Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April/May 2019 | страница 7

EDITORIAL
JOHANN RUPERT
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REIM TV @REIM_SA
www.reimag.co.za RealEstateInvestorMagazine
Optimism and pragmatism
key for confidence and
investment momentum
their wealth, businesses and capital overseas and will continue
to do so if things become more untenable in SA. Poor South
Africans, the overwhelming majority of whom are black, will
suffer the consequences of anti-freedom, anti-growth policies
and legislation such as EWC, the National Minimum Wage
(NMW), National Health Insurance (NHI), and onerous
labour legislation.
‘All of these things oppose the very idea of individual
freedom and creating and building our own wealth. They
instead open up avenues for more funding to flow into
government coffers rather than into the hands of the country’s
citizens. They allow the state to swallow up bigger and bigger
portions of the economy, said Hattingh.
The Free Market Foundation is doing exceptional work to
monitor the situation and has a long history of intervening
in getting government to act more responsibly. Hattingh
said: ‘While driving a positive narrative does help to increase
the energy in any system, effective civil intervention requires
that we remain pragmatic and apolitical, giving credence to
developments that generate momentum, consistency and
sustainable positive change, while constructively criticising,
challenging and seeking to amend government’s inefficiencies
and ill-doing.’
Entrepreneurs can capitalise when confidence levels are at
their lowest and when economic times are tough. If turned
on its head it could also be the best time to face up to the
challenges, find the solutions and seize new opportunities in
business and real estate.
Successful investing.
NEALE PETERSEN
FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN CHIEF
“
ROBIN ROBERTS
Being optimistic is like a muscle that
gets stronger with use. Makes it easier
when the tough times arrive. You have
to change the way you think in order to
change the way you feel.
“
B
usiness confidence in South Africa is at its lowest in
over two years, according to the SA Chamber of Com-
merce. It is almost at the same low level it was two years
ago when Zuma was President and the country was at the
height of state capture. The subsequent ‘Ramaphoria’ wave that
blazed through the country has fizzled to a grinding halt and it
now seems to have been devoid any real substance.
Corruption, incompetence and maladministration by many
in positions of authority in national and local government still
exist and are a significant challenge to our future prosperity.
These issues, along with corruption upheaval, gross electricity
tariff hikes, questionable taxation policies, bloated and
inefficient government departments and failing municipalities,
will keep civil activism dynamic and prevalent for years to
come.
According to Chris Hattingh, head of research at Free
Market Foundation which promotes open rule of law and
economic freedom, ‘Saffers are being presented with more and
more reasons to not invest their time, resources and wealth
in the country. The latest salvo against business confidence in
SA is the precipitous Eskom situation. How can anyone run a
business with so much uncertainty hanging over the electricity
supply?’
Bigger businesses can afford their own generators and the
accompanying cost - smaller businesses simply cannot afford
yet another operating cost and many will have to either move
elsewhere in some capacity, or close completely, with even
more job losses as a result.
Operating a business, investing in real estate, employing
people, trading with others and creating wealth is a profoundly
moral thing to do. The more we stifle the confidence of
business operations in SA, the more we stifle the very spirit
of the nation.
Hattingh went on to say that ‘Expropriation without
compensation (EWC) is the biggest existential threat that
can be made to any business. Amending section 25 of the
Constitution to allow for EWC, will see the diluting, and
eventual dismissal, of any notion of individual property rights
we currently have. EWC is the antithesis of trust between
citizens and the state. It negates every degree of security
you may feel you have in the business you have spent years
building up. With EWC, everyone’s property is up for grabs.
Agricultural land (farms), homes, cars, the contents of your
bank account, factories, business properties and the capital
thereto attached - all of this and more falls under the notion
of property rights.’
Richer South Africans can and many have already taken
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine APRIL/MAY 2019
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