Western Cape Business 2017 edition

WESTERN CAPE 

BUSINESS 

THE GUIDE TO BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT 

IN THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE 

2017 EDITION 

JOIN US ONLINE 

WWW.WESTERNCAPEBUSINESS.CO.ZA

New opportunities for 

investors in the West Coast 

New opportunities are emerging in specific sectors of the West Coast district. With the N7 

being upgraded, the time it takes to travel from Malmesbury to Cape Town for instance 

is less than from Paarl, Somerset West or Stellenbosch. Businesses can serve the Cape 

Town market while enjoying lower operating costs, an excellent work ethic, lower crime and 

reduced risk with excellent local government support. Developers are providing new industrial, 

commercial and residential property. 

Protein, dairy and other food producers are moving closer to their markets to reduce transportation 

costs. They remain outside the metro boundaries, to gain cost advantages. Increasing 

numbers of logistics firms recognise the strategic location. Vehicle and equipment suppliers are 

growing as services sector. 

The number of mines are increasing in Matzikama and a breakthrough with abalone production 

holds huge promise for supplying a lucrative market. In Cederberg the dam wall is being 

raised, meaning the bottleneck to agricultural growth is reduced. The Saldanha Industrial 

Development Zone, which is located at the deep-water port, includes a unique package of 

government incentives. 

The complete region offers a large variety of world-class tourism attractions, leisure activities 

and events. These include bouldering, hiking, kite surfing, surfing, skydiving, paragliding, 

cycling, canoeing, birding, music festivals, arts, culture, heritage and of course the unrivalled 

West Coast flowers. Country life at its best – topped off with local brews and great wine. A great 

place to live, work and play. 

Swartland Municipality 

Lower cost structures, a productive workforce and less risk than the Cape Town 

metro provide businessess here with a competitive advantage in their markets. Add 

to this the benefits of a sophisticated city that is still close enough to leverage when 

needed, while employees get to enjoy the best of both country life and the city. 

Similar to growth patterns of towns on the outskirts of cities worldwide, both businesses 

and citizens will increasingly view the Swartland as a good place to locate. 

Investment growth is expected from sectors such as protein, dairy, agroprocessing, 

transport, logistics, retail, services and construction sectors. 

www.swartland.org.za 

Bergrivier Municipality 

Situated north of Saldanha Bay, the Bergriver region is particularly suited to 

agriculture. Livestock, fruit, vegetables and flowers are farmed in the area and there 

are opportunities in kelp farming and processing. 

The large cement factory and smaller salt-reclamation works are indicators of 

business development opportunities related to mining. 

www.bergmun.org.za

MATZIKAMA 

Vredendal 

BERGRIVIER 

Vredenberg 

Piketberg 

SALDANHA 

BAY 

Moorreesburg 

SWARTLAND 

Clanwilliam 

CEDERBERG 

Langeberg 

Cederberg Municipality 

Blessed by nature, rich in 

heritage and warm-hearted 

people, this a great place 

for tourism all year round. 

Cederberg boasts a beautiful and varying landscape 

that includes mountains, valleys and coastline with a 

multitude of attractions and activities. 

The area is rich in flowers and fynbos, including 

Rooibos, which makes this the heart of the international 

Rooibos tea industry. The Clanwilliam dam 

wall is being raised, which will soon provide more 

water. Unutilised fertile lands can then be irrigated 

to produce high yields to boost agricultural output. 

www.cederbergmunicipality.co.za 

Matzikama Municipality 

Approximately 240km north of 

Cape Town, the Matzikama region 

has abundant water and fertile soil 

and therefore a thriving vegetable, 

fruit and wine farming economy. 

Investors visiting the region will 

find opportunities in aquaculture 

(especially abalone), fishing, mining, manufacturing, 

agriculture and property development. 

www.matzikamamun.co.za 

Saldanha Bay Municipality 

Saldanha Bay Municipality is a local municipality located on the West Coast of 

South Africa, in the Western Cape Province. It is approximately 140km north of 

Cape Town and forms part of the West Coast District Municipality. The Municipality 

is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the north by the Bergivier 

Municipality and in the east by the Swartland Municipality. 

Saldanha Bay Municipality covers an area of 2 015km 2 and has 238km of coastline. 

The head office is located in Vredenburg with satellite offices in Hopefield, St Helena Bay, Paternoster, 

Saldanha and Langebaan. 

Saldanha Bay has the largest natural port in Africa and the area is earmarked for regional development 

of the Western Cape Province. 

www.saldanhabay.co.za 

If you have your eye on growth, 

you should invest on the West Coast! 

Find out more at www.westcoastdm.co.za

Besides being the voice of business in the region, when you belong to the 

Chamber, you become part of an esteemed network that is geared to 

promote your success. 

