Yesterday I went to the annual Cape Town International Kite Festival, organised by Cape Mental Health at Youngsfield Military Base in Ottery. What a fantastic time I had. I was in my element.

I’ve always loved flying kites, ever since I was a child. I remember making my own kites and flying them on Clovelly Beach in Cape Town. Later, when I was living in Randburg, I always had a kite ready for the windy months of August, when I enjoyed many hours flying it. Years ago, I also bought a beautiful kite for my son and daughter, which we used to fly together. I bought it in Kalk Bay while we were still living in Randburg.

I don’t know exactly what it is about kites that appeals to me so much. Perhaps it’s the colour against the blue sky, the interesting shapes or the sheer delight of watching a kite ride the wind and climb into the thermals. Once it’s airborne, it almost seems to develop a personality of its own, responding to the wind as you control it with a long string.

Whatever the attraction, I was in my element yesterday.

A carnival of colour and humanity

The festival was a wonderful spectacle. There were food stalls, craft and gift stalls, children’s rides and all the activity you’d expect at a carnival.

Coca-Cola had a large truck, with a woman standing on a stage throwing sweets to the children, many of whom arrived in droves. You could see the joy and enthusiasm on their faces. For many of these youngsters, it was clearly a very special outing, and one that would probably remain in their memories for a long time.

There were some scary-looking rides, too. Little cars went round and round, while the Mexican Hat spun its passengers about. Another contraption swirled and turned in a way that made my stomach churn just watching it. Count me out of that sort of entertainment!

Thank goodness the wind eventually picked up. This is Cape Town, after all, and a kite festival without wind would be a rather frustrating affair. The wind had eased overnight, and I imagine there were a few anxious participants wondering whether it would return. Fortunately, it did.

Even better, we had glorious sunshine. Cape Town has endured weeks of cold, wintry weather, so it was a pleasure to be outdoors in the warmth, surrounded by people enjoying themselves.

The food was part of the attraction. Parents were buying packets of chips, hamburgers, those amusing spiral-cut potatoes served on sticks, calamari, fish and all sorts of sweets and treats, including koeksisters. There was plenty to keep everyone happy, and the parents seemed to be enjoying the occasion almost as much as their children.

And everywhere you looked, children were flying kites. There were inexpensive kites available to buy, and the sky was filled with a colourful frenzy of them. It was a delight to see so many youngsters discovering the simple pleasure of getting a kite airborne.

International kite-flyers

Away from the carnival atmosphere was a more specialised area where international participants and members of the Western Cape Kite Flying Association gathered to fly their kites.

It was a much more relaxed scene. Some people sat in their camping chairs, sipping cold beers or cool drinks, while others concentrated on their kites. I noticed French children who had come with their parents, flying smaller kites that were beautiful in their own right.

I spoke to a man involved in Cape Mental Health’s transport arrangements for the festival, including the international visitors. He told me that participants had come from Germany, France and Austria, among other countries.

He also mentioned the price of some of the more elaborate kites. One, he said, cost around €7,000. Imagine spending that sort of money on a kite!

It gave me a glimpse of the serious side of what might otherwise appear to be a simple childhood pastime. For some people, kite-flying is an art form, a technical challenge and a passion that takes them around the world.

An event that brings people together

The man also told me about the festival’s previous venues. It had been held around Lakeside and Muizenberg in the past, but security concerns had contributed to the move to Youngsfield.

It would be wonderful to see an event like this held on a beach again. Muizenberg’s Surfers Corner might eventually be an option, once the redevelopment work has settled down. Long Beach at Kommetjie is another possibility, although there are practical considerations to take into account.

Youngsfield, however, is an excellent venue. It is centrally situated and draws people from neighbouring communities, including many who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend an event of this kind.

The organisation was impeccable. It was as good as anything you’d expect at a major corporate function. There was ample parking, the admission charges were reasonable, and security personnel were on hand around the perimeter and near the parked cars. Everything seemed well managed, and I saw no unpleasant incidents.

What I enjoyed most, though, was the atmosphere.

There is something special about going to a festival where people mill about, queue for rides, buy food, chat to one another and watch kites filling the sky. Young and old, people from different backgrounds and communities, all gathered in one place to enjoy themselves.

