After spending this past week in due diligence meetings with a raft of managers who feed into our funds, I found myself asking if we’re seeing a bit of a ‘bounce’ in sentiment here in the Beloved Country?

Let’s rather not dwell on the endless pessimism of the media for a moment and take a glance into the deeper discussions with business that our managers undertake – even this week’s business confidence index points to one out of three captains of industry feeling more positive about the environment within which they operate, up from one out of five a few months ago.

While it is certainly difficult to absorb this while typing along to the hum of suburban generators in the middle of Stage 6, the resilience of our private sector cannot be understated or underappreciated!

And although Eskom are (supposedly?) doing their level-best to keep the lights on, it warrants mentioning that it has been the private sector that actually deserve the accolades for us averting Stage 8 (or worse!) over winter.

Because, although Eskom blew R300 billion on coal-fired power stations that don’t work, once the government got out of the way and opened the door for self-generated power, rooftop solar installations are estimated to produce well over 4.5GW, and installations this year alone expected to top 3.2GW by year-end!

(For perspective, that’s more than Medupi puts out on its best days!)

So, while the government tries its best to undermine business – both large and small – the calibre of corporate leadership that we are blessed with in this country has continued to shine. And despite some of the most unimaginably difficult trading periods conceivable, Corporate South Africa has a good story to tell.

Amidst the daily absurdities and obstacles posed by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Competition Commission, and the parlous state of mediocrity across all arms of government, business leadership remain a beacon of light in the country.

Further relief should be found in the mis-match of political leaders’ rhetoric and narrative versus the actual policies that are being implemented – most likely driven by a combination of pragmatism and a government that has run out of both money and ideas, and is now being forced to play nicer with business and the private sector. Not to be too snarky, but long may this last!

Inflation also appears to have eased sufficiently to allow Central Banks to hit the pause button on rate hikes. This will hopefully inject a tad more optimism as businesses can more clearly plan and forecast knowing the actual cost of capital, and not just an estimate of how much higher rates may go… hopefully with some capex and head-count growth to boot.

For as long as the world’s economies continues to splutter along without much growth and a multitude of problems of their own, support from the rest of world will likely remain anaemic. But down here where its warm, things are looking a bit different. And it is not just the weather that has been improving – we may not quite be out the woods just yet, but the trees are certainly thinning…

As we settle into the Rugby World Cup and the last few months before the summer break, we can look forward to the build-up to next year’s national elections and the hope of a more engaged, adept, and representative government to capitalise on what our exemplary private sector are doing and creating for our beautiful country.

Wishing the Boks a hearty “Veels Geluk” as they carry the hopes and dreams of our nation on their shoulders in France, and a Chag Sameach to all our Jewish clients and investors for the New Year ahead.