While
cartoonists are delighted with the physical similarity between Trump and Boris,
the markets aren’t laughing, and a deal of nervousness is causing very jittery
price records. Without much evidence the enemies of both men are predicting Armageddon
soon. For example, a Britain leaving the EU is forecast to necessitate a nation-wide
cull of cattle and other lunatic stories.
Because it is
all we have known, been taught and used, most of us place our trust in the printed
numbers published by formal entities. A fascinating counterview is beginning to
emerge from people who leave their desks and venture into thronging marketplaces
where one can kick, feel and smell the merchandise. And paper records are
restricted to banknotes that pass hand to hand in a flash of an eye. National
Treasury bulletins, Stats SA Notes, SARB Quarterly Reports, company financials
and the like, will never capture much of this data. The borders and ports are porous
and probably most of the cargo manifests bear very little resemblance to what
is inside those containers. SARS, the tax collection agency, reports smugly from
time to time that they have destroyed a consignment of fake goods. Today’s
story is that the cops charged with doing so simply popped round the back and
sold it back to the merchant! The people who live and trade and thrive in this subsistence
world are ignorant of issues like GDP and the balance of payments and have NO
interest in tax collections. South Africa will soon be like many other third
world nations where the sole reliable metric will be the street exchange rate of
the rand with the US dollar.
While this
view is probably just too far over the top for most readers, let’s comfort
ourselves with the one area where the nation is crying out for immediate application
of a state-of-the-art record-keeping technology. GPS tied in with drone-based
photogrammetry could quickly complete a detailed land registry capable of answering
all the thorny questions of land ownership. Or at least identifying the areas
of dispute. Here in Zululand an online, printable, accurate, detailed map of
the territory showing features as small as gravestones, kraals and paths would
be a fantastic resource for helping to focus the discussions of who lives where.
The problem is that King Goodwill Zwelethini’s middle name disappears when this
topic comes up.
For once this
is not a uniquely South African problem. The local angle comes in when not just
one but two cabinet ministers think that they will fix it by having a meeting,
with SABC, the national TV broadcaster. The issue is that some people are
unable to watch the national sports teams on television. It is meaningful that
the sports body concerned (soccer) failed to send anyone to the meeting and
neither did the broadcasting control body (ICASA) who said it was too busy! Obviously
not everyone is sure if there is a real problem here at all. Money is of course
at the heart of the matter. At one end of the cash flow is a relatively small
number of players who are so good at their game that they can command unbelievably
large fees in the international arena. At the other end are those who can’t
afford pay-to-view TV, but also probably don’t pay a TV licence fee for even the
free-to-air offerings, or perhaps even for electricity. The flow is woven into
a hugely complicated web with funders, sponsors, supporters, fans, government at
all levels including a tiny bit of Lotto money providing the cash that feeds
mainly the players and coaches but importantly also a ridiculously greedy and
spendthrift administration corps and sports ministry. A recently published book[1]
insists that it is this last group who are specially to blame for the high
costs that have to be met by our relatively small TV sports viewership. The thieves
are politically strong, connected and deeply corrupt and have few concerns
about making sport more accessible to the less wealthy.
As for the
players, those who can, are voting with their feet in droves and continuity of
team selection is a dirty word. Cry the Empty Dressing Room.
James Greener
Women’s Day
2019