It was a celebration of colour and humanity, and yesterday the weather added the finishing touch.

More than just a kite festival

There is also a deeper purpose behind the event.

The Cape Town International Kite Festival began in 1994 and has become established as Africa’s oldest kite festival. Organised by Cape Mental Health, it uses the uplifting spectacle of kites in the sky to raise awareness of mental health and challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness.

The festival also raises funds for the organisation’s work supporting people with mental health challenges, including children and adults in under-resourced communities. It combines entertainment with a worthwhile social purpose, bringing people together while helping to sustain essential community services.

That makes the occasion all the more meaningful.

For me, however, yesterday was also a reminder of the simple pleasures that can stay with us throughout our lives. I may have grown older, but put me in a field filled with colourful kites, a decent breeze and people enjoying themselves, and I’m as happy as a child.

Hats off to Cape Mental Health and everyone involved in organising such a superb event. I look forward to going again.

Articles are surfacing about renewed interest among American scientists in the threat of asteroids hitting Earth. It reminds me of the film Space Cowboys, starring Tommy Lee Jones, about a group of ageing astronauts called out of retirement to deal with a space emergency.

If you look at the history of large asteroids and other objects hitting Earth, the potential consequences are frightening. The 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia caused enormous damage, flattening thousands of square kilometres of forest. It was a relatively small object by asteroid standards.

The threat of a much larger asteroid striking Earth is considered a low-probability but high-consequence risk. It is unlikely to happen in our lifetime, but if it did, the devastation could be catastrophic. So why are scientists taking such an interest in the subject now?

An asteroid roughly three kilometres across could cause global devastation, although impacts of this magnitude are estimated to occur only once every several million years. Smaller objects capable of causing widespread regional destruction are more frequent, but remain extremely rare on human timescales.

The good news is that authorities say there are no known serious asteroid threats to Earth over at least the next 100 years. That doesn’t mean the risk is zero, however, and scientists are working on ways to protect the planet should a dangerous object be detected.

NASA has already made progress. In 2022, its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into Dimorphos, a small asteroid moon, successfully changing its orbit around its parent asteroid. The experiment demonstrated that a spacecraft could alter an asteroid’s trajectory. Given sufficient warning, such a small nudge could potentially prevent a future collision.

Scientists are also investigating other deflection methods, including nuclear devices, while international teams participate in exercises designed to test how they would respond to a potential impact.

The question is whether we are adequately prepared for an event that could have devastating consequences. The chances of a major impact are remote, but the consequences are sufficiently serious to justify research and preparation.

Hollywood has long been fascinated by the prospect. Armageddon, the 1998 blockbuster starring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck, imagined a Texas-sized asteroid hurtling towards Earth. Space Cowboys, released in 2000, featured Tommy Lee Jones and a team of ageing former astronauts confronting a different space-related crisis.

The films are entertaining, if not particularly scientific. But the underlying question is a serious one: if we discovered a large asteroid heading towards Earth, could we stop it?

Scientists are working towards an answer. And perhaps that is why the subject deserves more attention than it usually receives.

Further reading: Zero Hedge examines the renewed concern about asteroid impacts and the efforts being made to prepare for one.

Why Are Scientists Suddenly So Concerned About an Asteroid Hitting Earth? — Zero Hedge

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

For this Friday business news wrap, we look at a few items that crossed our path this week.

The first was my reading of King Rat by James Clavell. At the end of the book, and I don’t want to give away any spoilers, the whole system collapses and people who once had power no longer have it. The ideas that supported the system, although wrong and sometimes barbaric, collapse with it. Their usefulness has come to an end.

It’s strange, but this got me thinking about the demise of CNA, the stationer and newsagent. I’m still thinking about it a lot. The need for stationery and similar items hasn’t disappeared, as PNA has demonstrated by picking up some of the market CNA left behind. I’d love to know what happened within CNA. It seems to me that the world changed around the company, while those in power continued operating within the old system. They no longer had the fresh ideas needed to save it.

Some retailers, meanwhile, have been capturing their markets for decades. Clicks released sound results this week, while Boxer, the wholesale and discount retailer, also performed well. These are companies that understand their customers and cater to their needs. They aren’t trying to reinvent demand; they’re meeting it. And they’re proving that the formula works.

