I was very interested to read an article about a speech Jacob Zuma gave shortly after the firing of Nene. During this speech, amongst some of his howlers, he announced that Africa is the biggest continent in the world – which it isn’t – Asia is. He also said “All continents put together will fit into Africa.” That is quite an amazing statement by a President, so clearly out of depth in the job he holds. 

He also said he is not a businessman or a professor, but that he rebels against the idea that “what determines the value of a commodity is the law of supply and demand.” He says that what should determine what something cost is not supply and demand but how much time it takes to make the thing. He said that South Africa still needs a struggle for economic freedom saying that “If they have the economic power and you hold the political power, you are going to dance to their music.” His shocking decision to fire the Minister of Finance, compounded by him replacing his appointee, who had no experience, a few days later, shows you what a farce the current government is becoming. No doubt at a later stage, when maize prices and petrol go up, we will be told that somebody else is to blame for all of this and the government has no control over the value of the Rand. To an extent that is true, but of course they very much influence the direction that it goes in, and by making bizarre and strange decisions and giving such weird speeches and saying such bizarre things, you hardly encourage foreign investment in your country. 

When investors pull their money out, the Rand weakens and when the Rand weakens, South Africans will pay more for petrol and maize and they will see food prices increase. We should all just be so grateful right now that oil prices are at international lows because if it were to go up back to where it was two years ago, we will really see problems. Maybe it will not go up – when it is down, people always say it will never go up again, but that has certainly not been the history of the oil price. 

Star Wars is opening on 18 December and it is expected to be the biggest movie of the year.  The Disney share price (Disney now own the Star Wars franchise) has already gone up, ahead of the opening of the movie, because there is a belief that it is going to sell $2 billion in tickets around the world. Such is the demand for tickets that apparently tickets for the opening day, in IMax 3D, which cost $20 are being sold on the black market for $200!  I have watched all the Star Wars movies and I enjoy them, but it is not really the type of science fiction that I like.  

I prefer grittier, scary science fiction like the Alien movies and Star Wars is a little bit too cute and comedic at times for me.  There is no doubt however that it is the biggest franchise in movies, and with Disney planning to launch 6 movies over the next 6 years, Star Wars is no doubt going to be bigger now than it ever was before.  The opening weekend is going to be massive around the world and it is sure to fly past all the big box office hits of the year thus far.  The Hunger Games has done over $200 million in America alone, and Inside Out is on $356 million for its US release, but those figures are unlikely to stand up to what we are going to see for Star Wars.  Toy companies like Hasbro have already seen their share price go up on the basis of being the sole official Star Wars retailers, so prepare yourself, if you don’t enjoy Star Wars, to not focus on what is going on at the movies, or media, for the next 6 years!

We all know that scientists have indicated that the fitter you are, the better your brain works when you are old.  Some recent research by Dr Claire Steves, done on twins over a 10 year period has revealed a striking correlation between having strong leg muscles and an increased capacity on memory test.  In surveys of over 160 pairs of twins they found that on average the twin who had the stronger legs had an 18% better performance on memory and cognitive tests 10 years later.  To be 18% better than somebody on memory tests is a substantial amount and so, a result like this should not be underestimated.  The importance of doing it on twins is to try and have data about people who had the same genetic background as well as the same upbringing when they were smaller.  It would allow scientists to then say that whatever differences have happened between those two people over the years would relate to the lifestyle that they have had.  They also tested the actual muscle strength of the legs because they feel that a lot of people, when asked how much they exercise, don’t necessarily give accurate information and of course by testing the leg muscles they would be able to see scientifically who was exercising and who was not, because the strength and the exercise would necessarily correlate.  I will leave the final quote in this interesting survey to Dr Steves in an interview that she gave to the New York times where she said, “… To be honest, I am someone who has always in the past prioritised work of the mind over work of the body.  This study brings home to me that the brain needs exercise to keep fit.”  

A recent judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal, brought to my attention by one of my staff, has quite interesting implications for many members of Medical Aids.  This involved a Medical Aid by the name of Genesis Medical Scheme who refused to pay for certain treatment where the client received that treatment in the private sector or essentially a private Clinic.  This was one of the specific medical conditions that is listed in the table as to the prescribed minimum benefits that Medical Aids have to provide in South Africa and the Medical Aid tried to get out of that by saying that the member bound itself to their rules and their rules did not provide for that in this particular case.  

Genesis argued essentially that by agreeing to its rules its members agreed that the full benefits that are prescribed in the Act must be regarded as being waived by its members.  The court said that individuals can waive their rights in some cases, but not in a case where public policy requires the observance of the law, because then the individual that would be waiving their rights is not the only person interested in those rights – there is the community and society at large who are affected by the person “waiving” their rights.  They pointed out the legislation in this kind of case was specifically there to assist people who are bargaining from an inferior position and as the court held, "Simply put, the law obliges Medical Schemes to pay the costs of treating PMB conditions in full, and that is what Genesis must do."  The Court was not happy that Genesis was simply trying to hand the burden of dealing with such treatment off to the state.  The court, in fairly strong language, said that if Genesis wants to carry on the business of a Medical Scheme, then it has to supply the benefits required in terms of the Medical Schemes Act.  The worst part is that this is a case that Genesis fought, not only with the Registrar of Medical Schemes where they lost twice, but then took it to the Western Cape High Court where they finally had some success before losing on appeal.  The case was brought against Genesis Medical Scheme by the Council for Medical Schemes as well as the Registrar of Medical Schemes and it is good to see that they took an interest in such a case and that this Medical Aid has learnt the lesson that you cannot simply invent your own regulations and try to ignore the laws of the land. 

I love all these health surveys and certainly they often tend to contradict each other, but they do reveal some interesting facts.  Researchers followed 200,000 nurses and doctors up to 30 years on their coffee habit, amongst other habits, and they have discovered that more coffee that people drink, the more their risk of dying of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and suicide was reduced.  They said they could not find the association though in smokers because the negatives of smoking overwhelm any of the benefits from drinking coffee, but those for example who had three to five cups of coffee a day had a 15% reduced risk of death from heart disease.  I find that caffeine unfortunately triggers me off if I get correspondence or e-mails that I don’t like but if I have coffee while I am on holiday, it does not affect me at all.  It is obviously because coffee contains caffeine and it stimulates your adrenal glands to produce adrenalin.  Coffee is a stimulant and there is no doubt that it can get some people quite worked up, not to mention increasing your blood pressure. Like everything, it is a question of what you can handle and using in moderation!