Both share prices and the currency appear to have been
frightened by the storms that swept across the country last weekend (including
Durban). When it’s too rough to launch the ski boat there’s opportunity to read
and do too much thinking. The big market news though is that Barclays have made
a start of getting rid of their ABSA shares. And despite the warnings that
borrowers are finding it increasingly difficult to service their loans, there
has been good demand for this sizable chunk of a local bank. On the other side
of the trade though is the pressure of converting all these rands into pounds
might be a headwind for the currency for a while.
Other money news is that a posse of ministers has been
visiting the banks to find out why they have all closed accounts belonging to
our great friends the Gupta family. “Reputational risk” seems a weak excuse
when you see who else in this place can have a bank account. There may be
something much more sinister which we have yet to hear about. The allegations
that great bulging sacks of folding stuff passed through the gates of the Gupta
residence on a regular basis is intriguing. It can be noted though that the
rather mundane daily report from the Reserve Bank about the quantity of notes
and coins in circulation shows no particular anomalies.
It was surprising to see that terrestrial digital TV nonsense
getting a mention again this week. It seems that the squabble about who gets to
build the required set-top boxes to decode the digital signals is still ongoing
as is the fight about how those boxes should work. By international agreement
this system should have been in operation country-wide a year ago. Undoubtedly
funny money flows are at the heart of this tardy decision making. But now it
may be switched on in the remote and sparsely populated Northern Cape region quite
soon. Why? Presumably Botswana and Namibia are complaining that our now illegal
old-style analogue TV signals are leaking into their territories and mucking up
their whizz-bang modern uses for that piece of the broadcast spectrum.
It is fascinating that a helium mine is now in production
in the Free State. It’s surprising that the sole source of this second lightest
of the gasses actually is from subterranean reservoirs and in this case there
is even some very useful natural gas as a co-product. High tech stuff among the
mielie fields. You just have to love this place.
Many eyebrows were raised when Mark Barnes, a man who
is well known in local investment circles and already has his hands full trying
to coaxing performance from a small listed company, accepted the job of running
the Post Office. His laudable success in raising a considerable sum of new
money is now threatened with a workers strike which may well be the meteor
strike that will cause the total extinction of this dinosaur. There must
however, be a few nice assets still attached to the old bones of this carcase.
Vultures will be circling.
The South African National Taxi Council were last in
the news, more than a year ago when hosting a great launch party for a new
airline that has yet to flap a single wing. Now they have popped up asking the
minister of transport for regulatory powers so they can help curb the lethal
lawlessness of their members. No way is this a good idea. If the price of a
traffic cop is a blue buffalo just think how much cheaper one’s colleagues are.
Only the very unlikely introduction of a trained, dedicated and incorruptible
police force will start to reduce the awful carnage in which the owners and
drivers of the minibuses play such a large part.
I’m not a great soccer watcher but the incident-filled
league-deciding match between two London sides was very entertaining. Four
whole goals and almost a bridge hand of yellow cards! For a rugby fan the
yellow-card rule is odd because usually there is almost no benefit to the side
that is fouled and scant immediate effective sanction on the player committing
the offence. Nonetheless the folk in some small city on the right hand side of
that soggy island seemed pleased. Which can’t be said of anyone following our
cricket “stars” in the IPL jamboree or South African Super Rugby sides.
James
Greener
Friday 6th
May 2016
