One of the business practices that drive me mad is when somebody comes out with their own package, and then sends you an invoice for your payment without you ever having agreed to take the product in the first place. This causes confusion in an office, and before you know it, people are running around trying to pay the item and you have never ever expressed interest in the first place. The latest invoice I had in this regard is from a company called sadcyellowpages.net who want me to pay R400,00 a month for an entry in the SADC directories. Quite frankly I think directories are yesterday’s business anyway, but sending me an invoice without having agreed on same, is sure to put me off ever using the product.

The Currie Cup Final takes place this week Saturday and it is Western Province against the Sharks from KwaZulu-Natal.  I don’t really feel strongly about either of the teams, although I grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and lived there until I was 16, so I am hoping for, and expecting, a great game of rugby and of course, may the best team win! 

If I had to have a bet I would probably, and only very marginally, favour the home team because I do think that gives some advantage and they certainly have to make amends for the injury time loss to the Blue Bulls in the Super 14 a few years ago, but the Western Province team is absolutely packed with talent.  The bookies on the Betting World site (www.bettingworld.co.za) have Western Province as marginal favourites at 85/100 and the Sharks at 95/100 - which is hardly any difference.  In some ways, the real big surprise is that the Highveld does not host yet another final.  We are so used to being spoilt in having so many finals here.

I bumped into Charl Schwartzel, the number 27 player in the world, at his home course at Blair Atholl, and he told me that both he and Louis Oosthuizen will be playing on the US PGA Tour next year. When one gets the US PGA card, one has to play a certain number of tournaments and if you don’t have your card, there are only limited events in which you can play. Last year, in those limited events, Charl did very well coming second in one tournament and he has obviously decided, after 8 years on the European Tour to give the US PGA Tour, which is undoubtedly stronger, a bash. There is no doubt that he is extremely talented and there is going to be one more South African featuring well in the tournaments next year. 

Louis Oosthuizen has long been one of my favourite players, and it is great to see, after winning the open, that he has now decided to take the chance and move on up, from the European Tour to the US PGA Tour. The US PGA Tour has amongst it members, the vast majority of the top 10 or 20 ranked players in the world in the competition, as with the financial rewards, are far higher on this tour.
 

I follow American politics quite closely, especially given the major impact their politics have on the rest of the world and the world economy. Generally, I am pretty liberal and naturally I would tend to support the Democrats more. It has always amazed me, how around the world, parties who represent largely the interests of wealthy people, such as the Republican Party, manage to get themselves voted back into power, time and time again, by those who are not that well-off.

It is always done under the guise of either the American dream or some or other threat, whether it is terrorism, socialism or whatever else in this case the Republicans can think up. Essentially, the American economy has been driven into the ground, while the Republicans ran the country, and now, because President Obama cannot turn around the damage of 8 years, in less than 2 years, the Democrats must carry the can! The Republicans, who are generally a conservative lot, are now being driven even more towards the right wing, and some strange policies, by the latest fanatics, namely the supporters of the so-called Tea Party movement.

The unveiling of the field for the 2010 Nedbank Golf Challenge is always something quite exciting to me and unfortunately, Tiger Woods’ tournament, which we were told the Sun City organisers would avoid, is on the same weekend again, and has attracted 8 out of 10 of the world’s best players.

Having said that, you could not get a stronger South African field, in all the history of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, than you have this year including of course the winner of the British Open, Louis Oosthuizen, and all the usual favourites like Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Tim Clarke, etc.
The big catch however for Sun City is Lee Westwood who, depending on what happens in one or two other tournaments before the event, may well be the number one player in the world at the time of the tournament. He certainly will not be any further back than three, and he is one of the form players of the year and I would not be surprised if the bookies priced him up as favourite. I have always been a very big supporter of Louis Oosthuizen and I would certainly have a few bets on him but with Ernie Els returning to form this year, and Retief Goosen also playing far better, although somehow managing to lose a number of tournaments in the last round, it would be no surprise at all if South Africans dominated the finish.
 

Urban legends have always fascinated me, and as a business owner, you suffer the consequences quite regularly. I see that Arthur Goldstuck has come out with another book, as he has had a number of these, on more urban legends. It was quite fascinating to hear him discuss on 702, the tornado that was going to wipe out Johannesburg last year. I had some of my more sensible staff begging to be allowed to go home early, so that they could avoid this tornado and essentially all that had happened is a lady working at a medical supply company took a weather warning of extreme conditions, which most heavy thunderstorms are, put it together with a recent tornado that had taken place quite innocently, and sent out an SMS to her friend which soon morphed into an e-mail that was spread around Johannesburg. 

Arthur said one of the problems at that time was that the Weather Bureau, instead of flatly denying that a tornado was going to take place, had a cautious spokesperson on, who said it was highly unlikely. Obviously, when people want to hear whatever makes the story sounds good, “highly unlikely” is not the same as “not at all” and that was that – we had everyone fleeing from the offices!

