Although it seems unlikely, the
charts confirm that the current rand / dollar exchange rate is at about the same
level as it was a year ago. Ditto the All Share index. That’s despite all the
seemingly investor-scaring stuff that has taken place (see below). Maybe it’s
that the current batch of fleeing emigrants haven’t got that much money to take
away with them anymore. Maybe we are exporting stuff steadily and quietly
without attracting the attention of the analysts. Judging from the glossy
property flyers someone must be paying tens of millions for a view of the South
Atlantic Ocean from one of the world’s most congested cities! If it wasn’t for the politicians and the students,
one could get quite optimistic about our southern tip.
But the number of things too
impossible to believe continues to grow. Much of the difficulty in trying to
grasp it all lies in the illogicality of everything. How can the act of setting
fire to a library be seen as a) non-violent and b) furthering the cause of
education? How can making universities ungovernable be in the interest of poor or
indeed any students? Is there just one cabinet minister with a real and
properly earned recognisable and appropriate qualification --- even a matric? How
can the president express complete faith in the man upon whom the same
president has set his goons to destroy? Why
is our power utility lending money to the president’s friends? Is JZ ever in
the country? Is that reason for leaving the ICC really true? Is it possible that astonishing actions and provocative
statements are sometimes planned and made largely to elicit responses of
irritation and dismay from the indignant and immaterial minority?
Next week we will have to suffer
the so-called medium term budget presentation by the minister of finance – that
is if he hasn’t been locked up for the utterly heinous crime of granting a
member of staff an early retirement package. Although the month to month data
are not getting any worse – the government fairly consistently spends one rand
for every 87 cents collected – it has been doing that for the past half dozen
years and the total debt is mounting up. And when the nation gets its Christmas
present from the ratings agencies of a creditworthiness downgrade, the interest
payments on all that borrowing are going to soar. A balanced budget is never
going to happen in the lifetime of this government. It’s going to require more
than just the axing of some of the silly little ministries to solve that cash flow
problem. Hopefully the trainee bureaucrats presently trashing the nation’s
campuses are impatient to use their expensive education to show us all how to
do it. So far, however, their proposals to soak the rich and press-gang private
enterprise are not going to raise nearly enough. But sums like that are always
difficult and so colonial.
Undeniably there is an urgent
need to lower the cost and improve the standards of internet connectivity in South
Africa. Unfortunately, (and unsurprisingly) the state is moving at a snail’s
pace to achieve these things. The Cabinet has set up a war room (!) to “expedite
the implementation of SA’s broadband policy.” But so far the “terms of
reference” are not yet agreed! The failure to implement the migration to
digital terrestrial TV is one frustrating stumbling block in the process. This
is such a fast moving and innovation driven business that the best thing
government can do is step aside and let private enterprise sort it out -- something
they are already doing if all the aggressive marketing is a guide. But one does
sort of wonder what most of the bandwidth is really used for. Messages like
this and other vital and trustworthy communications must surely comprise a tiny
fraction of the torrent of entertainment downloads and pictures of cats and food.
Social Media is a dreadful misnomer. A room full of screen peckers is not at
all social. The dreaded hash tag has nearly replaced real journalism. It’s so
easy to select material that panders to one’s prejudices and not to confront contrary
opinions. Does it not make sense that we want to do that cheaper and quicker?
Did someone say work emails? Pshaw!
The opinion that SA rugby is hamstrung
by having far too many regional authorities is very compelling. It seems worth
trying to spend less money on staff and more on players. Competition for fewer
places both in the coach’s room and on the field might sharpen things up. It
could hardly make it worse. The only person more depressed about his team than
a ‘bok supporter must be an Aussie cricket fan. Apparently Northern Transvaal will
be in Bloemfontein to finish off the Currie Cup tomorrow. What a pity that
today is Global Champagne Day.
James
Greener
Friday 21st
October 2016
