A few months
ago it seemed as if a big market story was developing. That is a sea-change in
opinion and behaviour was starting to drive investors. Here in SA especially,
with a new president who excitingly seemed to promise a new dawn, optimism ran
high. While some are perhaps able to convince themselves that this is still
taking place, it’s really rather uninteresting again.
Reportedly
our politicians believe that children should learn a lot more about the history
of our slice of Africa. This is a benign enough idea, provided some conditions
are also set and met. Most importantly that children are also taught to read so
that one day, if they choose, they can compare other narratives with the
inevitably slanted and partisan view that almost every teacher unwittingly
brings to the classroom. Secondly, the history lessons must not come at the
expense of time spent learning some maths and a little science, both utterly
vital tools for competing in the real world with other peoples who don’t care
very much about the views of our parliamentarians.
In fact, we
would all be far better for mostly ignoring their views as well. We are
continually paying for costly four-colour advertorial paeans of self-praise and
congratulation from state departments. Quite unnecessary. Thanks to a reader who pointed out that SANRAL,
despite being the agency that provides our rather fine national road system,
are not that good at geography. Their map boasting about a dual highway project
between Mtunzini and Empangeni places it north of Richards Bay[1].
Wrong!
When the time
comes for the history of our present era to be written, many chapters will be
needed to explain how a populace who largely profess disdain for western and
colonial customs have so eagerly embraced the adversarial legal system. The
amount of public money being spent on law suits is simply enormous, with most
of it going to practitioners in the also much-despised private sector. This has
hollowed-out the legal skills and competency from public institutions such as
the National Prosecuting Authority. So feeble is this body now that this week a
judge had to agree that the state seemed very unlikely to succeed with bringing
a credible case against the Guptas and so had to hand them back their
ill-gotten gains. This must rate as one of the most distressing news items of
the last few days.
It’s also
boom time for (some) accountants and business analysts. Almost every state-owned
enterprise (and not a few private ones as well) are hosting squads of
investigators charged with finding out basically where the money went. Their
task is made so much harder because there is an epidemic of amnesia and ill
health amongst those who need to be interviewed about the strange cash flows. This
represents a sad and dreadful misuse of skills that ought rather to be working
on deals that will get people working and producing real stuff. Investigating
how the cabinet minister’s sister got to go shopping in Europe is so
meaningless. The money is long gone and never coming back.
Some readers
will remember when De Beers was the darling of JSE. Its generations’ long
marketing strategy along the lines that diamonds were a girl’s best friend was
merely the visible end of controlling a market in what is ultimately not a
terribly rare element – carbon. But now the esteemed company appears to be
dismantling the aura they so carefully nurtured and have announced a program of
manufacturing gem-sized stones. Reportedly only experts will be able to
distinguish between a diamond formed by millions of years of heat and pressure
underground and one formed by a few hours of the same treatment in a factory.
Don’t you believe it. Half the world’s population are genetically programmed
from birth to spot the wrong ‘uns.
The weekend
is replete with many forms of rugby (a ‘bok test in Washington (yup!), a 7s
tournament in London and baby ‘boks in France. There are some more hard to say
new names in the Roland Garos tennis and a soccer match between Algeria and
Cape Verde Islands. Aren’t these the fellows who beat us a few years ago? And a Moto GP. Whew.
James Greener
Friday 1st June 2018