Afrimat, the construction group, released satisfactory results this week, as did Famous Brands, the food franchise operation.

Speaking of Famous Brands, I sometimes crave a good old-fashioned Wimpy burger. But the classic burger now costs R100. It’s interesting to compare prices. When I was at Cape Town International Airport about three weeks ago, I had that same burger at Wimpy. Afterwards, I leafed through the menu and discovered that a mixed grill was approaching R300. The steak on the menu was also expensive — more than I would pay for a meal at a fine restaurant. In fact, I recently enjoyed a pepper fillet at a restaurant in Glencairn for less.

An interesting issue raised its head this week in Kalk Bay, where residents are furious with the owner of a restaurant operating on railway-leased land. New construction has effectively obliterated the children’s pool that was there.

But what really caught my eye was the residents’ call for musicians to boycott the restaurant by refusing to perform there. This seems unfair to the musicians.

I don’t know exactly who these residents are, but Kalk Bay is now one of the pricier places to live along the False Bay coastline, and many of its residents are presumably well-heeled. I found myself wondering how much skin they would put in the game themselves.

It just doesn’t seem right to ask struggling musicians to sacrifice paid performances. As we know, live music has battled in the aftermath of COVID, and musicians have always had a tough time making a living. To ask them to forgo a paying gig without offering an alternative seems unfair. It really doesn’t add up.

On the national mid-term budget, all I can say is that the levy relief, albeit small, is welcome. The finance minister is also focusing on providing capital injections and supporting capital formation so that the economy can become more productive.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. This is particularly true in a downbeat economy where everyone is striving to make a buck. Some have got it right and are living well. Others, and there are many, are struggling.

The more we understand where the opportunities lie, the better positioned we are to take advantage of them.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

So much advice is dished out, not only on the internet and social media, but also by people you meet, who give you all sorts of advice. Then there’s this cringe-worthy advice that radio jocks give. They’re basic homilies, sort of motherhood and apple pie stuff. I mean, really, who are they trying to impress? And they say it in the sincerest of voices, as if this is special knowledge.

Now I’m not decrying pieces of wisdom, particularly personally earned pieces of wisdom. That’s another story. But to trot out platitudes on all sorts of things, like life, health and relationships, come on, man. What gives them the right to say all this stuff?

And worst of all, on the radio yesterday was an absolute bore who gave all sorts of modern woo-woo advice with no scientific basis. He didn’t allow the presenter to get a word in edgeways, and she didn’t even challenge him on anything. She just sort of oohed and aahed, and that was it.

Luckily, you can just turn the radio down, and then you can’t hear it any more.

So what’s happening with where people get advice? And let’s not just talk about ordinary advice, like how to cook a meal or protect yourself from sunburn. Let’s talk about psychologists, especially clinical psychologists. Are they under threat from AI?

If you dig into this, you’ll find all sorts of opinions about what AI might mean for clinical psychologists.

For people in rural areas, including those in poorer countries such as South Africa and India, access to psychological services can be limited by cost and distance. AI offers an alternative. You can ask questions, describe what you’re experiencing and get a response without having to pay for a consultation.

And it’s not only people who cannot afford a psychologist who are turning to AI. Some use it to explore symptoms, wondering whether they might have depression, anxiety, ADHD or another condition.

This can be a useful starting point. AI might help people put their concerns into words and decide whether they need professional help. But an initial self-assessment is not a clinical diagnosis, however convincing the chatbot sounds.

What about more serious problems? An armed robbery, a brutal assault, abuse, a nasty divorce or a life-threatening illness can leave people struggling to cope.

Some might turn to AI for help, particularly if they cannot afford professional assistance. But this is where the limitations become more apparent. A clinical psychologist can explore a person’s background, ask probing questions and build an understanding of what is happening over time. AI can offer sympathetic responses, but sounding understanding and actually understanding someone are two different things.

Some people would say, of course, that you can solve your own problems. Just ask a friend. Somebody once said to me, “What do you need a psychologist for? Your friend can tell you if you’re an asshole or not.”

