Tributum Newsletter #55

Hello

A big thanks to all the readers that said they enjoyed the previous newsletter. I’m ecstatic that there are so many readers, it is much appreciated. I will try and bring in some humour more often, man do we need it here in South Africa. Just as much as the Bokke need a kicker (up the backside too), but truth be told its not the only reason we lost to Ireland. You cannot exert so much pressure without getting any points on the scoreboard. Both in rugby, and in life.

What will remain under serious pressure is inflation. One of our staple foods – chicken – is now becoming just as expensive as beef. With rising oil and fuel prices the September decision by the SARB to leave the lending rate unchanged might be short lived.  With SAFA’s already struggling and much of the inflation pressure not being driven by spending habits I sincerely hope that they don’t flog the already dying horse that represents SA household budgets with an increase in the near future.

Speaking about spending habits it seems that SA has hit the “fiscal cliff” that has been spoken about over the past few years. National Treasury remains under populist pressure when it is trying to curb expenditure and its budget woes are compounded by below budget tax collections due to the poor performing economy. Failing infrastructure is coming home to roost…

While cuts in Government spending (read salary bill) is required there is noise about raising taxes, but I am not sure that the small SA tax base will take too kindly to that. That makes the interim budget to be delivered on 1 November very important and here’s hoping that the Minister of Finance stands his ground. As mentioned before the problem is that he is not the one that then needs to implement the plans. This implementation is left to other ministers with poor track records.

And that is the problem with plans. While they are important, they seldom survive past the first contact with reality and need to be adapted all the time. But most of all, they need to get off the drawing board and be implemented. They need to be DONE. That word again, so Nike-like. And like Patton said: “A good plan violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

You need to plan, yes. But you also need to “Swoosh” – Just Do IT. But most all, you need to keep breathing. Until next month.