Interesting article this. Just wondering if those censors can pick up sound. ;-)

Jerry writes at the start of the article that by PPP measure a burger in NY costs DOUBLE (not 13 times more) than a burger in JHB!

This is absolutely shocking, but not really a surprise. The "freedom fighters" of yesteryear (five decades ago, in old Mad Bob's case) have become the brutal oligarchy of today. Three words: International Criminal Court

The only reason for Manyi attending was so that he could try and bully his previous employer, was never happy that they asked him to resign from the bank

Turns our Mines minister Zwane's "Inter-ministerial committee" that even included Jimmy Mayeni in its meeting with Nedbank, was clearly none other than bullying tactics by the state against the private sector, on behalf of Guptas. Mayeni, according to Nedbank, was dragged along in his capacity as a so-called ADVISER to one of Zupta stooges - a minister. LOL how desperate these people are.....

It's hard to believe that he got this far without dealing in oil and gas.

Plan probably makes sense. It won't however solve that the gold miners are rubbish businesses led by management teams with flawless records of terrible capital misallocation. The next gold boom will see them repeat, again, all the disastrous mistakes they've made in the past

All his listed businesses have delivered losses for shareholders. State Capture personified in Nigeria

I wonder what kind of monopoly capital our great leaders would call this?

Want a blood bath? Try that trick here.

Unfortunately one can not say that this is an african way. After the second WW the infamous Benes decrees not only confiscated the property and take away the citizenship of millions of ethnic Germans and Hungarians, but the decree 115 of May 8 1946 declared all deeds (down to the rape and murder of children) against these minorities were "justified acts of retribution" that could not be prosecuted. These murders were not even declared crimes needing an amnesty to protect the murderer from legal measures. These decrees are still valid in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This is not an official law, just a promise, but since Mugabe is a dictator it might be interpreted as a law. On the other hand, once he is out of power the new president/parliament can authorise prosecution.

Looking for a solution to this problem? Try a free-market economy with a respect for property rights. Like famine in Africa, it is created by political decisions, socialist policies in particular. Sierra Leone ranks the lowest in Africa on the Property Rights Index. They do not respect private property, so they do not have an economy, and no employment opportunities. How do you enforce urban planning and building regulations in a country where the property is not registered in anybodies name? Keeping in mind the amount of shacks regularly destroyed by fire locally, we can conclude that people tend to create the disaster that kills them. Private property teaches people to take responsibility, and not to blame everything on nature.

and our Government continues to allow this piece of turd into our Country knowing of his Human Right abuses.

Nope I have put 100% into equities

Japie, it depends on the structure through which the loans are funneled. Ie, banks have different restrictions So ABSA could now retain the higher risk market by buying Edcons book, and continuing through there. Capiche ?

Not sure where you are coming from. From stats I see and calculate indices and index funds are generally more volatile than actively management and certainly more volatile than a blend of active managers. The most common vol calc is annualised standard deviation over 3 years (using monthly returns).

I cannot agree more with the comments made by Piet. Government pertaining State and Private Company Capture! ‘’My rackets are run on strictly American lines and they are going to stay that way’’ Al Capone. State collusion and private sector collusion go hand in hand, and cannot exist without the ‘’support and neutrality’’ of each other, as they are joined like a Siamese twin to each other, through its head, through its shoulders, through its stomach, and through its nether regions”. Minority shareholders are suing Investec for lots of money, in a case brought under section 252 of the Companies Act, designed historically to protect minority shareholders. Section 252 provides a remedy against unfairly prejudicial, unjust or inequitable acts or omissions of a company or conduct of its affairs. More precisely, minority shareholders with 4.7m Randgold shares are determined that Investec cough up R1.356 billion. In a nutshell, Investec is arguing that shareholders have no rights. All my views on how Investec perfected the capture game long before the Guptas even landed – as extensively reported in the public domain for years The quantum of the Investecgate scam is more than R 38 billion from the shares stolen by JCI from Randgold, hence Investec’s role in keeping the rotten Kebble’s empire afloat! Amazingly, Johan Louw’s (an experienced CA) forensic investigation in to the sage which showed that between 1999 and 2005all Randgold’s liquid listed shares had been stolen and its sale had generated R 1,9 billion in cash which had been distributed to four main recipients: This report by John to date remain unchallenged! JC and related parties: R 896 million Western Areas: R522 million Brett Kebble and his Associates: R 378 million Investec: 106 million ‘’In August 2005, Investec took over the boards of both directors of both JCI (the thief) and of Randgold (the victim). The JSE (of which Stephen Koseff was then a director) stood passively by! Investec even started convening joint JCI and Randgold board meetings, some in its own premises and some attended by Koseff’’. ‘’ The King code of corporate governance’’ and the JSE’s role to ensure that all listed entities obey them were up to date conspicuous by its absence as this illustration of obstruction of justice and the forensic auditor’s (Johan Louw) were suppressed. ‘’If Moses had been a committee, the Israelites would still be in Egypt’’ J.B. Hughes

