Market turmoil at Christmas time is not
unknown. There are plenty of folk who aren’t that fussed about 25th
December and may try a quick foray when others are snoozing off the feasts.
While individually there will doubtless have been portfolios and individuals
who have had exceptional returns both up and down in 2019 the overall picture
is pretty staid. Even the large unbundling activity around the Remgo stable
seems relatively benign but keep a close eye. When behemoths like that shake
off the water like a Labrador after a swim, it may be that they found something
in the river. The 3.7%pa consumer price inflation print was rather interesting.
But it didn’t impress enough members of the Monetary Policy Committee who as
usual took 2 days to decide to do nothing. At almost 300 basis points the gap
between the repo rate and inflation is bouncing along at a 10 year high. Which
if nothing else signals that cash is not the worst thing to own at present.
The pictures of Andre de
Ruyter the newly appointed CEO for Eskom show him to be eager and
youthful. And we the electricity users of the nation wish him all the very best
as he steps through the revolving door and takes the stairs (no lifts – power cuts)
to the top floor corner office at Megawatt Park. There, waiting for him will be
the usually behatted Chairman Jabu Mabuza, who, having heard that the new man
also doesn’t have an engineering background, will be keen to show him how a
coal conveyor belt works. And what happens when it breaks. Mr Mabuza recently honed
this little lecture at a press conference. Sadly, Mr de Ruyter will have little time to
absorb these critical technical facts before having to deal with malevolent
racist politicians who believe him to be culturally unsuited for such an important
post. Reportedly, though he has experience in getting customers to pay what
they owe and success in that area will be a huge step forward for his new
employer.
Perhaps the acts of retribution against the
people who really have stolen our future here in South Africa are just starting
to take place. So far, it’s mostly only private sector alleged felons who are
feeling the lash. A gratifyingly fierce asset forfeiture unit order has been
dished out to the folk who operated under the name of the decidedly dodgy Regiments
Capital. We are longing for the sound of clanging prison doors.
Pity poor Tlali Tlali the spokesman for SAA.
He has had to trot out all the usual guff about turnaround strategy to steer it
out of the financial quagmire and bleeding cash because of fierce competition
not to mention cash flow challenges. As if these are all amazing new management
discoveries and tools. Nosy journalists armed with calculators keep on pointing
out that SAA’s main problem is simply that there are far too many people working
for the airline and that it’s unsurprising that staff salaries in November are expected
to be paid late. Its not been revealed which bank(s) have been talked into
lending “working capital” of R3.5bn but the fine print suggests that we that taxpayers
have issued some sort of surety. This really wont end well. Are the Unions
about to learn a long overdue lesson in economics?
Why is the government so coy about when
construction will begin on a new fuel refinery to be in Richards Bay? It will require around 21 000 people to
build it and when operational in 2027 (don’t buy tickets to be there for the
opening yet) will need 5000 people to operate it. But these numbers have been
lost in the far more interesting issue of who will own it. Its unlikely that SA
will be able to afford very much and their partner is slated to be Saudi
Arabia. Who presumably is also pencilled in to supply the crude oil feedstock? What with the Brulpadda condensate field
discovery announcement, South Africa is about to become like Texas in the 60’s.
There are people in high places in sport both
here and abroad who really don’t like to see our sports teams do well. Why else
then schedule the new rugby world champions to meet Scotland (twice) and Georgia
in home tests in July?
James Greener
56th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.
