I am just a little suspicious about the fact that we very nearly had what must have been FIFA’s dream final for this Confederations Cup. In the event they have managed to get USA into one of the slots and that will do no harm for TV revenues come next year’s World Cup. Provided, of course that by then, the US Dollar has not collapsed. Only politicians will be surprised at how quickly support for Bafana Bafana grew, when it turned out that when they put their minds to it, the South African team could play entertaining and skilful football and nearly beat some of the world’s best. The enthusiasm and dedication of sports fans has nothing to do with the supposed previous disadvantages the players may have experienced but has everything to do with the team playing well and sometimes even winning. I believe that the level of interest and excitement about hosting the World Cup here next year has surged enormously.
Excitement about the stock market however, is not currently at a similar fever pitch. While the All Share index has recovered from the 20% dip experienced in March, we are reaching half year with levels just about where we started from and that is 30% below the mid-2008 peaks. Those who were hoping that a further stomp on the “rates down” pedal in Governor Mboweni’s suite would help get us out of this no-mans land were disappointed when the widely predicted cut was not made this week. The governor instead complained about the forthcoming 31.3% increase in the price of electricity and that his refusal to submit to the “daylight robbery” of his utility bill had resulted in his home being plunged into chilly darkness.
Some heat but little light was caused when Xstrata told Anglo American that a merger between the two companies would be a great idea. This has given mining analysts and the government’s minerals and energy department something quite large to fret about. The latter’s assurance that any decision made will “be in the best interests of the country” makes me wonder where the shareholders rank in all this.
I am completely delighted by the claim of the taxi organizations that they regard the routes they ply to be their own valuable intellectual property. Based on this premise they claim that any proposed bus service using the same public roads to transport passengers owes them presumably a royalty. Everyone is hereby informed that my regular Saturday morning route from this house to the bottle store, butcher and then fishing tackle shop is henceforth my intellectual property. Anyone else using this route will be levied a bag of charcoal and a packet of bread rolls.
The national broadcaster has almost completely sunk into a morass of political backbiting and corruption. Few are surprised at this development but perhaps we should show some sympathy for the management at that organization who have had to deal with a spokesman for the Communications Workers Union named Vulture. What were his parents thinking? Another communications story concerns the gentle backpedaling that is going on about the possibility of internet connection costs going down when the new fiber optic cables come into use. The latest excuse is that pirates have caused delays and so increased the costs of bringing the cable onshore just up the coast from here. Once again I feel suspicious that not everyone is telling the truth.
Tomorrow will see the real truth about the Lions and the ‘bokke. Perhaps their coach will also try the strategy of substituting the players who are making the plays.
James Greener
26th June 2009.
