The property light on the horizon is looking a bit brighter ... again!
Category Blog
"The lens of fear magnifies the size of uncertainty" - Charles Swindoll, American pastor.
He also said: "Life is 10 per cent what happens to me and 90 per cent how I react to it."
Fence-sitting would-be home buyers may well be drawn out of their "wait-and-see" shell by a positive, thought-provoking, stance on State Reclamation by the eminent South African Political and Trend Analyst, Professor J P Landman, in the past week. Also, spring is around the corner!
It certainly has bullish implications for the long-languishing homes market. "Part of 'Ramaphoria' was the belief that the 'bad guys would lose'. That is certainly happening," says Landman.
The sentiment-driven homes market may well be poised right now for a long-awaited uptick.
People who were once untouchable have fallen from grace for all to see. Some have even been convicted already. The impunity of the Zuma years is slowly being reversed.
"The process is not over, with the Zondo Commission still in session and almost weekly revelations of bad-guy behaviour," says Landman.
"Civil society organisations have helped in this clean-up - and that speaks volumes for SA's democratic activism.
Remedial action
Given that the Ramaphosa administration's focus on rebuilding the ethical foundations of the State and revitalisation of the economy, Professor Landman lists the following remedial action achieved so far:
· Both the former No. 1 and 2 in SARS (Tom Moyane and Jonas Makwakwa) are gone - along with its "embarrassing" former head of IT (Ms Makheke- Mokhuane)
· The top three at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have also departed - and replaced by a woman with experience at the International Court in The Hague. She has set up a special investigative unit to focus on cases arising from State capture revelations)
· The former head, and acting head, of the Hawks have both been fired, while two captains and a warrant officer have been arrested for bribes
· Both the Durban mayor and a councilor have been arrested by the Hawks
· In the Free State, nine civil servants and a director of a company were arrested and charged
· In Limpopo the VBS report claimed the scalps of five mayors (who resigned) four more who were fired and three who were suspended. In the North West, three mayors resigned
· At SAPs, a deputy police Commissioner has been fired and six officers (at general or brigadier rank) have been charged
· Former head of Crime Intelligence Richard Mdluli was convicted in July (for offences committed 20 years ago)
· At Eskom, former big bosses Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh and Matshela Koko are gone
· At SAA, former Zuma acolyte Dudu Myeni is gone, while, at Transnet five executives (including the CEO) departed and eight more are on suspension.
Market uptrend
This high level of remedial activity bodes well for a sentiment uptick in the residential property market - not least because we are moving into Spring, which is historically an uptrend season for home buying and selling.
Author: Ronald Ennik
