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Cape Town -The rand's plummet in value sent shockwaves through the comments section this week.
Fin24 commentator Henning von Marschall responded to the breaching of the R13/$ mark this week by comparing SA to a dog which is chasing its own tail.
According to von Marschall SA is losing out to the major developing economies by being a net importer. Another commentator is of the opinion that every time an SA politician opens their mouth, the rand falls.
Considering the latter the ANC, in a discussion document, ironically suggested that SA become more competitive. Commentator Lucas Werner Pretorius was keen to know whether the ruling cadres were smoking 'cuttings from the lawn at Nkandla'.
Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa jetted off to Japan this week to market the SA economy.
Commentator David Coetzee pulled out a quote and was not convinced: "Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit Japan this month, with the aim of reassuring Japanese investors that SA is open for business and is a stable, vibrant and conducive environment for investment."
So basically he is going to go and lie? asked Coetzee.
Below is the weekly dose of top ten Fin24 user comments - selected for their wit, value-add to the topic at hand and contribution to healthy debate in a country so much in need of constructive dialogue.
Top ten user comments on:
Rand breaches R13/$ for the first time in 14 years:
1. Henning von Marschall - Brazil is looking after its industrialisation, China for sure too, India is just busy modifying airports with solar panels and other projects. What are we doing? Importing equipment from Brazil, India and China that we use to manufacture, and with the weaker rand we pay more. We behave like a dog that tries to catch its tail and since the tail is getting shorter it will run faster and faster in the same spot! Who was napping while we were loosing lucrative projects to our Partners?
2. Romano Margon - Every time one of our Politicians opens his or her mouths the rand falls. R15 to the dollar by year end...when will we ever learn.
Rand’s 14-year low not a headache for Sarb governor:
3. Paul Michael Mitchell - The falling Rand is an absolute disaster. Our exports have NOT increased in line with the depreciating currency. Most of us are not in the export business, so how does it benefit us. South Africa also imports more than it exports.
...Try saving for retirement. Inflation is eating into its value. If you manage to get an inflation linked interest rate, government takes half of the interest in taxes because it says you are earning income. You get screwed every direction.
SA must be more competitive – ANC:
4. Charl Geel - Can somebody please explain to me how this guy can talk about being competitive while his party is in a coalition with a labour union, who on a weekly basis holds strikes which impedes productivity and undermines the coalition.
5. Thami Majola - Stop putting up barriers for business! Factories [often] wait years for an export license in SA but we import 'donkey meat' from Brazil as well as beef and substandard products from China! We should have the whole of Africa as our product consumers!
6. Lucas Werner Pretorius - What are these guys smoking? Cuttings from the lawn at Nkandla? They remove or dilute anything that could increase our competitive edge, and then appear surprised when we are shown up to be going backwards.
SA world's 2nd most economically unequal country:
7. Ndabeni Diego - Only a denialist will ignore the surviving systematic and structural socio-economic legacies of SA's past. Colonialism and apartheid engineered a social system which ensured that the majority of citizens would be nothing more than "hewers of wood and water", existing only as a source of cheap labour, and it's no mystery why the victims of this system form a large block of this inequality.
Function and design are too separate things, and just because some black South Africans managed to make it through doesn't negate what the systems was designed for. I find it amusing when denialists try to disown the successful implementation of their system (apartheid) when its objectives have been realised.
This of course does not excuse the silk tie wearing ignoramuses in the ANC who through their incompetence and greed have allowed things to get worse.
Ramaphosa off to Japan to market SA's economy:
8. Lourence Manyama - I like the new partnerships we are building with the Asian markets. Western markets have never fully benefited us, always selfish, shareholder value maximization crap. Even if it means this value maximization comes at the expense of exploiting workers and getting rid of them when your so-called ROE (return of equity) is not enough.
9. David Coetzee - "Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit Japan this month, with the aim of reassuring Japanese investors that SA is open for business and is a stable, vibrant and conducive environment for investment." so basically he is going to go and lie?
City wants to avoid another Gauteng toll debacle:
10. Hennie Vermeulen - Where is the money going for the roads levied on our fuel? Where is the money going on our yearly vehicle licence fees? The licence fees on vehicles are not admin costs. As they have been charging an extra R30 on the fees for the last couple of years specifically for admin fees. How was it possible to built all these roads in the beginning from scratch with only licence fees. But now they need so much more.
Disclaimer: All letters and comments published in MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.
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