Soccer players seize chance to invest in seats for Cup
final
Jabu Moleketi
The funding of the stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup
may still need to be finalised after deputy finance minister Jabu Moloketi's
statement yesterday that the national treasury had drawn a line in the
sand, but everybody is already lining up to make money out of the event.
Sapa reported yesterday that a well-connected empowerment consortium had
bought 40 percent of a local stadium seating company ahead of the World
Cup.
The stake is in Venelli Seating South Africa, whose parent company, Venelli
Italy, is accredited by Fifa and has provided seating at the French, Spanish
and Italian World Cups.
It should not come as a surprise that the leading lights in this consortium
are very well connected.
Bataung Strategic Investments, which includes the SA Football Players'
Union and a women's investment group, is headed by former chief of government
protocol Billy Modise.
Other Bataung shareholders are managing director Kinesh Pather, foreign
affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa and entrepreneur Groovin Nchabeleng.
Pather said 2010 offered a great opportunity. Such was his confidence
that he told Sapa the company was ready to start manufacturing straight
away.
Seating contracts would be awarded in the first quarter of next year,
he said.
Venelli Seating SA managing director Stefano Piller said all stadiums
would be targeted, both new developments and refurbishments. He envisaged
setting up a production facility in South Africa.
The fact that the Football Players' Union is party to the deal and will
therefore hopefully be able to score some (installed) seats in the stadiums
must come as a relief to its members.
Given the parlous state of South African soccer, this is probably the
only way we will have South African players in the stadiums during any
of the final games.
MUNICIPAL FINANCES Information from Statistics SA shows that municipalities
are sitting on handsome amounts of cash. This may be useful if they have
to suddenly start forking out billions of rands on stadiums but, for now,
the question needs to be asked: should local authorities be financially
sound but have poverty and poor services at their doorsteps?
Municipalities have a reputation for spending more money than they have.
As long as this is not allowed to run out of control, it is not too bad
a situation, given the country's delivery backlogs.
But it is worrying that municipalities have seen their surpluses increase
by almost 20 percent despite the outcry for improved services from residents.
This is clearly a sign of bad management. Yet municipal managers often
get paid more than the most senior of all public servants, the president.
The concern with this state of affairs is that the opportunity cost of
funds lying idle is very high in terms of projects that could have been
done.
These projects would improve citizens' standard of living, which is particularly
important at a time when South Africa had slipped in the rankings on the
UN human development index.
Most projects that would improve service delivery are technical in nature
and require artisans and technicians.
We must surely now acknowledge that some young people ought to be trained
in non-academic fields, either at school or in tertiary institutions.
Maybe it is time municipalities used some of their idle surpluses to run
their own training programmes.
RETAIL After retail sales accelerated for the greatest part of this year,
following slowing growth last year, it appears that higher interest rates
and record levels of consumer debt are finally starting to hit shoppers.
But while growth is slowing, it is still relatively strong. The doomsayers,
including those who sold their shares in credit retailers such as Edgars
Consolidated Stores earlier in the year when rates first started to rise,
appear to be quieter now.
In fact, while most predict who sales growth will continue to slow next
year, there are now many that believe the pace will quicken again in 2008.
If this happens, and the economy manages to achieve the soft landing that
Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni dreams about, the country will face
an aggravation of one of its greatest good-times problems: capacity.
Already the four-year boom has seen the road network clog up. We have
faced shortages across the board, from electricity to groceries.
If there is a soft landing and the country escapes its boom-to-bust tradition,
these capacity constraints will only get worse.
Almost everyone is now openly saying factory owners and the government
were caught with their pants down. Amazing how when somebody comes out
and admits it, the rest suddenly feel comfortable opening up to this reality
too.
The conservative approach to investment was understandable given the country's
history of what happened previously when rates started to rise.
But now manufacturers and those in charge of government infrastructure
have been given a heads-up: this country may well be in for an even longer
period of sustained growth than the record one it is already in.
Investment plans for new factories and transport systems should be drawn
up and cheque books should be at the ready.
And everything possible should be done to add to the country's skills
base. If not, there won't be anyone to run the factories.
There is a window of opportunity to make money and create desperately
needed jobs. It would be a crying shame if the country missed what may
well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
,
December 14, 2006.
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