Hope it finds the real main data price drop hindrances, which are the Department of Telecommunications, Department of Communications and ICASA.

No problem Jerry Great article....and outside the box thinking and approach from your side. Not often one sees quality writing like this...!

Well, how much of your LA is in equity like Coro T20? I'm still very far away from that (38) but I do ponder it anyway. My thinking might be 50% low risk like money market and bonds, then 35% local and foreign dividend focused equity and 15% local and foreign property.

I can't see any positive influence on investor sentiment if Zuma is gone. ANC policies and the Freedom Charter is to blame for the imploding economy. Socialist policies such as BEE, AA, cronyism and cadre deployment spreads the symptoms of socialism throughout the economy. Corruption, incompetence, negligent behavior, a captured criminal justice system, and plunder are all symptoms of a total disregard for private property. This legal plunder happens, and is escalating, after more than 20 years of ANC rule. The time for "restitution" is long gone, we are now living in the times of plunder. Now why would capital enter such a cesspool when it could go to jurisdictions where private property is respected, protected and compensated? The trend is clear for those who wish to notice. A trend is a powerful thing as it describes the factors that drives it. The trend is in the direction of an IMF bailout. The IMF will eventually determine political policy and enforce responsible management in South Africa. The DA is basically irrelevant, their own BEE policy is more fuel on the fire. A DA government will merely slow the decline. We need a free-market system with respect for property put above all. Only then will we create jobs and empower people. Employment opportunities is the way to empowerment, current policies of legal plunder is they way to famine. Capital will seek safer havens until the IMF takes control.

This is exactly what RW Johnson predicts in his book "Will SA Survive?". We can either have a modern economy or the ANC, we cannot have both.

Why is anyone surprised that an investment boycott is firmly in place until there is evidence presented by others than the President, his Ministers and his ANC party that corruption has been stemmed and that investing in Corporate SA is considered safe with International ratings agencies endorsement of positive sentiment. This will only happen AFTER Zuma has gone and AFTER the next general election, but ONLY if foreign investors can expect and see some positive and political stability. Otherwise - goodbye investors. As far as a tax boycott is concerned, that is much more difficult, and would have to be handled bye more than words in a journalists article. Regrettably, we are in a position where the Trust of the investors, the workers and the population no longer favors anything the government have a finger in. Anything they say or do is now considered suspect or at the very least untrustworthy of being the truth.

"intelligence operative" ... an oxymoron if ever there was one.

Here's news for Zuma: Western (i.e. civilised) countries couldn't give a toss for him, or the country's he's energetically stuffing up.

Agree with this article, this will be a disaster. The principle of tax is that it is a contribution from citizens for services delivered. If one is not receiving services because one is living abroad, how much should one pay? Most countries recognise this. For example, when a purchase is made by a foreigner they can have the sales tax back on leaving. If one is working abroad and one has dependants in SA using services in SA, a certain amount of tax would be acceptable. If one has no dependants in SA using no services, how much should one pay? We cannot afford to drive away more skilled people. I believe that SA has one of the most tax redistributive systems in the world. By that is meant that the people who pay the taxes get little back in terms of services themselves. The benefits go mainly to those who are unable to pay for services. I understand and accept that. However, if the taxes are going into a bottomless pit and being siphoned off to corruption, who can accept that? Neither the 'rich'or 'poor'.

