations.
I suppose the sponsors deserve their
opportunity to show off their brands and make a big event out of the new
Springbok rugby jersey. No ordinary jerseys though! They are “made with ‘motion
dry’ technology which allows the players […] natural freedom of movement and
temperature management.” And that’s not
all. “The seams are reinforced to mitigate tear risk and the jerseys use
‘gripper’ technology in the chest area to enable players to get a better hold
of the ball”. I beg your pardon?
James Greener
Malaria Awareness Day 2014
