Inspirational, courageous, challenging and for-the-people Vavi takes a dig at Zuma’s pay Cosatu deplores Aurora mine shootings Cosatu applauds housing probe Cosatu questions proposed Information Bill Slightly paranoid Cosatu accues government of fiddling with inflation figures to cheat workers out of a decent wage. Dazed and confused, paranoid and hypocritical Cosatu accues non-striking cops of…
The FT has an article (Banks†‰win battle to tone†‰down Basel III) describing how the proposed new rules for banking capital requirements might have some of the new requirements around liquidity removed or weakened. Key amongst these new considerations is the limitation of mismatches between the term of assets and liabilities, which would limit the danger…
Moneyweb has an interview with Eskom CFO. For me, the point made about the reasons for differences between retail and industrial tariffs is worth highlighting. This is another example of where common perception is off. (Incidentally, Eskom tariffs are currently 68 cents for residential, 28 cents for big industrial) From the moneyweb interview: PAUL O’FLAHERTY:…
There have been major developments in the broadband internet space in South Africa in 2010. Several major ISPs have started offering so-called “uncapped broadband” at surprisingly affordable rates. The immediate astonishment and disbelief at the low prices was soon replaced by sulking and disbelief at the application of “fair usage policies” that restricts the speed…
Any company, person or country looking to invest in Africa must read Michela Wrong’s book, “In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo” . The book details the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from its pre-Stanley (yes, that Stanley) days before east African Muslim traders…
Since my recent post outlining how the distraction Eskom’s proposed higher charges distracted us from more important considerations such as their underlying efficiency, new evidence has emerged validating another point from my original post, Mumbling in the Dark. The DA has released a confidential report outlining how Eskom has been selling heavily discounted electricity, sometimes…
In a previous post, Mumbling in the Dark, I argued that too much attention was being paid to Eskom’s proposed increased charges and too little at 5 separate points, the first being their actual cost of production. It seems that NERSA has been looking at this and has discovered some areas where Eskom was incorrectly…
Interconnect fees and the reasons for their reduction are possibly the most misunderstood “big” news story over the last twelve months. The hype and hoopla around this topic is fueled by our feelings as consumers of being charged too much big big monopoly companies. So I should start by saying that I’m not saying that…