The focus of the article on revenue rather than public safety, is disappointing. Adds to the suspicion around the real motivation why municipalities use this mode of "law enforcement". Like stopping people for not stopping 100% at stop streets where it's absolutely no danger. Rather use our human resources to unroadworthy and overloaded vehicles, speeding trucks and busses, etc. etc. Yes there is a role for electronic speed cameras. But I dought their claimed contribution to road safety. After years of fighting deaths on the road we seem to make little to no progress. Roadworthiness, general condition of roads, real and visible traffic policing and on the spot addressing of total disregard for road rules are severely lacking. Please our dear municipal fathers, revisit your real role and mission.

look in the mirror , fool ! that is the person together with yr party and da guptas who r to blame fr the chaos in SA

This is how Socialism fails! They bleed the income earners whilst the trough for the "needy" grows exponentially, thus breaking the system.

Another incendiary article by MW. Attention seeking that will further corrupt and destroy SA. 'Be thankful that some companies use their noggin in appointing senior staff. BBB-EE is an unjustified expense that brings zero benefits other than to trough feeders.

This BEE thing is a load of tosh!

The ANC is becoming more and more like Zanu PF. Same rhetoric. Same brainless gits in the youth league and veterans who claim to have some credentials for affiliation and threatening violence. Same blame game. Same attempted control of the media. It seems to be the African way.

@Africa Pragmatist. Agree. Have read this (scary) book myself in 2015...many of the things mentioned playing itself out (sadly) as clear as day. "..you can either have a Western modern economy OR an ANC Govt"...and that coming from an ex-ANC member and anti-Apartheid activist back in the day. BEE/BBBEE also one of the 4 main items that needs to go (incl. militarist unions; restoring rule of law, certainly of property rights, etc) before SA have a turn-around....which the IMF will demand in any case later-on. BEE is economically unsustainable where there is a "disconnect" between merit and earnings...which flies in the face of simple economics. BEE will fail like Apartheid...unsustainable social system. The realisation will come when there's hardly any businesses left in SA...and we all work for the State. (Yes, there's inequalities which must be addressed, but a forced way will just force the wealth out of SA and the means to uplift everyone. To give the poor the educational tools to earn income, has been neglected by the Govt...the current regime and the past one)

You don't need outside help to destroy the ANC, Jacob. You are doing a good job on your own.

The next thing you will see is tax revolt. Argument is why must we pay tax under difficult circumstances and the plundering and looting continues openly. Furthermore, millions come into the country from highly skilled South Africans who work abroad and now they want to tax those earnings, mostly white males who left due to BBEEE. They are treated as second class citizens and not good to work here, but they want to tax them on their foreign earnings. Not going to happen!! You will see emigration on a large scale. This is a further disinvestment. Problem is the ANC does not care, just another African country for the history books.

I can laugh at this: "the only way to reduce the accident rate is to have electronic enforcement". But, you have an inflow of 500 000 fines per month. The way it was written, we can assume that this is a steady number......which brings one back: how is that reducing accident numbers? Or, are we to believe that, when electronic enforcement was working, the accident numbers were reducing, but people were still speeding.....? Electronic enforcement has it's place, for sure. But I've seen far too many instances where it is just used as an easy-to-implement tax on motorists. And taxis still sail through intersections, with no fear at all of being caught...

All the chickens coming home to roost! The party the ANC has had at the expense of the SA taxpayer is now well and truly over. Are we going to face the consequences and fix i.e sort out the corruption, sell off SAA, cut Eskom and open up electricity, reduce tax, sort out labour laws, drop BEE etc or are we going to carry on and drive over the cliff?

And of course the "investment boycott" will be interpreted by the government as sabotage by monopoly capital, when in reality it is merely a desperate quest for survival. The calculation that the private sector is doing is not the 6% return on assets v the 7,5% interest earned in the bank. The real calculation is the 7,5% interest v having 100% of one's invested capital stolen - as is now threatened daily by both the ZuptANC and the EFF. Note that the fourth iteration of Expropriation Bill 4 of 2015 is going through the National Assembly as we speak. Protests by Constitutional lawyers who point to the unconstitutionality, as well as protests by foreign investors who point to the unilateral abrogation of international treaties (signed by then president Nelson Mandela) have not only fallen on deaf ears, but have been laughed off the table. That "He-he-he-he" has been clearly heard in every corporate boardroom in the country. Soon coming to a theatre near you: "The Motherlode - expropriation without compensation, on a massive scale".

Scary! And for the tax payer a source of intense anger - the SOE scenario!

So we have to follow first-world countries legislation but have third-world regime? Don't equate SA with US or Aus