But that’s really superficial advice. A psychologist can help change your perception of something, or of yourself, which can be useful. A friend might give you an honest opinion, but that is not the same as professional psychological help.

Having said that, perhaps the over-reliance on psychologists has become too much these days. Not every unhappy experience requires a diagnosis, and not every difficult period in life calls for therapy. Sometimes we’re simply going through a rough patch and have to find our own way through it.

A useful tool, not a replacement

AI is also being used by psychologists themselves, including for administrative work and preparing educational material. So the technology may prove useful to the profession rather than simply taking business away from it.

The greater concern is that people may put too much faith in what AI tells them. A chatbot can sound authoritative while giving incorrect information, overlooking important symptoms or offering reassurance when someone needs professional help.

So are clinical psychologists really under threat from AI? Probably not in the way some might imagine. AI seems to be becoming a first port of call for some people seeking psychological advice, particularly those who cannot afford professional services. But there is a considerable difference between asking a chatbot about your problems and having a trained professional assess them.

AI might help you work out what you want to ask. It might even help you recognise that you need help. But a convincing answer isn’t necessarily a correct one. And when it comes to your mental health, that distinction matters.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

The rise of forecourt convenience stores was unfortunate for corner cafés. Many went out of business as the forecourt drive took over. There are now billions being made from forecourts.

But forecourt convenience stores come in many shapes and sizes, from the smallest grubby little ones to ones that look like smaller versions of modern supermarkets.

With petrol prices rocketing to levels that put pressure on household budgets, forecourt convenience stores face a growing challenge, amongst other competitive forces: how to persuade motorists to spend money in their shops when they’re already paying so much to fill their tanks.

Well, there are others that are, you know, working, the bakkie brigade, for example. They’ll come there and they’ll want to buy a sausage roll or a cup of coffee from the forecourt.

That gets onto the story of what people now want from those forecourt stores and what the forecourt store owners are doing. Basically they’re repositioning to find the biggest sellers, foodstuffs and other stuff that provide convenience, and any other convenience like coffee, ATMs, hot foods and deep-cut specials.

Well, this is all in theory, but let’s see how it pans out, because many people would still go to the corner store, although they are now owned by foreign nationals and they’ve dug themselves right inside residential communities, such as Kensington B for one in Randburg.

Talking about Randburg, there’s a forecourt shop there called Mnandi Market where the demographics of the market are such that the forecourt store is catering for that, having very cheap cake and bread and all sorts of cheap lines that draw people in from their cars after they’ve filled up with petrol, or they come there just to buy from that store.

It’s also got, last time I went into that store, was Bootlegger’s. Can you believe that? In a sort of downmarket area, they have a Bootlegger’s.

All of this is about trying to capture additional revenue, and that’s the problem with a lot of these filling stations, because their margins are pretty slim on the petrol. So they’re beefing up their margins with these stores that they’ve got. So the better these stores, the more money they make.

When I lived at the intersection between Craighall, Blairgowrie and Bordeaux, there was a forecourt opposite where I lived, and they had a very good mix of all sorts of things, from doughnuts to pizzas and Seattle Coffee, and they were trying out new things all the time. Oh yes, and they had their own menu of slap chips and hot dog rolls and all of that type of stuff. And they are well supported by the franchisor for specials on groceries.

Yet when you see the same type of franchise operating here in, say, Fish Hoek, there’s a poky, tiny little store with very little to offer, except a coffee machine and a few sausage rolls warming in an oven, and from time to time they have specials on fruit and vegetables, but that’s basically all.

So you have top stores to those that are really struggling. And the reason is because they’re not spending money. In other words, you’ve got to build proper facilities, shelving, equipment, etc. And if you’re not prepared to do that, well, you’re not really in the game.

You take a small main road like Fish Hoek Main Road, where you have four service stations, each with forecourt shops. The competition is pretty high, which brings another side to it.

With so many forecourt shops around, competition is intensifying. The smart operators know that selling petrol is no longer enough. They have to give customers a reason to stop, shop and spend.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

A lot of people are complaining about the weather here in Cape Town. People are wearing three layers of clothing because it’s so cold. Some say it feels exactly like winter, except there are more daylight hours. What’s going on? Have the winters now extended themselves? Is it because of global warming?

