While there can be no doubt that golfer earn more than any other sports people, I have discovered recently that the cricketers are earning far more than I anticipated. I pretty much had regard to the national and provincial packages that they get plus the bonus schemes they get when they do well in a major tournament. I did not realise that they are as lucky enough to be auctioned off at the Indian IPL cricket auction every year, actually get whatever they are auctioned for, less 10% tax only, each year for three years! In other words, if you are auctioned off for $400 000,00, essentially for your 6 or 8 weeks of IPL cricket, you now get a guaranteed, after tax $360 000,00 a year for three years! Have a great month just before the auction, like J P Duminy had in Australia some years ago, and the $900 000,00 you were auctioned for will essentially make you rich for life!

Vodacom is encouraging people to register on their website to pre-book their iPhone 4 which they claim will be released in South Africa in September. Apparently more than 90 000 iPhones have already been sold in South Africa and no doubt the new iPhone, when it arrives, will be a huge success.

The All Blacks are going to be playing South Africa at Soccer City at the end of August, and the tickets went on sale on 12 July 2010. I had my staff attend at the Computicket offices, because as usual, the Computicket website, www.computicket.com went down. It amazes me that whether it is FIFA or Computicket, these companies simply cannot get the technology right to be able to handle a lot of bookings for a big event on the same day. It amazes me, because it is always the same problem, it always has been and it has been going on for probably 10 years. One would have thought by now that ticketing companies or companies that are selling tickets for concerts or sports events would have this right, and you would be able to buy a ticket without any problems – but unfortunately that is not the case.

It is amazing how quickly half the country suddenly realise how dependent they are on a cable for Internet, when that cable runs into problems as has happened with Seacom recently. I was so happy at that time that I had not yet closed my Telkom ADSL accounts, because Telkom is obviously using a different cable and I was able to switch my offices and my house onto the Telkom bandwidth that I have bought, and carried on using the Internet.

A few years ago I doubt there would have been an uproar on radio shows and in the newspapers about Internet connectivity or the lack thereof, so it is clear how quickly everybody has become dependent on their ability to browse, in particular, international sites.

I had a flight two years ago that left me in Paris, for the first time in my life, for about 6 hours and as luck would have it, it was the day of the final stage of the Tour de France where they basically race around the Champs de Elysées approximately 10 times. There were helicopters above, I managed to run past the Eiffel Tower and get to the cyclists for their last 2 or 3 turns and the thing that surprised me, although it is probably true of most sports events, was there really was not that much excitement in the people watching the cyclists go by. It was actually quite depressing to see how little excitement there was, and in most of the places the crowd was no more than say two people deep. One sometimes gets an impression from television coverage that millions of people are lining the streets of an event and are all dedicated to the event and while they might be excited the first time people go past them, or in the Comrades Marathon when the first five or ten runners go past them, they seem to lose enthusiasm quite quickly. I imagine that cycling is probably one of those events, and if they are riding 150 kilometres in a day, you really are not going to see much by lining the street to watch the peloton blur passed you in approximately 15 seconds and that is that! Without television, I very much doubt the sport would have the popularity it does.

One of the good features introduced at the new King Shaka Airport is that they now have an airport shuttle, which has apparently been running since 6 June and for R50,00 it takes you either to Umhlanga Rocks or to Durban itself. They run every 15 minutes, they are pretty fast and speedy and I certainly found it a very affordable and fast way to get to my destination. There seems to be some concern that it might not continue, as it would obviously depend on whatever support there is after the World Cup, but I certainly hope that it does and it is something that is necessary if Durban wants to become a tourist destination. Police on the beach everywhere is also very important and essential – not just for Durban by the whole of the country.

Louis Oosthuizen’s win in the British Open will surprise many, given that he was quoted at 200-1 at the start of the weekend. I took quite a decent bet on him on Friday at 4-1, as he ran out a 7 shot victor of the British Open. I really don’t think he was as much of a surprise as people think he is – and certainly not to two of my friends who were dragged off to the Country Club Johannesburg, to the Woodmead course in February to march around following him for the last 9 holes of the Telkom PGA. He did not win on that occasion, but 2 or 3 years ago he absolutely walked away from the field winning by 12 or 13 shots.

The quality of golf is very good in South Africa and anybody who can win a local tournament, at Country Club Johannesburg, by 13 shots, is quite frankly good enough to win anywhere in the world. It was also obvious that he enjoys front running, and if you had asked me to lay a bet then, my bet would have been not only was he going to win, but that he would win by further, which is what he did, because it is not the first time that he has done that. In any event, if there is one more instance of being made extremely proud by our South African golfers, who really continue to cover themselves in glory. He no doubt will enjoy the approximately R10 million he won, and his caddy, picking up approximately 10% is going to have a R1 million pay day!
 

I think that the Receiver of Revenue is going to get some incredible information out of the FICA compliance that one is required to undergo. There is not a week where I don’t have to redo some document relating to some or other debt, cell phone contract or something like that, and even if you own shares, you have to indicate now to a stockbroker what your tax number is and all sorts of other information.