Another category, similar to Urban Legends, but not exactly the same thing, would be the frequent e-mails that go out about filling up your petrol now, because a strike is about to take place and you will not get to put petrol in your car for a week or two, when actual facts and circumstances are exaggerated, out of all proportion, to the reality. At that time, everyone suddenly assumes that the Union is all powerful and there simply will not be a single person working at a petrol station and no petrol being pumped whereas the reality, of a little more than a month ago, was that it took no longer to get your petrol at the petrol station than it had before and maybe it was quicker – because so many people took the threat seriously and went and filled up their cars they day before.
 

The term RSVP comes from the French expression, “Respondez s’il vous plait”. In any event, what this means is “please respond” and basically if you see this term written on an invitation or an invite to a party, it means that you need to tell the host whether or not you are planning to come along to the party or the event.

It does not mean that you should only respond if you are coming, or only respond if you are not coming, but it is asking you to please indicate either way what you intend doing, so that the host of the party can plan ahead and know how many people they are going to have at the event or the party. It is amazing how society standards, in terms of common manners, drop so much that one struggles to get a response these days and invariably when you hold a party, some people who have indicated that they are coming, will simply not pitch up without cancelling their initial invitation and others who never responded at all will not only arrive at the party but arrive with additional friends or guests. One is basically forced to always over-cater, and to over-cater considerably, simply because you cannot get a polite indication from people beforehand as to whether or not they are coming. I guess that the real reason is that people don’t actually understand what the term RSVP means – and I hope those of you reading this blog either do, or do now!
 

I was very impressed to read that Google has had a secret project, although the cars have actually been driving on public roads, testing cars that use artificial intelligence software to drive cars. In other words, although there is a driver who is sitting on the seat, the software has been driving the car and the driver is simply being there to take over as well as to monitor the system. No doubt, robot-driven cars would lead to tremendous reduction in fatalities on our roads, and as they are one of the biggest killers, one can only hope that this comes sooner, rather than later. Apparently though, even the most optimistic predictions say that it is sad that we will have to wait at least another 8 years before this technology could start being used.

I know I should not be writing about problems about losing weight at the end of winter and during the heat of October, but it seems no sooner do you get out of those cold months, when it is almost impossible to lose weight, than you hit the party season and the end of the year functions that one has to attend. One day, perhaps they will start applying sensible food at the end of the year functions, but until then we will have to continue eating all of those things that leave you with so much work to do in January!

I see the latest Government documents are indicating, again, that we are likely to have rolling blackouts from 2011 to 2016, if we, the consumer, do not reduce our consumption.

The one thing you can be assured of is that a growing population and economy is not going to use less electricity and it would really be so much more fair, of Government and Eskom, if they could at least have the good courtesy to say that the real reason we will have rolling blackouts is because they never planned ahead and it has nothing to do with us, the consumers. It seems that we have all been lulled into a sense of complacency, but by next winter we will probably be experiencing electricity shortages again, and one can only wonder how much worse it will get in the ensuing years.

Anybody building a house now really needs to be doing their little bit in terms of solar power and having back-up plans such as generators. I made sure my offices, when designing it in 2001, had both and I only wish architects were more up to date with things like LED lights, etc. As somebody who is building at the moment, I can tell you that it is very difficult to actually get any information, or suggestions, from architects on green concepts for conserving electricity.
 

The Commonwealth Games are currently on the go, and while they are certainly getting a lot of TV coverage, I really think that the hype about how well South Africa is doing, should be balanced against the fact that there are very few nations that are members of the Commonwealth, and even less, that put any of their finances into sport as is the case with a number of big countries who naturally would not be taking part in the Commonwealth Games such as the United States.

Australia invests a lot in their sport stars and their various Sports Academies and is romping home in terms of the medal table. Of course it is nice to see our athletes and representatives winning some medals, but we should not miss the fact that the countries that typically dominate international sports events, like the Olympics, are not taking part – namely: the United States, Russia and China.
 

I bought Massmart shares, after going shopping at Makro and I was impressed with the volumes of trades and how much each person was buying, despite the fact that there is a recession. I never had any idea at all that Walmart would come along and make a R34 billion offer to buy them out. That obviously has sent the share price rocketing up, but the 15 000 staff members of Massmart will be quite excited, because they all took part in the company’s share stream and are apparently going to walk away with about R100 000,00 each!
The Executive President of Walmart indicated that Walmart was investing in South Africa because, “SA is a true emerging market, with good GDP growth and an emerging consumer who has a desire and need for a traditional, low priced proposition.”
 