Meanwhile, in Johannesburg, people are diving for pools. They are having two to three showers a day, and the heat there is sweltering hot, up over the thirty-degree Celsius mark. So, this is very strange weather behaviour in Johannesburg. It seems like they don’t have spring anymore. They just go straight from winter into summer.

Yet in Cape Town, everyone was expecting, you know, things to improve around about the 21st of September. Here we are a month later, and it just goes on and on, and the weather forecast is very much the same for the next ten days. So when will summer come? No one knows. When will spring come? Or is this the type of spring now that we can expect? It’s crazy. Pity the retailers who are trying to make a killing from beachwear and summer outfits this season.

I passed, that was already about a month and a half ago, a shop, I think it was the White House, with a beautiful display of beachwear and beach towels. And I was thinking to myself, wow, what a different thing to be here in the Cape and see a display like this for beachwear, when in Johannesburg you would see summer swimwear but for pools.

Yet the problem I’m Cape Town is, where are the sales? Where are the people on the beach? The beach is too cold for people. Some people are even saying that they want to move away from the coast next year because of this cold that just persists.

So despite this rush to the coast by mainly retirees and people trying to get out of Johannesburg, now people are trying to go back to Johannesburg.

The weather in Cape Town is a big factor, and you’ve got to be able to handle lots of rainy weather, biting cold when the wind comes straight from the ocean, mainly southerlies in False Bay, and you’ve got to live with these miserable overcast days. And, you know, people in South Africa, they’re used to sunshine. So when the sun doesn’t shine, they’re not really in high spirits.

Anyway, we’ll take a brief look at what’s really going on with these weather patterns.

It feels like winter has overstayed its welcome in Cape Town, with freezing water temperatures keeping the beaches empty well into October while Joburgers are diving into pools and showering several times a day in a scorched-earth heatwave. According to meteorologists, this stark contrast comes down to a stubborn meteorological tug-of-war. Persistent, slow-moving cold fronts sweeping up from the South Atlantic continue to lock the Western Cape in a chilly marine microclimate, while the adjacent ocean—slow to shed its winter chill—acts like a massive natural air conditioner, keeping the coastal air damp and cold.

At the same time, high-pressure systems sitting over the interior are trapping intense sunshine and baking the Highveld. Weather experts note that these transitional seasons are increasingly prone to getting “stuck” due to atmospheric volatility and blocking pressure patterns.

While older locals in Cape Town might fondly recall strolling around in shorts and T-shirts even in winter years ago, these days climate disruption seems to stretch out the cold, leaving them shivering in the low teens while the rest of the country sizzles.

I think a lot of people, including many business people, can’t wait for summer, real summer weather, because then they can start making money hand over fist again.

Monday Morning Reckoning

News of violent unrest in Paris, amid protests against immigration, brings home a question that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: are governments failing their people across the world?

Immigration has become a major political issue throughout Europe, including Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. The United States has its own problems.

In South Africa citizens took to the streets this year to protest against illegal immigration, forcing foreign nationals out of their communities. How successful these efforts have been is difficult to establish, particularly when reliable statistics are lacking.

But immigration is only one symptom of a much bigger problem. What has happened to governments?

In the United States, military action against another country has sent oil prices soaring, leaving ordinary citizens around the world to pay the price.

In South Africa, healthcare, education, social services and infrastructure are all under pressure. Corruption and the apparent inability to manage basic public services have become persistent features of the national life.

Governments are supposed to serve their citizens. People pay taxes and expect safe streets, functioning schools, accessible healthcare and reliable infrastructure. These are not unreasonable demands. They are the basic obligations of government.

Then there are the countries from which people flee in search of better lives. What has gone badly wrong in their own countries that they are prepared to leave everything behind? Or is the immigration orchestrated? The resulting migration places pressure on the countries receiving them, creating another set of problems for governments ill-equipped to deal with them.

The question is whether systems of government are still fit for purpose. Democracy has its shortcomings, not least politicians who appear more interested in retaining power than solving problems. But what is the alternative?

There seems no obvious replacement for government as the organising principle of society. The challenge is to make governments more accountable, competent and responsive to the people they serve.