Not only is it incredibly time-consuming, but one must assume that they are really building the most incredible database so that ultimately when all of the systems start talking to each other, they are going to pick up some people who don’t pay tax at all, one assumes, who own huge houses, and have lots of shares. In any event, I assume that that is the purpose of all of these documents and if it helps everybody to pay their fair share, then no doubt it will be worthwhile. I only hope that the software is in fact good enough to make sense of all the data they are getting.
 

I see that another new newspaper is said to be released in South Africa. It is going to be called “The New Age” and more details of it will be announced later by Dr Essop Pahad. We’ve already had one quality newspaper, from a Nigerian group, go bankrupt in South Africa in the form of “This Day”, and it apparently never picked up more than 20 000 readers a day and we already have “The Times” essentially been given away free to “Sunday Times” subscribers during the week, so I cannot possibly imagine that this is a good financial decision.

Maybe I am just unlucky when I fly Kulula, and so is my mother, but there does not ever appear to be a time when their flights run on time. During the World Cup one had little other option, because SAA seemed to have no flights and perhaps I was lucky that I got a Kulula flight early on the day of the Spain v Germany match, given that many other commercial flights had to be turned around, for the excess private jets parked at King Shaka International Airport.

It however becomes a major inconvenience, if you are flying relatively short distances between cities like Durban and Johannesburg, to continually find not only does your flight not take off at 3.30pm as scheduled, but the plane that you are going to be getting on only arrives from another destination at 3.43pm and then takes a further 30 minutes to be ready before taking off one hour late at 4:30. It appears that their flights routinely run at least an hour over deadline, and I would be quite happy to live with that, if only one actually knew beforehand and could arrive at the airport an hour later because ultimately, from the time you leave to the airport, to when you arrive at home, you may as well have driven, if they are going to run so far behind time.
 

Amazon has released the latest version of the Kindle, which is an electronic reader and which allegedly has a 50% better contrast for clearer text. Electronic books are certainly the way of the future and the real question is whether or not the iPhone and/or the iPad will get the better, in terms of retailing E-Books with Amazon. Amazon is the leading retailer and from a personal point of view, I think owning shares in both Apple and Amazon is a good idea, but I would not like to pick a winner in this particular battle.

The third of the four majors in golf takes place this weekend, at the home of golf, St Andrews. The British Open has previously been won by Tiger Woods when it has been held at St Andrews and obviously he will be hoping to do so again, although he has been very much off form since his return to golf.

Golf is not really a sport that you can play well when you are not mentally focused and happy, and one assumes that until his home life is sorted out, that we are not going to see Tiger doing that well. Phil Mickelson, who is number 2 in the world, could become number 1 in the world any day soon, if Tiger continues to play way below what he is capable of.
 

I attended the FIFA World Cup semi-final between Germany and Spain at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban. I must say that I was very impressed by the stadium and is most probably the most beautiful of all the stadiums that I have been to, but it does not have the same capacity to hold huge numbers like Soccer City does, and the other weakness is that the stands are too far away from the action. From the shape of the field, to me, it looks like they plan to put an athletics track in and people that are sitting behind the goal posts would be, for example, 30 metres further back from the action than they might be in a similar seat at either Ellis Park or at Soccer City and even up in the stands, alongside the field, where I was, one felt that one was sitting far further back from the action than I was in similar seats in Soccer City.

At night, certain parts of the stadium almost resemble a giant UFO, and it looks ideal to host pop concerts. The location, right next to the Suncoast Casino and the sea is also a superb one, and the entire precinct was clean and smart.
 

The clearing by the IAAF of Caster Semenya to compete again in athletics events, makes one wonder what was wrong in the first place, and why on earth it took them so long to come to this decision. As a professional athlete she must have lost millions in the ensuing time.

I’ve always had a keen interest in athletics and have run over the years myself, although obviously not at that level. The one thing I can tell, is a star athlete, when I see one running, and the way she decimated the field last year, and continually improved her times were indicative of an athlete who will not only dominate her sport, but break world records. One has to simply hope that the one year out, together with all the emotional trauma has not ruined her and that she will be able to go out on the track, and once again crush her opposition.
 

In terms of the new laws, there are no limits on passengers’ claims, although they don’t qualify for much compensation either. In terms of the old Road Accident Fund Act, a passenger’s claim was limited to R25 000,00. A recent judgment has held that this limit is unconstitutional and the matter will now no doubt be taken on appeal by the Road Accident Fund.

I am quite sure that they will be unsuccessful, and it is something I reported in my legal newsletter more than a year ago, and placed on record at that time that my firm had taken the same point in pleadings in a number of our bigger passenger cases but which unfortunately the defendants either had not picked up or reacted to. In other words, we have pleaded that the limit is unconstitutional, in a number of our bigger cases, for the last two years or so with the intent of taking this matter to the Constitutional Court. I am only sorry that other attorneys will get there first!

