There are a
few conclusions to be drawn from the great success of Nedbank’s “green” bond
issue. The first is that there was at least R5.5bn in cash sitting around
awaiting a more rewarding home than a bank account. It will not have gone
unnoticed by other potential borrowers that Nedbank accepted only R1.7bn of
this sum. Secondly that investors are shy about lending directly to the
developers of the feel-good, solar, wind and renewable energy projects and
prefer to let a bank take the risks. The old days of lending to the once upon a
time blue-chips of Eskom, Transnet and other parastatals are long gone. There
are a (dwindling) number of Tidemarks readers who will remember the Eskom E154
long dated bond trading 50 points below the government R124. [Stop weeping
please]
A feature of
election result forecasts all over the world in the past decade is how often
they are wildly wrong. Pollsters are clearly being misled, but why voters choose
to do this is uncertain. Perhaps it is us “little guys” pushing back against
the repugnant attitude of politicians who promise so much and, in the end,
deliver so little. However, there are predictions of the outcome of Wednesday’s
general election which are causing so much concern in the ANC camp that
campaigners for that party are being reduced to begging to be given another
chance. It seems most likely that “coalition” will be the hot topic this time
next week when the oddest of bedfellows might be cosying up to each other in a
quest for a majority and a ticket for the gravy train. Hopefully the winners in
this battle will include a candidate or two from the Purple Cow Party (aka the
Capitalist Party) whose position on having far less government interference
closely matches with mine.
In the meantime,
the internet is once again delivering to the electorate and of course also the
revered “foreign investor”, sights and sounds that the SABC and other
politically influenced media are reluctant to publish. Not only do these scenes
of public disorder and inflammatory speechmaking by skilled rabble-rousers
annoy, scare and alienate law abiding tax- and rate- paying citizens but it
inflames and encourages other desperate citizens elsewhere in the country to
similar acts of violence and carnage. Here in Durban, the municipality allegedly
decided to amend pay scales and reward anyone who was a member of the guerrilla
forces opposing the previous regime with a higher salary. Mayhem has ensued
with once again the inexplicable habit of strewing rubbish, breaking and
burning things in full force. Not a welcoming sight for attendees of the Africa
Travel Indaba happening here this week.
Another
victim of the prying eye of the internet
was Blade Nzimande who in his current role as Minister of Transport recently explained that his department would
be boosting its efforts to curb driving under the influence with a gadget that
could detect how much blood a suspect might have in his alcohol stream.
Apparently,
the tax man depended on cigarette manufacturers to tell him how many fags they
were turning out and the taxes due were based on that number. This was obviously
a poor idea and it revealed that ex-president Zuma was not the only one who had
difficulty with big numbers. Now that SARS
have sent inspectors who can count into the cigarette factories, an extra R10bn
a year in tobacco tax collection is confidently expected. This is a staggering
amount of money which of course does depend on those smokers who have become
used to buying their fix at impossibly low tax-avoiding prices not giving up
the habit. They will undoubtedly be disappointed and annoyed at this loophole
being closed though. Come on SARS. There are plenty more gaps like that to
plug.
This
Tidemarks is being written as The Sharks tie with Crusaders at home. What a
result! It’s the time of year for the
Wells Fargo golf competition in Quail Hollow in North Carolina. What a delight
that this name from our romantic movie memories of the wild west should still
survive.
James Greener
Friday 3rd May 2019
