Perhaps two of the more alarming developments of the week are
the suspension of the Tongaat listing and the news that someone is trying to
sink oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz. Both raise the question of is there
more to come? The utter failure of accounting standards and lackadaisical auditing
practices have once again failed to give timeous warning of a corporate
collapse and the possibility of massive oil price rises are both important factors
to be considered by anyone looking for a place to invest. Krugerrands are once
again above the R20 000 per coin level.
In the meantime, the largest pension fund in the country –
the one belonging to most of the civil servants – has quite rightly complained
to the Public Investment Commissioner, the organisation that manages most of
that fund’s assets, about its investment policies. They (the fund’s trustees) seem
to think that maybe far too much of their pensioner’s money is going into dodgy
investments particularly those which do not have the relative comfort and
transparency of being listed on a recognised exchange. There is of course no
100% safe investment. Time was when lending to Eskom was considered “blue chip”
but no longer. But some of the “investments” that the PIC is currently choosing
are very dubious. And no one needs to have this fund running into difficulties
However, the Gupta family seemingly has no money worries thanks
to their highly successful hijacking of a whole national economy. Ours! The
leaking of their plans for yet more lavish weddings (not in Sun City this time)
is clearly a deliberate ploy to show off their success in circumventing just
about every anti-fraud and foreign exchange regulation that exists in South Africa.
President
Cyril’s suspected lack of business acumen and understanding continue to worry
the markets. Instead of allowing SAA to bleat on about how much money they need
to keep the doors open he should be instructing them to focus of getting the
outfit ready for immediate sale. There is simply not enough money in the
country for the nation to keep all these albatrosses alive. And so far neither
he nor Eskom have explained how breaking it into 3 parts will save money
without selling anything.
At least two
unions have now called for teachers who own guns, to take them to work. This
follows several violent and deadly incidents on school premises in recent weeks
where the official reaction has been the usual limp-wristed conciliatory auto babble
about parental control and guidance. In my day teachers were armed with a fine
line in cutting sarcasm and a bamboo cane. Both punishments smarted badly and encouraged
behaviour that would not draw undue attention to one’s attitude and scholastic
efforts. Thankfully playground violence
rarely escalated into a Wild West style shootout although we were all avid
devotees of the movie genre and so would have been delighted to learn that there
exists a South African Sheriff Society (SASS) which is “the voluntary sheriff organization of
choice and is representing the most sheriffs in South Africa” (sic). Presumably
their service to members includes a list of wide brimmed hat suppliers and tips
on keeping one’s badge and Colt 45 in good condition. Speedy draw classes on
every second Saturday? Grammar optional.
We citizens need our sheriffs to be on top of their game as the government is reportedly
planning to disarm all private security guards.
There’s also precious little being done to slow down the scourge
of luggage theft at our airports, where we could also do with some mean-eyed
sharpshooter with four-day growth of beard, itchy trigger finger and a
disinclination to ask many questions of a luggage handler delving into a pile
of neatly folded shirts though the smashed side of Louis Vuitton’s finest.
The proponents of the idea of using drones to deliver goods –
particularly fast food— must be blissfully unaware of the sharp-shooting skill
of those with Boer ancestry and the deadly accurate stone throwing ability of most
of the others. Bring it on Mr Pizza! We can’t wait.
Isn’t Pebble Beach the most beautiful golf course? That landscape looks seismically active though.
James Greener
Friday 14th June 2019
