The SARB has been cutting rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The headlines celebrate. The economists commentate. And most South African business owners carry on exactly as before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the wrong response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A rate cutting cycle in South Africa is not just a signal about borrowing costs. It is a window. And windows close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is what I am watching right now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Distressed businesses that survived on survival mode will start becoming acquirable at rational prices.<\/strong> High rates kept many zombie businesses technically alive – refinancing repeatedly, deferring everything. As rates fall, the pretending stops. Assets move. This is deal flow for buyers who are positioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Property that was underwater at 11.75% prime starts breathing at 10% and below.<\/strong> Commercial property, healthcare facilities, mixed-use developments – the numbers that didn\u2019t work 18 months ago are worth modelling again today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cost of capital for new ventures drops.<\/strong> WACC comes down. Projects that were NPV-negative at last year\u2019s discount rate may be value-creating today. If you shelved a business case in 2023 or 2024 because the numbers didn\u2019t work – dust it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International capital gets more interested in SA.<\/strong> Lower rates signal a stabilising macro environment. Foreign investors who were watching from the sidelines recalibrate their risk models. South African assets get re-rated -slowly, then suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mistake most people make is waiting to feel the rate cuts before acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time you feel them, the smart money has already moved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is not whether the cycle is real. It is whether you are positioned ahead of it or behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where are you sitting right now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The SARB has been cutting rates. The headlines celebrate. The economists commentate. And most South African business owners carry on exactly as before. That is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gert-viljoen","tag-gert-viljoen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-8.58.42-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertviljoen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}