Even as we South Africans look
about in wonderment at the way things appear to be disintegrating, our currency
shows unmistakably that somebody loves us. Or loves our currency at least. The
rand just keeps on steadily getting stronger. Pretty soon northern hemisphere
summer holidays are going to be affordable. Pleasing yet astonishing. Share and
bond market prices indicate that it is the latter which is attracting the greater
interest. Bond prices are up a very creditable 5% in the last few months. Obviously,
the threat of a downgrade to “junk” (aka non-investment grade) status, which
theoretically ought to be bad for bond prices, is being ignored. Libertarians looking
for something the government has yet to find a way to monitor and control have
noted that Krugerrands are now priced around R17 000 each after being well
above R20 000 a year ago.
Maybe from
overseas our conversion into a socialist nanny state where the government wants
to take every decision for us does not seem unusual. But in a nation where
there is still a great deal of pioneer spirit and disdain for authority the
clammy hand of control is tightening its grip. The most alarming facet of this
bureaucratic overload is the damage and brake it puts on the wealth-creating commercial
activities. The hassle and cost of getting simple things done like collecting a
container from the docks, buying foreign exchange for a holiday and getting
paid by a government department for goods and services rendered are stifling.
The near total lack of understanding of the commercial impact of reducing the
freeway (for which a toll has been paid) to a single lane on a long weekend
Friday is deeply frustrating and causes far more danger than will ever be
controlled by reducing all speed limit by 10kph. Or banning liquor advertisements.
If you think that private company CPS’s charge to distribute the social grants
is outrageous (which it probably is) just wait until the state creates the machinery
to do it.
And each one
of these intrusions on our lives necessitates the creation of yet another organisation,
institute, association, foundation, trust or council which will watch over us,
beg from us, threaten us, control and count us. Each one laboriously crafts a
name usually beginning with the letters SA so we are now drowning is a sea of acronyms.
Faint thanks to the reader (pedant!) who pointed out that unless the letters
make up a pronounceable word, the proper term ought to be initialism.
SAQA, an
outfit which runs the National Learners Records Database (NLRD naturally!), issued a communique recently pointing out what
many already know to their cost. Which is that there are more qualified people
in SA than there are jobs for them. This lamentable state of affairs does
however suggest a partial solution to the university funding crisis. Since
there are too many graduates, simply raise the academic barrier to entry of the
various degrees until the output matches demand. This process must of course be
accompanied by an increase in technical training facilities which should be far
cheaper per capita than a place among the dreaming spires.
Apparently it
costs the SABC R650m to open its doors every month and the broadcaster is complaining
that it has run out of money. Only 12% of SABC’s income is from the TV licence
fees. This indicates that there are probably fewer than about 4m licence
holders which seems very low. Especially when compared to the 14 million people
in SA who have “smart” phones and spend every waking minute poring over their
tiny screens. This illustrates that the nearly free-to-air broadcast model is
woefully out of date and the assets of that dinosaur ought to be put up for
sale to save us all further pain.
Reportedly it’s
dawning on the SANZAR suits that the Super 18 is not fit for purpose, which
presumably is to entertain fans and develop players who can give the northern
hemisphere sides a walloping every time. There was a time when this tournament
was claimed to be the premier global event and producing far better rugby than
even what was then the Five Nations. It’s not delivering that now, especially
here on the southern tip. So the Bafana/Senegal match was rigged. How can you tell? The players seem to fall
down a lot even when untouched.
Go for it
Proteas!
James Greener
Friday 24th March 2017
