Just over 29% increase on transport costs for Gauteng Citizens

With the announcements made by SA's Finance Minister in his budget speech yesterday the following dramatic increases for the Gauteng traveller.

a) A 20c increase in the SA Fuel Levy
b) An 8c increase in the RAF Levy
c) A new toll of 33c per km for the privilege to drive on Gauteng's roads.

That is a total of 61c per kilometer you drive in Gauteng. If we were to look at the typical employee living in Pretoria whilst traveling to Johannesburg, in a modest car, with modest maintenance costs (services only) and relatively cheap tyres you will now cough up a grand total of R2,85 per kilometer of which a grand total of 75cents are for new taxes (what ever you want to call it) and for indirect VAT.

With the average Gauteng worker bee driving approximately 60km's to work and back (think that is modest enough) the government will earn a grand total of R 899-00 per month additional tax revenue if you travel five times a week on our astounding free ways.

But that is not all, lets look at the inflationary measures on basic foods and commodities, to go shop at your favourite shop will now cost you a potential extra cost of 61c per kilometer there and back and more so the poor delivery vehicle would have also paid 61c per kilometer extra to get your favourite products to your favourite shop.

No who says a government does not know how to make its citizen pay its due's. When over 80% of the price of fuel in South Africa is currently made up of government levies and taxes.

Now I am sure most of you are now in the mood for either a quick puff or a drink, by doing that you will be donating close to 50c per smoke and an extra R1-00 per beer , lets not get to depressed by calculating a tot of good old whiskey.Also don't forget you can pay as much as 61c per kilometer to go restock again.

Racism receives fatal diagnosis in Zambia

Africa can be seen as the centre of racial conflict and divide since anyone can remember. South Africa had “apartheid”, white minority rule, Kenya had it “knight of the long knives”, white people killed in mass and Rwanda destroyed its local , mostly Belgium whites, population. More recently we saw ethnic cleansing across Africa and even in the beacon of transformation South Africa political parties are still mostly based along racial lines.

One cannot help but feel that Africa is an extremely racist continent. However the reality is starting to move in another direction. Competency and trust are slowly and in some cases aggressively becoming the norm and racial lines are starting to blur in this sunny continent. Now before the critics start bogging me down with slander and comparing me to some drug ridden hippie I believe the proof in the above statements lies in Zambia and with a gentlemen by the name of Guy Scott.

According to my, what may be limited knowledge, no African country has ever had a white president or vice president since it leaving colonial times, but Zambia is setting the example in the President Michael Sata appointing his trusted colleague and friend Guy Scott (White) as his vice president. I believe that this shows the world that Africa is starting to look for leaders that are passionate, trust worthy, capable and naturally deeply entrenched in their countries well being and not just his skin colour. I think it shows that Africans are fast starting to look towards a man’s heart, actions and activities towards its citizenship first and then towards his racial profile.

I would like to congratulate Zambia, I think it is small victory towards Africa becoming a the world leader in democracy.

Networking events in Africa

As many of you know we are a firm specialising in assisting companies operating within the African continent. Many aspiring entries to this dynamic and fast growing market ask us about opportunities to network with African entrepreneurs and business people. We have therefore deemed it appropriate to list some of the years major networking events for the readers of this blog.

This list is in no way comprehensive and we will endeavour to keep it up to date with events, expo’s and conferences as we find out of them.

Jan 12-15 Medical Expo
www.medicalexpo-maroc.com

21 The Africa Cup of Nations
Gabon & Equatorial Guinea

Feb 6-9 Mining Indaba
www.miningindaba.com

7-8 Ghana Finance & Investment Conference
www.euromoneyconferences.com/ghana

20-23 Nigerial Oil & Gas
www.cwcnog.com

20-29 Urban Infrastructure & Real Estate Summit
www.ic-events.net/africa_urbaninfrastructure

March 27-28 Freight-Intra Africa Summit
www.fia-south.com

May 9-11 World Economic Forum on Africa
www.weforum.org

21-24 African Utility Week
www.african-utility-week.com

23-25 E-Learning Africa Conferenc
www.elearning-africa.com

June 20-22 Africa Round Table & Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility
www.ar-csr.com

Oct Poetry Africa
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za

Happiness and Joy over X-Mas time

I once heard a saying that happiness is not based in what you have but it is rather based in the satisfaction of what you have. It is not getting what you want, but rather wanting of you have got. This saying cannot ring more true this time of the year.

The silly season, a time for binge eating, over indulging and swiping the credit card with such vigour and lust that it nearly explodes in the face of the happy vendor who only got half the customers he expected. The business world shuts down, companies are hosting year end parties and staff that normally drive sober have become one eyed monsters seeking a white line on the ever so windy road home. But rather than gain the "lost" pounds, drinking more than you can chew or spending money that we never had and due to this season never will have, lets rather use this time to reflect.
Lets reflect on what is truly great in our lives, lets reflect on what is real and what is fake. Lets evaluate the true sources of our happiness. Lets value the little things we have and the true friends that we have made.