Good news to end on

An old friend sent me an article about The Citizen newspaper, which is performing strongly and growing younger readers. This is encouraging news in an industry where newspapers are collapsing around the world.

The irony is that The Citizen was once a detested publication. Yet The Citizen has thrived. The leftist liberal publications that condemned it have disappeared long ago. The Citizen retains an editorial balance, offers objective reporting and commentary, and is an entertaining read. That last quality matters more than newspaper executives realise. The Citizen offers a reminder of good things that just get better.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

How high can you price your product or service? There is no simple answer. It depends on what you are selling, who your customers are, what your competitors charge and, most importantly, what customers believe your product or service is worth.

Many businesses take a straightforward approach to pricing. They calculate their costs, add a profit margin and then look at what their competitors are charging. If everybody in the neighbourhood charges R500 a day for house-sitting, for example, that becomes the going rate.

But what if your product or service offers something better than the competition? Could you charge more?

This is where pricing becomes interesting, particularly for businesses offering something distinctive rather than a standard product or service.

A conversation about cookware recently got me thinking about this.

Consider a company such as Carol Boyes, which sells designer tableware and other household products at premium prices. Four of its sketchbook-designed plates can cost around R1,500, depending on the range. Customers are paying for more than the basic function of a plate. They are buying the design, the brand and the appeal of owning something distinctive.

Now consider a retailer such as Home Stuff at Ferndale on Republic shopping centre in Randburg. Its range includes Mason Cash mixing bowls from England, Guzzini glassware from Italy, Le Creuset cookware and an extensive selection of Maxwell Williams products.

These are different brands, products and price points, catering to customers with different preferences and budgets.

The examples illustrate why pricing is not simply a matter of calculating costs and adding a profit margin. Some customers want a functional product at a reasonable price. Others are prepared to pay more for design, quality, brand reputation or exclusivity.

Three ways to approach pricing

There are three common approaches to pricing.

Cost-plus pricing means calculating what it costs to produce or supply a product and adding a profit margin. It helps ensure that costs are covered, but it does not necessarily reflect what customers might be prepared to pay.

Competition-based pricing means looking at what other businesses charge for similar products or services. This is useful in markets where customers can easily compare prices, but it can lead to businesses simply copying their competitors.

Value-based pricing takes a different approach. It considers what the product or service is worth to the customer. That value might come from superior quality, convenience, reliability, design, exclusivity or the financial benefits the customer receives.

For a business with a distinctive offering, this last approach is particularly worth considering. A consultant whose advice saves a client a substantial amount of money, for example, may be able to charge a much higher fee than someone offering a more routine service.

The question is whether customers recognise the difference and are willing to pay for it.

What happens if you raise your prices?

Suppose you believe your product is worth more than you are charging. Before increasing the price, you need to consider how customers might respond.

Will they continue buying at the higher price, or will they switch to a competitor? If you sell fewer units, will the additional profit on each sale compensate for the lost volume? Could a price increase improve your profitability, or would it simply make your offering less competitive?

You also need to consider what differentiates your product from the alternatives. If customers cannot see a meaningful difference, persuading them to pay more may be difficult.

And a premium price creates expectations. Customers who pay more will expect the quality, service and overall experience to justify what they spend.

There is no guarantee that increasing prices will improve a business’s financial performance. Equally, keeping prices low simply because that is what competitors do could mean missing an opportunity to earn a better return.

Pricing decisions therefore require research and careful consideration of the market, customer behaviour, costs and potential demand.

If you are contemplating a significant change in your pricing strategy, it may be worth consulting a specialist who understands value-based pricing and can help you assess the opportunities and risks.

The objective is not necessarily to charge the highest price possible. It is to establish whether customers would be willing to pay more for what you offer, and whether doing so would make your business more profitable in the long run.

Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

We don’t cover the property market particularly often, but it is worth looking at what is happening across South Africa. Municipalities in Johannesburg and Cape Town are identifying land for development, while PRASA, the country’s rail operator, is exploring opportunities to develop its property portfolio. The Gautrain’s planned expansion raises another question: what happens to homeowners whose properties stand in the path of new infrastructure?

