How wonderful
it is to have the nation fretting about the well-worn and timeless threats to
democracy like the length and style of scholars’ hair. It does make a nice
change from the ceaseless uncovering of ever deepening levels of corruption,
theft and bad faith being displayed by almost everyone with the merest claim to
someone else’s money. Meanwhile the disgraceful behaviour of those who
laughably claim to represent a student elite continues apace. One young man
offered the view that the burning down of an exam hall on his campus was “...
strategic destruction and not random barbaric destruction”! One definitely
needs to have elite education to understand this distinction. This chap should omit
this event and statement from his CV, as employers will tend to be less
understanding of the subtlety than the university authorities and the
tax-payers have been so far. Unless of course he gets to work for a trade union
whose attitudes and denial in the face of the increasing grim reality for
employment are very unhelpful.
It really was
a very modest little notice that SAA placed in the newspapers wondering rather
diffidently if there was anyone out there who might be interested in lending
them some cash. Well R16bn actually, so quite a bit more than “some”. As yet
there has been no word if they have raised anything more than eyebrows. It’s
rather well known that the airline is bust in everything but the law and that
it’s run by folk with scant idea of what they are doing. So aside from the
fly-by-night unregistered and unknown financiers with very dodgy friends,
principles and principals, no serious lender is likely to reach for the phone
after reading this pathetic little cry for help. In all likelihood it is the
taxpayers who will be hoisted back aboard the tired old splay-footed white steed
and made to gallop(?) to the rescue of the flag carrier yet again.
Month to
month comparisons of many market sensitive statistics are often misleading. 30
days is a very short time scale which can be affected by effects such as
clusters of public holidays and late or early inclusions of regular data
releases. So the news that in July government revenue totalled a mere R64bn may
not be as bad as it looks. It was, however, a record-setting R84bn less than government
managed to spend that month and that merits a warning flag. Since that
watershed period in 2008 when tax revenues plunged very sharply, the
accumulated monthly overspend is now up to R1 300bn. Naturally this
comprises a large part of the government’s debt which currently costs us almost
R150bn a year in interest payments to service. Unfortunately, except for a few officials
at National Treasury and the Reserve Bank, numbers this large have no meaning
for most people especially and critically our leaders. Every time they say or
do something to alarm the investors who lend the money, the interest rate on
the debt creeps up and more taxpayer’s cash has to be directed to interest
payments and away from service delivery (and presidential home improvements). This
compound interest thing has a sneaky way of growing very rapidly, which is
something well known to the evil ratings agencies.
It is amazing
how quickly the implementation of “driverless cars” seems to be happening in
some countries. Here on the southern tip though we have effectively experienced
this development for many years. Or that’s what it feels like after a spell in
the traffic or after studying the list of appalling road accidents. Imagining
the consequences of introducing the technology here brings visions of those
dinky little cars lost in a pothole, driven off the road by a blue-light
brigade or riddled with bullet holes by a rival taxi boss. Maybe we need to
ensure our flesh and blood drivers all have valid licences first before we let
the silicon ones loose?
The Currie
Cup hasn’t yet ignited any real interest or passion. Interleaved with the schedule-disrupting
Rugby Championship (a name clearly chosen to
rile the northern hemisphere), news of players leaving mid-season to join overseas
clubs and the ‘bok captain’s retirement, the tournament so far is battling to
gain traction.
James
Greener
Friday 2nd
September 2016