It seems a lot of attorneys have always been reluctant to bring a challenge on this basis, thinking that the Constitutional Court had heard this case before, whereas they always confuse the fact that a Johannesburg firm at that time brought a challenge based on the new Constitution, but for a case that had happened before the new Constitution came into effect in 1994. The Constitutional Court rejected their argument largely on the basis that the legislation could not be retrospective and it appears that leading firms of attorneys took this to mean that the passenger case limit was valid when in fact clearly it was not.

In any event, there is some way to go still, with the case being heard, but attorneys should not settle any substantial cases, that exceed the R25 000,00 limit, before this matter is finalised, as I warned in an article in my newsletter at www.legalnewsletter.co.za a year ago.
 

I attended the final and was quite lucky to have seats on the centre line, albeit fairly high up. The atmosphere before the game was absolutely amazing and I think the whole event was really something I would remember and that I am certainly very happy not to have missed. One expects a tight defensive game of football in the final and that is what we got in Spain, who seems to specialise in scoring only one goal, snatched the victory with 3 minutes to go at the end of over time.
The highlights were many – and they would include Nelson Mandela on the pitch, Shakira doing her Waka Waka, the closing ceremony, the lighting during the closing ceremony which really looked far better in the stadium than on TV, although everything looks good on TV and the wonderful atmosphere and sense of pride in South Africa.
 

I recently enjoyed a round of golf at Serengeti Golf Estate which is an estate approximately 50 km from OR Tambo International Airport. From Fourways, it is approximately a 35 minute drive and its greatest asset as a golf estate, apart from a lovely design, is that it uses cool season grasses which results in the course remaining green throughout the year - and it is a lush green grass which is wonderful to play off in the middle of winter!

There is also a par 5 hole with an island green, featured in my picture alongside this article, which I unfortunately 3 putted having got there in regulation. I played it on a very windy cold day, but really enjoyed it and was also impressed by the clubhouse and the conference facilities.
 

The July Handicap is going to be run at the end of July this year, having moved from its traditional place on the first Saturday of July in favour of the FIFA World Cup. I always get asked who I like and whether I have a horse running and the short answer is that I’ve never had a horse running in July, and that generally I like horses that have fast finishing times, because the Greyville straight is so short and it really does not give horses a fair opportunity to get going – and it is another reason why it is not advisable to actually be betting on this particular race! The current favourite is Irish Flame at 9/2, followed by Fort Vogue at 11/2 and River Jetez at 30/2, Bold Silvano at 7/1 and Aslan at 17/2.

Another South African born player has been doing very well on the PGA Golf circuit in America recently, only he does not represent South Africa. Justin Rose, who was born in Johannesburg, and is now based in America, plays for England. At one stage three or four of their cricket team players seem to be South Africans and it is not the only sport that have benefited from South African talent!

Justin has won two events on the PGA tour this year, and that is no mean feat – given that the prize for the first place in each event is almost always over $1 million alone and obviously hotly contested!
 

On Friday evening I went to the Ghana v Uruguay match and like most South Africans I certainly hoped that Uruguay would be knocked out of the tournament by Holland. It is simply unacceptable that a player can stand on the line, and save a certain goal and then is penalised with a penalty where the conversion rate was typically about 80%.

In other words, a 100% certainty of a goal turns into an 80% chance of a goal and I think that spoils the sport compared to say rugby, where the referee is entitled to apply his mind and award a penalty try which certainly should have been done in the Ghana game. It becomes a laugh if a sport that is designed around people kicking the ball with their feet turns into netball or basket ball in the goal area with deliberate hand balls.

I caught the train to and from the game from Park Station in Johannesburg and while the train station was clean and the overall experience was good, particularly the spirit on the train, although a vuvuzela being blown by a child in your ear in an enclosed space in a train is not always exciting, but the trains are far too slow. The train there took 35 minutes to get to the ground, which I would imagine is only a few kilometres south of Johannesburg and on the way back, at 11:40, it was a little bit faster but still took 25 minutes to the station. Obviously, the advantage is that once you arrive at the station, you are in Braamfontein and downtown Johannesburg, and have easy access to all of the highways without any congestion, although it does appear that the entire northern suburbs and Pretoria are at the games, because the highway is the busiest you will ever see it at midnight!
 

Now that we are down to four teams only, the betting has narrowed considerably. Germany are currently 2-1 favourites to win the World Cup, which essentially means that they would win it one out of three times according to the bookies. Spain is the second favourite at 22-10, followed by Holland at 22-10 and Uruguay at 14-1. In short, what the bookies are saying is that Holland will easily account for Uruguay and that between Spain and Germany, they don’t really know who will win, but that whoever wins that game is likely to be the favourites to win the World Cup.

The frost came very early this year and far more savagely in most years, and it is amazing how green grass and bushes suddenly and overnight become dry and different shades of red, brown, white and grey. I actually happen to love the look, because sometimes when everything is green, it all looks pretty much the same, and there is a great beauty in the dry look, although not necessarily on a golf course! I took this particular picture of a frosty day at Dainfern, and you can see that most of the golf course after 8am in the morning was still covered in a heavy layer of frost.