As a member, you enjoy a substantial number of benefits, as well as 

receiving expert support for a wide range of issues. Our services include 

business advice, extensive networking opportunities, seminars & events, 

training at all levels, international trade support and more. 

Join now - it’s Where Opportunity Meets.

Where Opportunity Meets 

4th floor, 33 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Foreshore, Cape Town 

Tel: +27 21 402 4300 | Fax: +27 21 402 4302 

info@capechamber.co.za | capechamber.co.za 

Facebook: CapeChamberOfCommerce | Twitter: @Cape_Chamber

CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

Western Cape Business 2017 Edition 

Introduction 

Foreword 9 

Western Cape Business is a unique guide to business, 

investment and tourism in the Western Cape. 

Growth strategy is paying off 10 

Alan Winde, Western Cape Provincial Minister of Economic 

Opportunities, explains how Project Khulisa will impact 

the province. 

Special features 

Regional overview 12 

Tourism and technology are boosting the Western Cape 

economy and Brexit offers new opportunities for investors. 

Down-town boom town, Cape Town 28 

A number of high-visibility construction projects are under 

development in the Cape Town CBD and surrounds. 

South African economy at a glance 42 

Insight into the performance of the South African economy 

is provided through these graphical representations of key 

statistics. 

WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017 

6

CONTENTS 

Special Economic Zones 56 

Dedicated development hubs on the West Coast are tapping 

into the potential of two of the fastest-growing economic 

sectors in Southern Africa – oil and gas and manufacturing for 

the renewable energy sector. 

Skills development 60 

A number of investors are driving skills development in the 

province. 

Economic sectors 

Agriculture 72 

Processing plants boost rural employment. 

Wine and grapes 76 

China is importing the fruits of the Western Cape’s vineyards. 

Fishing 83 

More fish, fewer chips following the sale of Lamberts 

Bay Foods. 

Mining 86 

The sands of the West Coast are giving up their riches. 

Oil and gas 88 

The Western Cape Government is hoping to exploit 

opportunities related to the gas sector. 

Energy 92 

Manufacturing in the renewable energy sector is 

taking off in Atlantis. 

Water 94 

Farms and factories are becoming water wise. 

Manufacturing 98 

Diesel locomotive engines are powering up in Montague 

Gardens. 

Construction and property development 104 

Construction is on the rise in the Western Cape. 


8

UIF SAVING JOBS 

THROUGH SOCIALLY 

RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENTS 

The National Development Plan is a blueprint serving as 

a guideline to government departments and state entities 

on how they can play a role in government wide efforts 

of creating decent work, reducing unemployment and 

poverty. The Unemployment Insurance Fund is among 

the leading state entities in the implementation of the 

provisions of the NDP to address the slow economic 

growth, unemployment and poverty in South Africa. 

The UIF social investment mandate ensures that, 

additional to earning good financial returns, investments 

must be supportive of long term economic, social and 

adhere to sustainable environmental outcomes. The 

investments must also yield a good social return for the 

country. These investments have sustained 6 860 jobs of 

which 3 024 are permanent, 3 836 are temporary/seasonal 

and 195 are new jobs created during the financial year 

ending in March 2016. 

UIF INVESTMENTS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY 

The UIF investments are contributing to the energy 

requirements of South Africa and the investments in the 

renewable energy sector provides a total capacity of 192 

megawatt of electricity of which 117 megawatt is solar 

energy and 27 megawatt is wind generated electricity. 

The De Aar project is a shining example of the UIF energy 

investments and this project produces 90 megawatt of 

electricity and was completed in April 2016. The solar plant 

in the area generates enough electricity to power 15 000 

houses. Another mainstay project is the Phakwe Group ran 

projects undertaken in the Northern and Eastern Cape. 

INVESTMENT IN FOOD SECURITY 

The UIF investments in this regard are undertaken under 

the banner of the UIF Agri-Fund in partnership with 

Futuregrowth and Day Breaker Poultry Project. The UIF 

Agri-Fund has invested in 4 farms situated in Mable Hall 

in Limpopo. One of the farms is a cash crop farm spanning 

450 hectares. The farm in the last financial year produced 

235 hectares of white maize, and cotton was planted in an 

area covering 28 hectares. 

A further three farms are located in the Saron area in the 

Western Cape. In this project a total of 178 hectares has 

been used to plant grapes, 37 hectares has been used to 

pant citrus fruit. Furthermore, there is potential to plant an 

additional 92 hectares of grapes. The Daybreaker Poultry 

project operates in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga 

and the combined projects have facilities to grow 1.6 

million broiler chickens. 

