The 5 Billion Rand Question: Can South Africa Afford its Government? In light of the VAT discussions in South Africa and the need for us to find savings across everything that government spends on, I thought it would be interesting to look at the cost associated with our cabinet, parliament, and the perks that befall you when you become an upper-echelon public servant.See, the thing is that South Africa's Government of National Unity (GNU) promised a new era of collaboration, but for all its promises, it arrived with a staggering price tag that raised urgent questions about our national priorities around our most important public. While we citizens grapple with economic pressures, the cost of maintaining the country's political leadership spirals, with initial estimates suggesting well over R1 billion annually is spent solely on ministers, deputy ministers, and their immediate support systems—even before accounting for luxury homes and extensive security details.The significant expenditure extends beyond the executive branch to the legislative arm of government. The Parliament of South Africa itself operates with a substantial budget, estimated at R1.9 billion for the 2022/2023 financial year, covering operations including crucial oversight committeesThe total annual burden on taxpayers for political leadership in South Africa, based on various articles and sources, exceeds R5.28 billion when combiningExecutive Branch: R1.2 billion. Parliament: R1.9 billion. VIP Protection: R2.18 billion.I know, I was also blown away… Are we honestly getting our money’s worth?

The cost of the crime problem to the South African economy is estimated by the World Bank to be R700 billion in 2023. That’s a really big number; in fact, it’s about 9.6% of our nominal GDP. You’re likely wondering how they got to this number. Well, it combines transfer & other costs associated with stolen property, security & protection costs, and also, most crucially, the lost opportunity cost. The things we rarely speak about post a crime being committed.The truth is that a high crime rate damages the economy and society in various ways and contributes massively to the misallocation and inefficient use of resources. Basically money you or the government could have used for growth and making your life better is used for security against crime and for the consequences of crime. Now the unfortunate truth is that South Africa has a well-documented struggle with high crime ratesSo in this piece, we're going to look at crime, its economic consequences, and how economic growth and employment can make SA safer, and also look at some of the core costs for households due to crime.

R184 billion—that is the amount that the informal grocery sector, including spaza shops and mobile traders, is supposedly valued at in South Africa. According to Trade Intelligence, an FMCG retail research company.The numbers around this sector are very interesting, and what they showcase is the opportunity that exists where spazas are involved. Because 11.1 million South Africans do their grocery shopping at these stores, and they cite convenience and low prices. As much as 40% of food consumers who were surveyed said that each year they bought from informal traders, and around 77% of the population’s calorie consumption is delivered through the informal grocery sector. With all that said, there’s an estimate that of the 150,000–200,000 spaza shops that are in SA, the thought was that most are run by foreign nationals who have come to South Africa to seek economic opportunities. But we never had the numbers to back up that feeling.This became a point of major contention in the build-up to South Africa’s national elections at the end of May last year, and a lot of political parties started calling for shops in local communities to be run by South Africans only. Then something strange started happening: more and more cases of food poisoning started popping up.From the beginning of September 2024, a total of 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across all provinces were reported.

Operationally managed as one precinct, the UIPs that operate in Umhlanga account for commercial and residential usage that covers over 3000 individually rated properties and 12 kilometers of public roads, servitudes, and promenades, and they represent a combined municipal valuation of approximately R12.8 billion in property and infrastructure.Communities are fighting back to reclaim their streets. How? Through Urban Improvement Precincts (UIPs)—which are fast becoming a powerful tool that’s giving residents control over their streets and neighborhoods.What are your thoughts on this?

The Land Audit reveals that Whites in SA own 26m ha, or 72%, of the total 37m ha of farms and agricultural holdings by individual landowners, followed by Coloureds at 5.3m ha, or 15%; Indians at 2m ha, or roughly 5%; Africans at a paltry 1.3m ha, or 4%; others at 1.2m ha, or 3%; and co-owners at 425K ha, or 1%. Now for those that might click away from this video even before it gets going and might not get to the end and the gist, lets address the Donald Trump comments quick, quick for your benefit…Donald Trump has been lied to by AfriForum & other right-wing machinery organizations about what the Land Expropriation Bill of South Africa is and isn’t.The South African government is NOT repossessing, dispossessing, or confiscating land from certain classes of people.If you have evidence of this, direct us through links in the comments. Now, other than the Afriforum right-wing misinformation machine running at full tilt around this, what I think we should deal with first in this video at least is the land question around South Africa and get into the nuts and bolts of who owns what and what we can do to move forward.The AfriForum/Elon/Silicon Valley/right-wing groups with their global connections and the dangers that they pose to SA are another issue that deserves its own video, but, however, to me at least, their actions will inadvertently unite Black people again by piercing the veil on non-racialism and will make it clear that racist actions in SA are still alive and well. That video we will get to at a later stage. I don’t want to make this issue too complex, at least in one video.

