CAPE TOWN - As editor of Business Report (BR) I would like to reply to Dawie Roodt’s so called shattering advice to South Africans: “Take your money out of South Africa. This country is in deep trouble”, he said in a media statement over the week-end. Roodt based his advice to South Africans “following the release of the auditor-general’s report on national irregular expenditure” over the week-end.
This is disturbing. Roodt should state the intent of his resent controversial PR strategy.
I challenge Mr. Roodt, one of the most quoted Afrikaans economists (that refuses to speak any other language but Afrikaans in a South African restaurant, but is fluent in English when addressing the media to boost his or his company’s profile) to partake in a live national debate with Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba, Dr Christo Wiese, global investors in Africa and South Africa and various media representatives, at his earliest convenience.
Roodt owns, or is the main shareholder, and the chief economist of The Efficient Group, a diversified financial services group listed on the JSE, with a market capitalization of R339 million.
The company will announce financial results next week. The share price trades at around R3,75 at a price earnings of 9.26.
I question Roodt’s agenda. Where do you think South Africans’s should invest Mr Roodt? In Russia?
Might be a good time to remind Roodt that the very same government he constantly criticize allowed him a job at the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), a great education, a fancy estate in the east of Pretoria, and a ticket to Russia …
Let me assure BR readers that there are other economist (without a PR agenda), such as Dave Mohr, the chief investment strategist at Old Mutual Multi-Managers, that will kindly invest your hard earned savings in the country we all believe shall survive.
“October was a very strong month for local equities, despite elevated political uncertainty following another cabinet reshuffle and a disappointing Medium-Term Budget” he said yesterday.
I only speak for myself Dawid. But I am here to stay. Not sure about you, bur my plea to you is simple: “Stop blaming and start contributing. Or pack your bags”.
Adri Senekal De Wet is Executive Editor of Business Report.