HAVING lost a lot of money by investing it in a (money market) unit trust: the ones that are really safe, I am tired of being fed with the idea that the money is very safe in a “side-pocket”, which has been set up for our benefit. I see it as being locked away, losing its value at the compounded inflation rate, and will probably never be returned to our investment.
I think some of that stems from the fact that there are many big guys out there waiting for any cash that pops out of the Abil (African Bank) saga. However, the unit trust operators and other financial wizards, must have spent a lot of their time devising this clever plan. I would rather that they had spent more time a couple of years ago deciding that unsecured lending operations are not the place to put the publics’ safe money. In any case, I think that any losses should have been paid from the companies’ reserves and from the cash that is going to pay bonuses. Bonuses are supposed to be paid for doing ones job well.
T Watts
Durban
More rail usage is the only real alternative
I refer to Rich Mkhondo’s unfortunate article in Business Report of November 4. Unfortunate, because Mkhondo is writing about a very real problem in South Africa, that is truck accidents and truck congestion on highways. Although well researched and almost correct in every respect, Mkhondo fails to address the real problem on our roads – accidents and road damage caused mainly by truck congestion (not to mention maintenance).
The unfortunate omission from this article and I suspect most thinking on the subject is deliberately increasing the use of rail for the movement of goods. The amount of trucks carrying bulk goods from Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town to Gauteng is staggering and growing by the day. Better trucks or better drivers won’t solve the problem at all. Business needs an incentive to use rail and rail needs to wake up, become more efficient and more dependable. Not an unsurmountable objective.
There is a daily truck jam from Pietermaritzburg to Durban running for over 80km. I’ve witnessed it often. Add to that the truck and vehicle traffic jams that exist twice daily on or around most of our cities. Then factor in the loss of time, cost of fuel and, of course, the massive cost of accidents that Mkhondo mentions and we’re talking well in excess of R200 billion a year plus lives – every year and getting worse.
If transportation takes up about 20 percent of the economy and accidents cost more than 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), R20bn a year, then surely it makes sense to promote rail – it remains a real solution.
Roy Bermeister
Cape Town
Why not privatise police, metro cops?
I agree with Pierre Heistein that our metro and police service needs to be revamped. The problem is that our current government is not capable of doing the job. We should demand that qualified, competent people are put in charge of police and in managerial positions. Or better still, how about a private police and metro service? Imagine how great it would be if we could pool our diverse talents and strengths to feel safe and actually enjoy driving on our roads.
Surette Koenig
Mt Edgecombe
Just baying for another handout
It would be very enlightening to know exactly what Yonela Diko (November 3) does for a living, because his/her letter on the responsibilities of business sounds like another request for a handout.
Before business can have a “positive spin on society, upskilling employees and sharing destiny” it needs to be profitable and stay profitable. He or she talks about Absa opening new branches and employing people. Telkom is a perfect example how ideology can wreck a business. Half of the Telkom shops in existence are not profitable so they are a drain on the company eventually putting it into liquidation as other sections of the business cannot subsidise loss-making areas. Perhaps Yonela can show us positive proof that his or her concept is actually realistic and not another pie in the sky dream.
Tony Ball
Durban