On Wednesday, 20 March 2024, one of the biggest individual corporate fines in SA history was handed out to Markus Johannes Jooste, R475 million—nearly half a billion. Markus had been trying as hard as he could to keep a low profile since the 2017 spectacular collapse of the company he ran, Steinhoff.So the story goes that, on the day after the fine was handed out, 63 year old Markus waited for his wife to go out to play a round of golf. He then made his way to nearby a cliff path that was close to his magnificently lavish home in Hermanus — in fact that same home had walls that had been vandalized multiple times with graffiti , emblazoned with words like “fraudster," “con artist,” and "psychopath" ." This day the 21st March 2024, was the last day that the former CEO of Steinhoff and mastermind of South Africa’s greatest corporate scam met his end by his own hand… Steinhoff’s destruction caused by Markus and his motley crew now stands at an estimated R250 billion, $13 billion. That how much money was lost from his alleged criminality.Now, as a decent enough consumer of south African conspiracy theories I must mention that some people believe that he never actually died and that he’s hiding on some tropical island... with Gavin atson... But I’d rather stick to facts and not so much braai time stories for now... Unless someone has evidence that they can email me...But honestly, what I think makes people feel like his death is highly suspicious is that it came the day after the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a ruling confirming this and fining him R475 million, and the day before that, he had been instructed to hand himself over to the Hawks...So the pressure had been mounting...

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, or JSE's all-share market cap, currently stands at close to R20 trillion.This is the market value of all the companies listed on the JSE when combined.For reference, SA’s GDP sits at around 4,644,546.00 ZAR million as of September 2024.But remember, that’s the number value of what we produce every year in goods and services in the country. Now the JSE has approximately 400 companies listed on the Main Board and the AltX Board, and they have more than 800 securities available on its equity market.According to a dailyinvestor.com report, Black people had 39% board control of companies listed on the JSE, up from 28% in 2020. However, 0% of listed entities were 100% Black-owned, the same as in 2020.The Voting rights of Black people in 2021 stood at 19.10% and the latest from the JSE is that in 2022 it stood at 20.37%However when contrasted with the Economic interest, the value of actual shareholding that Black people have in JSE listed companies in 2021 was at 13.79% and by 2022 was listed 14.85%Why are these numbers NB? Well, we are going to go on a little journey together, one that will illuminate the make-up of actual competition in when it comes to south African companies...Then maybe start to ask ourselves the question around whether our economy is truly competitive or are industries just disguised monopolies right in our faces?

So here's something interesting. On the sidelines of the mining indaba 2025 conference. I got the opportunity to grab the ear of the MEC for finance and economic development in Gauteng, Ntate Lebogang Maile. We had what I would call an insightful and very interesting conversation going back and forth around mining, investment, Gauteng’s key sectors, and even how we deal with corruption and economic growth challenges in the province.Now I want to just say that, sometimes being a one-man band can be tricky, and my mic 🎤 gave up at some point, but I kept rolling. Apologies for that sound issue. But I think this will be a good podcast either way. Let me know in the comments what you thought about it.

I’ve always wondered why Cape Town is supposedly seen as being cleaner, or at least it gets the tag of being cleaner than JBH and DBN at least. To be fair, it does pass the eye test, especially when it comes to the CBD areas.Combined, SA’s 3 largest cities spend roughly R9,2bn ( around $500m) to stay clean... but the question is, are they R9BN clean?It's not a secret that JHB and DBN are seen as having dirtier and less cleaner CBDs, but I must say that more recently, DBN's reputation seems to be starting to change for the better. But this got me thinking about the numbers and facts that directly impact how clean a city’s CBD and its other parts are. So I started digging...

Millennial Cape Townians are under siege; they are under siege from global travelers called digital nomads. I’m sure you’ve started to hear a lot more about this, but this lovely bunch of travelers are basically long-term tourists that stay for 90+ days to about 36 months as per the new regulations. They come from much wealthier western nations and even Australians (I bumped into a few here). This should be a good thing, right? They’re bringing foreign, stronger currencies here to Cape Town and SA? This should be good, well, not so much. See, the thing is that there are knock-on effects to digital nomads being here, some good for businesses industries that cater to them but not so much for the native Cape Townians or people of which ever global south city that they choose to bless and/or burden. So in this video, I’m going to try and break down the numbers and political and socio-economic factors that are fueling the digital nomad situation in Cape Town and many other currency arbitrage cities around the world. Cities that offer great a 5-star lifestyle on a 3-star budget,” but let me be clear, this is a 3-star budget by Western standards.And to top it all off, I’m going to introduce you to Cape Town’s Property Industrial Complex, very similar to the US’s military industrial complex, wit less explosions, somewhat, but I’ll explain that a little bit later.