Behind these developments lies an enormous demand for housing. South Africa needs more affordable homes, but there is also demand for middle-income housing, rental accommodation and retirement properties. The question is not simply how many homes can be built, but where they should be located, who will be able to afford them and what the consequences will be for existing communities.

The pressure to build

The City of Johannesburg’s 2026 Land Assembly Strategy identified approximately 6,427 hectares of council-owned land through an initial screening exercise. This does not mean that all the land is ready for development, but it indicates the scale of the potential resource.

One major project is Southern Farms, a proposed development covering approximately 4,000 hectares in the south of Johannesburg. The scheme is intended to deliver at least 43,000 housing units over about ten years, catering for different income groups and incorporating community facilities and economic activity.

Cape Town is pursuing its own programme. The City has reported that 14 sites have been released, with the potential to provide about 7,000 homes, including affordable and social housing. A further 39 sites are in the pipeline, with a potential yield of approximately 40,000 units.

These are substantial numbers, although potential housing yields should not be confused with homes that are already under construction or ready for occupation. Planning approvals, infrastructure, finance and the economics of individual projects will determine how much of this development eventually materialises.

The underlying need is clear. Many households cannot afford conventional property prices, while rising rents make saving for a deposit increasingly difficult. For first-time buyers, home ownership remains an important aspiration, even if it is becoming harder to achieve.

Public land becomes a development opportunity

Municipalities are increasingly looking to their property portfolios as a means of expanding housing supply and attracting private-sector investment.

The model extends beyond selling land to developers. Projects can combine affordable rental accommodation, social housing, homes for sale, commercial premises and community facilities. Higher-density developments near transport routes and employment centres can also reduce the need for people to travel long distances to work.

PRASA is pursuing opportunities of its own through its property subsidiary, Intersite Asset Investments. Its development pipeline includes residential accommodation, student housing, retail and mixed-use projects around railway stations. The attraction is obvious: land near established transport infrastructure can provide access to commuter markets while helping to bring housing closer to jobs.

But the success of these projects depends on more than the availability of land. Rail operations, security, municipal infrastructure, access roads and the condition of existing facilities can all complicate development.

There is also a question of how these public assets are used and who ultimately benefits. Housing close to transport and employment can be valuable to lower-income households, but the completed properties still have to be affordable to the people they are intended to serve.

The pressure on established communities

Not every proposed development will be welcomed by the people already living in the area.

Along the St James coastline in Cape Town, proposals for multi-storey development on PRASA land have raised concerns about sea views, traffic and the character of the neighbourhood. This stretch of coastline has long been valued for its relatively quiet residential environment, with the mountain limiting opportunities for additional construction.

The area is also an example of how geography and property values complicate the housing debate. Building on steep or constrained land can be expensive, while well-located coastal properties are already beyond the reach of many ordinary buyers.

For residents, the prospect of substantial new developments raises legitimate questions about building heights, traffic capacity, infrastructure and the effect on their surroundings. For developers, the same land represents an opportunity to create additional accommodation in a sought-after location.

The challenge is to reconcile these competing interests. The demand for housing is real, but it does not automatically settle the question of what should be built on a particular site or how a development should be designed.

The Gautrain’s proposed expansion presents a different problem. Where new infrastructure requires existing homes to be acquired, affected homeowners will want fair, market-related compensation and clarity about the process. The public benefit of improved transport does not remove the need to deal properly with the people whose properties are affected.

The economics of owning property

The demand for housing also needs to be considered against the costs of owning and maintaining property.

Home ownership is often seen as a long-term financial goal, particularly by people who have spent years paying rent. Yet some retirees are deliberately choosing to rent rather than own a home. They would rather avoid the maintenance, repairs and administrative responsibilities that come with property ownership.

Coastal properties can be particularly demanding to maintain. Salt air, damp and exposure to the elements take their toll, while rental properties bring the additional risk of damage by tenants.

I recently spoke to someone who had sold a second property in Johannesburg that he had been renting out while living in Cape Town. The annual maintenance costs and the burden of property-related taxes had made the investment increasingly unattractive.

This is an important consideration for anyone assessing the property market. A house is not simply an asset that rises or falls in value. It also carries ongoing costs, and a rental property has to generate enough income to cover those expenses while providing an acceptable return.