One of the things I believe in, when it comes to buying shares, is that you should only buy shares in companies that you know, and typically use their products. For example, I don’t use the products I have seen the professional hairstylists of GHD flying out of shops, and I hear from my staff that most of them now have them.

This is a product that has only been around for 8 or 9 years and if they were listed I would certainly buy their shares. Their own website says that their annual sales reached £12 million in 2003, by 2006 the sales were £75 million and a year later they were £115 million and I can assure you it is simply flying off the shelves in South Africa at the moment. I presume it is a private company, because I cannot find evidence of any listed company who owns it at the moment. According to websites, the secret to the product’s success is a revolutionary iron that straightens hair between two heated ceramic plates. GHD, by the way stands for “Good Hair Day”. In any event, the moral of the story is not how GHD might do wonders for women’s hair – it is a good example of how you should be trying to select and buy the shares that you hold.
 

The ANC NGC which took place in Durban seems to have been a fantastic success with the party elders, and those generally who talk sense, asserting their power and essentially, so the media say, shutting up the hotheads like Malema and others who were threatening all sorts of things. Some will say that nationalisation is to be discussed, but what is to be discussed has been so watered down, and with so many conditions, that it is quite clear that nationalisation is not something the ANC would consider at all. In other words, they essentially said they need to look at other issues such as health that is far more important and it appears in any event, those that raised the nationalisation issue really did not do so without any proper research, referring for example to the Zambian example as a motivation, whereas in actual fact in Zambia the mines fell apart after nationalisation and the government has had to call in business partners again!

The AARTO Act has been implemented in a few areas and on a pilot basis in Johannesburg since February last year. This is the system whereby you get demerit points and once you get 12 points, your driver’s licence will be suspended and after three suspensions you will lose your driver’s licence altogether. At the moment, apparently traffic offenders are being fined in terms of the AARTO Act, as opposed to the Criminal Procedure Act, and in terms of the AARTO Act, only 50% of the fine needs to be paid if the fine is paid within 32 days.

Inflation, this past month, hit the lowest figure in the last 10 years – at 3,5%. It is quite clear that next year’s salary negotiations and increases are going to be at the lowest levels also in the last decade, bearing in mind that the cost of living is now increasing at such a low rate.

Most employers use inflation as the most important guide when determining salary increases and obviously that is the figure that people are going to be looking at, apart from industries where there is little or no growth, in which case I think you are going to see a lot of zero increases next year – in other words, no increase at all.
 

Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, has announced that it is going to launch a new tablet device, to compete with Apple’s iPad, next year. At the moment that tablet is called The PlayBook. It is quite clear that these pads, which have still not arrived in South Africa are going to take away a lot of business from the sellers of Netbooks. The PlayBook is apparently going to be released in the United States in early 2011 and will start getting off to other international markets in the second quarter of 2011.

Masdar is meant to be the world’s first zero-carbon city on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. People have now started moving into the first section of this project. 90% of the power to be used in Masdar is solar and it has a network of electric cars which are buried underneath the city. No petrol-type cars are actually allowed to enter the city. Masdar is ultimately meant to have approximately 90 000 inhabitants, but neither you nor I will be able to simply choose to live there and the United Arab Emirates government will decide who the tenants of the city will be.

I enjoy reading the New York Times bestseller’s list to see which books are selling best in America and when it comes to fiction, the clear bestseller at the moment is a novel by Jonathan Franzen, called “Freedom”, which has been number one for a while and which is his first novel in 9 years. The non-fiction bestseller is the “Rand Design” by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow and Malcolm Gladwell and Outliers, continues to feature well as does another book I enjoyed reading by Michael Lewis, namely “The Big Short”. Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” is still doing well on the soft cover non-fiction list and some old books like “Freakonomics” are still on the top 20.

Business Week has run an article recently about Nokia and their falling fortune when it comes to the cell phone industry. The best investment advice I have for anybody is to essentially buy shares in the companies whose products you use, and my personal experience would be that I have not had a Nokia phone for 4 or 5 years, because I don’t think they have been making the best phones for the last 4 or 5 years. The article, and the magazine’s cover is, “The fallen king of Finland” and the article ends, somewhat negatively saying that Finland is not close enough to most of the world where technological developments.

I really enjoy the website www.dailymaverick.co.za which is largely written and run by the same people that did Maverick magazine, which had an all too short life and did not make it financially, but was certainly an editorial success. The site has cutting-edge articles and politically, they seem to be more astute than most media. I remember when all of the media were saying that Jacob Zuma would never become President, that Maverick ran an article saying that it was all over and done, bar the shouting, because ultimately it was simply about who would get the votes at Polokwane, and that Jacob Zuma had tied them all up – and at that particular time, which was about 6 months before the ANC’s meeting at Polokwane, no other media called it as well, and as accurately as they did in foreseeing the demise of Thabo Mbeki.