A good week
It’s a multibillion-rand gamble, but kudos to Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala and his team for doing what Standard probably should have done years ago: fully own its Liberty mistake. That’s not to say there’s not a good business there, nor is Standard paying top dollar for the insurance asset — even with a 40% premium, Liberty stock is nowhere near its historic highs. It’s also a chance to right the ship away from prying eyes. And if it doesn’t work out, there’s always the trusty old accounting write-off.
A bad week
We’re doing mental gymnastics trying to figure out what "responsible looting" looks like. Walk with your freshly stolen TV, don’t run? Leave that six-pack for the next guy? Verily, the mind boggles. Top marks for coining a new phrase — it could well be the manifesto for his much-touted ANC presidency campaign — but Duduzane Zuma has again effortlessly demonstrated how he shouldn’t be anywhere remotely near policy-making. As for dirty ANC politics, he is, you might say, to the manor born.