Meanwhile, homeowners in ordinary suburbs are finding ways to make their existing properties work harder. Extensions and additions provide accommodation for tenants, generating supplementary income at a time when household budgets are under pressure. This kind of incremental development can add to the housing supply without requiring large new estates.

More homes, but at what cost?

South Africa’s housing needs will continue to create opportunities for municipalities, public agencies and private developers. Affordable housing, rental accommodation and developments near transport routes will remain important parts of the picture. Retirement housing and coastal property will serve different markets, with their own financial and geographical constraints.

But the availability of land is only one part of the equation. Infrastructure, affordability, planning decisions and the interests of existing communities will influence which projects proceed and what they eventually deliver.

The battle over property development is likely to intensify as South Africa struggles to accommodate the housing needs of its citizens. Municipalities face mounting pressure to deliver more homes, while public land is increasingly viewed as a resource that can be unlocked through development and private-sector investment. But questions remain about how that land should be used, who should benefit and how the interests of existing communities should be protected. Expect this to be a hotly debated issue as more projects move from proposals to planning and implementation.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.

Food prices are continually on the rise, slowly but relentlessly, affecting everyone, especially the poor, whether they live in rural areas or cities. When the news media publish articles about food prices and surveys, everyone tends to look at food manufacturers and retailers. But one has to look a lot deeper than that to understand the causes of rising food prices. We won’t go into the causes of poverty, because that has very much to do with a government that has ruled for thirty years and made very little inroad into improving the lives of millions of people, and that requires a different type of analysis. Instead, let’s look at the reasons for rising food prices and the costs surrounding them.

If you look at it, you’ll see that the state is a major contributor to rising food prices. The government struggles to keep petroleum prices down while collecting substantial revenue from fuel taxes and levies. Then there is electricity, which has become extraordinarily expensive, despite the fact that South Africa once enjoyed some of the lowest electricity prices in the world. Remember that petrol and electricity are inputs into agriculture, manufacturing, food processing and distribution, so when their costs rise, the increases work their way through the entire supply chain, from the farmer preparing the land and harvesting the crop to the factory processing the food and the retailer putting it on the shelf; farmers are often blamed for rising food prices, but they too have had to contend with higher input costs, while the state has presided over the deterioration of transport infrastructure, ports and railways, adding further costs and inefficiencies to the movement of goods around the country. One cannot look at food prices in isolation. No one can.

Rising labour costs also contribute to food prices. This is a touchy subject, because wages and employment conditions are protected by the state and organised labour, but in a developing country such as South Africa, there is another side to the argument: when minimum wage requirements and other employment costs make it too expensive for businesses to employ additional workers, those who already have jobs may be protected while others are excluded from the opportunity to find employment, leaving more people dependent on social grants or family members to survive. The challenge is to find a balance between protecting workers from exploitation and ensuring that businesses can afford to employ more people, because higher wages for some do not necessarily translate into better living conditions for everyone.

The private sector, meanwhile, has to remain competitive. This is why retailers are sourcing products from international markets in an effort to keep prices down. Some imported products may be inferior to locally manufactured alternatives, but they are cheaper, which makes them attractive to consumers struggling to make ends meet. Their arrival, however, puts additional pressure on local manufacturers, who must compete with imports while trying to contain their own costs by sourcing inputs both locally and internationally. Businesses are operating in a competitive market and have every incentive to keep prices down: they are accountable to shareholders, and if they cannot make a profit, their share prices suffer and their businesses may eventually fail. They cannot sustain losses indefinitely.

Anyone planning a serious review of food prices in South Africa will have to examine all the contributing factors, using researchers who are impartial, non-political and analytical enough to get to the root causes of continuing price increases, rather than relying on anecdotal evidence or listening to politicians standing up and blaming farmers, manufacturers and retailers.

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Editorial Disclosure & Disclaimer

Financial News Daily is an independent business news syndicate and a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Accelerator. We publish financial, environmental and corporate commentary for digital platforms, media outlets and organisations. Nothing published here constitutes investment, legal or financial advice. All opinions are editorial commentary on matters of public and economic interest.