Lets develop true satisfaction in who we are and what we are rather than the artificial dreams of who we want to be. Men face the fact that you are not going to have an infamous affair with Britney Spears or Jessica Biel. Ladies, Matthew and Brad.... they are not going to knock on the door next week. But is that the thing that would make you happy? Is that i-pad (that you can’t afford) going to really give you the monstrous satisfaction you desire and seek so badly? Is the short term satisfaction at least equal to the financial hangover in January and the stroke like feeling you get upon receipt of your credit card bill?

No I think not. Happiness comes firstly from within. When we tend to forget that, it is the little things around us that remind us. Our, not as handsome when married and slightly potbellied husband, giving us a kiss on Christmas morning. Our little child, who’s school fees are again in arrears, smiling at that big dinner on table, which is not as big as you wanted it, and the silly little R49-00 plastic swimming pool that he/she swam in today. It is your wife that wakes up with no make-up next to you and that feeling of utter joy when you realise, after a couple of seconds, it is her and not Hannibal Lector.

Let’s face reality, life and business is filled by pigs, con artists and little XYZ’s thriving on the hurt, discomfort and destruction of others. We lose a little faith, money and honour every day thanks to such cancerous oxygen thieving idiots. So, let’s not focus on the losses, it is part of being an adult. Let’s focus on the true joy others bring to us and the real joy we can bring to others. It is truly better to give than to receive.

Have a blessed Christmas and may the new year be filled with so much prosperity that you complete the lotto numbers incorrectly on purpose.

John Fogwell & The Team

Is South Africa still a democracy?

Black Tuesday, as it was known in South Africa, came and went and even my wearing of a black shirt yesterday could not call government to apply reason to their proposed “Secrecy Bill”. It has been approved and it will be enacted into parliament within weeks. Many ask, what does this mean and every person with some sort of platform has rendered an opinion. Some of which to me stinks of ignorance, racism and even worse radical comments on both sides of the scale.

Some see this as a victory for black businessmen victimised by white media. How, my little mind cannot comprehend, as the act seeks to protect government officials and so called secrets.Some see it as the death of democracy in South Africa. How can one single act like this assinate a democracy that so many fought, suffered and died for? Firstly I one has to ascertain the true meaning of democracy.

U.S. president Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”. Winston Churchill’s opinion said: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. So in simple terms democracy is the right of the people to elect a government of their choice and to be governed, not ruled, by civil servants that are answerable to the people of the country.

In South Africa we have seen the quick death of the civil servant. Municipal worker, government officials (junior to senior) and ministers have conveniently forgotten their title of civil servant. The new term is Emperor. Once employed in government you are the boss, no one to answer to and the public are mere puppets to you and your seniors will and whims. It seems as if government officials have only one goal or aspiration: To have a job senior enough to be able to manage tenders. Who can blame them, it is the most lucrative job in SA.


So how does this secrecy bill destroy democracy?

It kills governments necessity to be accountable to its people, it allows officials to operate their corrupt business activities with impunity. It fosters and promotes secrets in a society that should be transparent and open. It gives government the ability to limit press freedom, to control mass media and to silence critics with one simple piece of correspondence. It empowers the strong to abuse the weak and hide behind a 20 foot wall with little to no risk. It effectively employs the wolf to protect the sheep and it is a travesty for a country that was once seen as the beacon of democracy.

I am disappointed, estranged and bewildered by the fact that my country is showing more and more of the characteristics of a communist and military state. To see more and more that the government cares less for its weak and its poor than for the corrupt and the evil. My opinion aside, lets leave this post with a quote by one of the world’s biggest icons of democracy and peace.

"Press Freedom will never be under threat in South Africa as long as the ANC is the majority party." Nelson Mandela

Pigs get eaten

As South African investors we are a community that is a bit fatigued. We have been battered by investment schemes, scams, overzealous directors and investment companies that has failed on a scale that makes Bruce Willis’s Armageddon look like a Disney channel movie.

Those of us that still have a bit of cash are sitting on it like old hens waiting for the eggs to hatch and we are tapping our feet on different hotplates everyday looking for an investment that is sound in the market that is driven more by news media headlines than investment strategies. Property used to be the ultimate and safe inflation buster, but with tenants defaulting and property sales and prices slowing that avenue has turned into an electric avenue and none of us are in the mood to get shocked.

