Cover Story
Sep 02 2010 00:00
There is a fable that tells of an argument between an elephant and a mouse about who is stronger. The mechanics of the tale are not important here; suffice to say they agree to disagree on their relative merits and in a conciliatory gesture the rodent accompanies his new friend on a walk. As they cross a rickety bridge that heaves under the pachyderm’s weight, the mouse – oblivious to its relative insignificance – whoops with delight: “Look how the bridge shakes as we cross it!”
Marketing & Advertising
Sep 02 2010 00:00
AFTER 16 YEARS, the Pendoring Awards for Afrikaans advertising has a new corporate structure and management, and new ideas. General manager Franette Klerck promises a number of new ideas that will lead to “renewed interest in Afrikaans advertising from the man-in-the-street and should result in a significant increase in sharp Afrikaans advertisements and Pendoring entries”.
Insight
Sep 02 2010 10:00
ALREADY MORE THAN R100bn: that’s the direct cost attributable to the SA Reserve Bank and the Treasury for their combined efforts over the past 18 months in taking preventive measures so the exchange rate of South Africa’s rand doesn’t rise too much. Ultimately, that cost comes out of taxpayers’ pockets. Luckily, a great deal of that expenditure is either not of a cash flow nature or is past profit on foreign exchange reserves currently evaporating. Taxpayers will therefore not to have to pay for this directly – as often happened between 1980 and 1998, when the Reserve Bank and the Treasury chalked up huge losses by trying to keep the value of the rand artificially high.
Money clinic
Sep 02 2010 00:00
WILL THE BEAR strike or not, and, if so, how seriously? That’s the question that investors are currently struggling to answer globally as technical factors confirm that an internal weakening is emerging despite the fact that indicators like the popular 200-day moving average have not yet turned downward.