It has been another week that is best described as volatile although
some will claim that the bull did show himself at times. Sensibly, Reserve Bank
Governor Marcus swiftly shut down any idea that SA would join its new best friend
BRIC nations and send money to help Euroland get out of the its current
financial embarrassment. More sense too from a senior mining executive who
pointed out that nationalising an industry whose raw material is already owned
by the state is foolish.
In the last few years a small unit that should be quietly and
efficiently collecting the data that the state feels it needs in order to plan
effectively has assumed an attitude far beyond its real status. The grandly
named Stats SA is run by an erratic but colourful and highly visible civil
servant who can be alarmingly belligerent towards anyone who questions his
results or publishes competing data. He was so busy protecting his turf that he
obviously failed to devote enough time to thinking about the huge census forms
that his staff began delivering this week. Why, for example, are there more
than a dozen categories of education level? Is there a need for so many income
brackets each defined by limits stated to six significant figures? Why don’t
they want to know about any bathrooms in the dwelling – surely a much better
indication of living standards than the puzzling enumeration of rooms for
“multiple-use”? If you have not yet been counted, be warned that there is a
near obsession with your parents’ state of health and do, if you can, watch the
way in which your full name is recorded without spaces. Note too that
interruptions to power and water supplies are of interest to the government
only if they persist for more than two days and not if they stopped you
watching the cricket. Results of the census are expected in 2013.
By which time I hope someone will have put the Ministry for Women
Children and People with Disabilities out of its miserable existence.
Surprisingly the atrocious name has yet to attract the attention of the easily
offended but the news is that it has attracted only 20% of its intended staff
complement. Despite this understaffing the minister concerned claims that all
is well. If so, why employ any more?
I am delighted to see the reappearance of that large and beautiful
yacht in the advertisements for one of the nation’s bigger financial asset
managers. The picture of this luxury craft cleaving the waves with sleek and
wealthy people draped around the deck is exciting and suggests that toys like
this will become within reach of clients who entrust their savings to the
manager. Please remember, however, that the yacht belongs to the managers and
not their clients. And while on the topic of asset growth, it is the time of
year for glossy catalogues of tempting goodies and the 50 year-old Glenfiddich
single malt whisky at R159 000 is clearly priced for government officials and
youth league hot-shots. The 40 year-old at R28 900 is interesting. If you put
it away for 10 years could you expect it to taste 16%pa better?
Something must be done about these Aussies. Last weekend the
Wallabies gave the ‘Bokke a lesson in rugby rule interpretation and then last
night their compatriots gave the Proteas a 5 wicket hiding. But at least on the
soccer field they will never beat our national team’s slick victory dance
routine. Bafana apparently devote a lot more time to rehearsing that dance than
practicing goal-scoring because despite achieving only a nil all draw with
Sierra Leone, they still put on the dazzling display when in fact it turns out
that a goal would have much more useful.
Go Wales
and the Golden Lions.
James Greener
14th October 2011