We want to look offshore, but let’s face it, we are a touchy feely nation and struggle to deal with telephone operators millions of miles away. Even more the old safe havens like Europe and America are constantly fighting their own recession and are so close to being flushed down the financial toilet only their feet are sticking out. So were to then? Who can we trust with our hard earned money?

I think that anyone that has a simple answer to this is either Nostradamus, Da Vinci or just plain reckless. In a world economy where bank bankruptcy is starting to become as normal as taking a tan on the beach in the summer one cannot be blamed for feeling a bit like a headless chicken running all over. There are RSA retail bonds, but let’s not confuse government with optimal spenders and fantastic asset managers. When dead stadiums and defunct para-statels cannot pay back their debts where will the money come from? TAXES? You and me?

So where to go? Where do we go? Diversification is the answer! There is an age old saying: “In any market the bulls make money and the bears make money. It is the pigs that get eaten” Sadly as a nation we tend to invest like pigs. We place our entire investment capital into one product. Recently with Amatenda most of the investors interviewed by Carte Blanche was left destitute by the fact that all their investment capital was gone. With Sharemax we read and here daily of widows and pensioners that invested all their savings into Sharemax and they are now living in garages and looking at family to support them. We are the pigs that happily get eaten year after year after year.

So in this simpletons mind we need to, hedge currencies, invest in multiple asset classes and within those asset classes multiple promoters. That way if you get conned by one or two, at least you are not destitute. Be logical and think with a sober mind. Anything offering above normal bank interests has a risk to it, no matter what the promoter says. Let’s take charge of our destiny, lets invest as widely as possible and get our funds as diverse as we can. Lets either be bears or bulls and leave the pigs be.

Where is a countries wealth?

In South Africa we are constantly battered with eloquent words of wisdom from our astounding politicians. In a country where 25% of the population is unemployed we are regularly bowled out by news of minister living in luxury hotels and recently R 180 Million again spent on our civil servants homes. Just as we thought that we got used to our governments impotency we see young scholars driven to death by blue light brigades, this blue light was not used to race to an emergency but rather a meeting for a VIP. Very Impotent Person.

Why then with such an impotent government are we as a citizenship then so surprised when Cosatu speaks of more aggressive reform and our ever-so-sophisticated friend Malema wanting to grab farms, mines and even the bottle store around the corner. Is this signs that the very voters for this government is losing faith in their leaders? Is this more radical, grabbing approach workable? Is this approach only viable as a short term erection for impotent government officials?

Categorically NO, it does not and will not work and yes, clearly our officials are in desperate need of something to rise in their favour, no matter how short term or even devastating. How can I be so confident that this grab-a-asset system will not work.

Simple let’s look at examples. In Uganda the leader, Idi Amin, chased many big businesses away and started or rather dismally failed in running them. In Zimbabwe the masterpiece of politics and intimidation, Robert Mugabe, took successful commercial farms and that now produce? Yes you are right, virtually nothing. In our own sunny South Africa there are virtually no success stories of commercial farms that was redistributed at huge burden to the tax payer. Why can successful business not just be transferred and run successfully? Why is it not as simple as just throwing all SA assets in one collective pot and then allowing every citizen a scoop of the pot?


Well putting corruption, nepotism and impotency aside. We are not all entrepreneurs and business tycoons. Some of us relish in a world where we can just wait for a pay cheque. In a seminar Warren Buffet was asked what investment would in any economy give you the best return, his answer: Education, in other words self investment, teaching yourself skills and bettering yourself. The wealty did not just fall on money, the big commercial farmers did not one day wake up to massive agricultural holdings. Surely no one believes the CEO's of our major mines just did a pretty waltz and got the job. No wealth is accumulated over time and there is a reason for it, you need to know how to handle and manage wealth, you need to have the knowledge, aptitude and ability to manage and grow wealth. Wealth, apart from some “tenderpreneurs”, does not just happen. As the saying goes: “A fool and his money will soon part”.

In essence one can argue that wealth does not vest in material things. It is seated in one’s ability to generate money and then manage the money that was generated. It therefore lies within the individual and not the assets of the individual.

So the big question still remains how to we aggressively transfer wealth in a country in desperate need of it. The only logical way in this simpletons mind is by generating more wealth. Develop patriotisms again amongst the wealthy, make SA citizens proud of the country they live and work in. Award tax incentives for development of communities and employing more people. Help the wealthy become wealthier and in turn the country and its economy will thrive.

I would like to leave you with one thought. The DRC made a special place for about 25 large commercial maize farmers from South Africa. In a short period of time, in a unknown country with limited support and structures, these farmers were able to turn the DRC from a net importer of maize into a net exporter of maize. Now imagine if the SA government awarded these same commercial farmers with the defunct land that is lying barren in our own borders and made them feel secure in their own country. That vast and fast economic growth would have been for our economy. Jobs would have been created and communities uplifted.