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Cape Town - The turn of events in the Mark Shuttlework exchange control battle and the Eskom state of the system briefing stimulated vigorous debate and much frustration respectively this week.
The Constitutional Court overturned a judgement by the Supreme Court of Appeal and found that the R250.5m exit levy charged to the SA billionaire when he transferred his assets out of the country in 2009 was “not inconsistent with the constitution”.
User Fred Smith, who clinched the top comment spot, contrasted SpaceX's Elon Musk with Shuttleworth's situation.
Eskom's acting CEO, Brian Molefe, sparked anger when he argued that higher power prices for the consumer would be a better alternative than power cuts.
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:
Why Shuttleworth lost exchange control battle:
1. Fred Smith - Two South Africans, Elon Musk from Pretoria and Mark Shuttleworth from Cape Town, both became internet multimillion dollar millionaires at roughly the same time.
Musk followed his money and moved to the USA and has never looked back. Shuttleworth thought he could work out of South Africa and now realises that that was a costly mistake.
Eskom to take 5 500 MW from grid this winter:
2. Victor - China builds new electricity generation and delivery infrastructure every year equivalent to our entire electricity structure. We can't build in budget and in time one or two power stations. Why?
High power prices or power cuts, says Brian Molefe:
3. Peter Chennells - Brian Molefe, while having a most unenviable task of fixing Eskom is being disingenuous here. Eskom must FIRST recover its outstanding payments which if I read correctly stand in excess of 5 billion. If this does not happen then the non-payment cycle will just continue and every time Eskom needs extra cash, industry and the PAYING public must foot the bill.
4. Yvette Abercrombie - Mr Molefe, with all due respect, this problem was caused by government and the increase should thus be subsidized by the government. Less luxury German cars and cheaper hotel accommodation and flights for government officials and their families. Why should the the hard working middle class foot the bill for stupidity.
5. Johnny McCloud - I would personally prefer the power cuts as I can live without power. However the cost to business and the economy is too high. The power cuts are causing companies to shut down or reduce staff. Reduced staff means less money spent on housing and retail. Reduced output means less exports, less profits, less taxes. The roll-on effect is huge.
Shuttleworth loses R250m exchange control battle:
6. Awe Wolf - How is it stealing? There is no country in the world where you can just take R1.5bn to another country. Do your even realise what removing large sums of money in currency can do to a country's economy? Perhaps try to understand a little bit about Financial law and Economics before making stupid comments.
Have your say on Eskom tariff hikes:
7. JanGreen - Electricity is a consumer commodity and a process of introducing competition in the market is required. Competition is the mechanism (Supply and demand) that determines the prices of almost all consumer goods. A product can't be scarce and cheap at the same time, the market mechanism will prohibit such an outcome. Therefore a legal environment where all producers of electricity compete for the demand side in a regulated manner is advised.
The grid must have an independent operator and the power stations sold to private entities and legal mechanisms must prevent cartels forming under the producers. The producers must sell the electricity to the highest bidder for a specific time slot. Many more producers must be introduced into the market. One producer is a monopoly and will lead to mismanagement of resources, wasteful expenditure, and is not a sustainable model.
Shuttleworth loses R250m exchange control battle:
8. Cas Obs - It is a fact that Foreign Exchange Controls exist whether one agrees with them or not.
What I think the main issue here is, was the amount in question R1.5bn and was the levy at the time 10%. If so, 10% of R1.5bn is R150m. R250m is 16.7%. So what was the extra 6.7% or R100m for? (Does this mean that if the "president" earns R2m p.a. and gets a 10% increase he ends up earning R2.33m instead of R2.2m?)
If the amount was R1.5bn and the levy was 10%, Shuttleworth is owed R100m plus interest. Assuming 10% compounded annually for the sake of argument, that would make it about R177m and it boggles the mind that any court of law can pass judgement on flawed information.
Bleak outlook for SA retirees:
9. Adrian Snyman - To be honest, retirement becomes a scary beast that people rather turn a blind eye to - until it's too late. I take little comfort in knowing that my current fund value has already exceeded what my parents have in theirs, because I see the sacrifices they have to make in order to survive each month. I still have 20 years before I retire, and the plight of my parents has made me acutely aware of what is required of me before I can even think of retiring. Honestly, I wouldn't mind working until 70, just because of the positive impact it will have on my net fund value.
Gautengers urged to change mindset on e-tolls
10. Nelis Van Zyl - What you Dont seem to understand Mr Vad is this. The public are not against paying for toll to build new roads, highways etc. we are AGAINST paying this toll and most of the money just disappears into some corrupt pockets. We already pay high taxes! and then things like NKANDLA happens, how are we supposed to react?
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.* Something finance-related on your mind? Send it to us and you could get published.