INVESTMENTS IN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES 

The UIF concluded two investments in this regard that 

include a BEE hospital manager, Busamed to build a 

private hospital in Modderfontein and Fund Manager 

Razorite Heatlhcare that focus on the provision of 

affordable heathcare facilities that include rehabilitation 

and sub-acute centres. 

The Modderfontein hospital is a 220 hospital bed with subacute 

facilities. This hospital is under construction. While 

the RH Fund Manager has concluded seven investments 

that include: 

• Busamed with four hospital facilities 

• HealthMed with two facilities 

INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION 

UIF has invested in three investments that play a role 

to unlock access to education. The investments were 

concluded with Eduloan – an organisation that provides 

financial support to tertiary students and South Point and 

Educor organisations that provide student accommodation. 

By March 2016, Eduloan had disbursed about R446 986.64 

benefiting 34 047 students, whiles South Point provided 

about 10 000 student with accommodation. 

UIF INVESTMENTS IN ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT 

The UIF has concluded two investments with the aim of 

supporting small and medium enterprises. In this regard 

the PIC on behalf of UIF has concluded investment deals 

with Musa Capital and TOSACO. 

The investments will support more than 250 SMMEs across 

various sectors inclusive of agriculture and affordable 

housing. Musa Capital for example has a supply chain of 

over 250 SMME’s that have facilitated the creation of 2 500 

jobs. 

TOSACO investments is planning to advance capital to 

young black entrepreneurs who aspire to own and manage 

Total Filling stations around the country. 

For more information: 

Call: 0800 843 843 or 

visit: www.labour.gov.za

Brandvlei 

Britstown 

Garies 

De Aar 

Kliprand 

R 27 

Loeriesfontein 

Carnarvon 

N10 

R 63 

N12 

Hanover 

N7 

R63 

R63 

Nieuwoudtville 

Victoria West 

R 63 Williston 

N1 

Loxton 

Richmond 

R 27 

R27 

Calvinia 

R27 Vanrhynsdorp 

R63 

Vredendal 

R27 

Fraserburg 

Three 

Sisters 

R 63 

Graaff-Reinet 

Lambert's Bay 

Clanwilliam 

Beaufort West 

Aberdeen 

R27 

Sutherland 

Cederberg 

R 61 

N12 

N9 

St Helena Bay 

Citrusdal 

Prince 

Velddrif 

Leeu-Gamka 

Paternoster 

Albert N1 

Vredenburg Piketberg 

Road 

R44 

R79 

Saldanha 

R45 

N7 

Klipplaat 

Saldanha Bay 

Moorreesburg 

LangebaanR27 

R45 

R 44Tulbagh 

Laingsburg 

Prince Albert 

Willowmore 

Riebeek West 

Matjiesfontein 

R 46 

Darling 

Ceres Touwsrivier 

Dassen Island 

Calitzdorp 

R62 

N1 

Ladismith 

R43 

Malmesbury 

De Rust 

R44 

Uniondale 

R45 

Oudtshoorn 

R 62 

Paarl 

R62 

N12 

Melkbosstrand 

Rawsonville Montagu 

Joubertina 

N9 

R60 

Robben Island (World Heritage Site) 

R43 

Table Bay 

Franschhoek Robertson Ashton R62 Barrydale 

Kareedouw 

Durbanville 

George SedgefieldKnysna 

N2 

Villiersdorp Swellendam 

Stormsrivier 

Stellenbosch 

Riversdale 

Somerset 

Genadendal 

Herolds 

Plettenberg 

Fish Hoek West Grabouw 

Heidelberg 

Bay 

Bay 

N2 Riviersonderend 

N2 Mossel Bay 

Cape St Francis 

Gordon's Bay 

Vleesbaai 

Simon's Town 

Caledon 

Motorway 

False R44 

Cape Bay Kleinmond Hermanus 

Stillbaai 

Main Road 

Point 

Bredasdorp Cape St Sebastian 

R 43 

Infanta 

Railway 

Walker Bay 

Bay 

0 

100 km 

Gansbaai 

Arniston 

Struisbaai 

0 100 miles 

Struisbaai 

Quoin Point 

Cape 

Agulhas 

Groen 

CONTENTS 

Tourism 106 

New flights are bringing greater numbers of tourists to the 

Western Cape. 

Banking and financial services 110 

The JSE has opened an Exchange Hub in Cape Town. 

Information and communications technology 118 

Cape Town is attracting ICT investment. 

Business process outsourcing 119 

Offshoring – foreign BPO contracts – is growing. 

Government 

South African National Government 120 

An overview of South Africa’s national 

government departments. 

Western Cape Provincial Government 124 

An overview of the Western Capes Provincial 

Government departments. 

Western Cape Local Government 126 

An overview of the Western Cape municipalities. 

Reference 

Sector contents 68 

Index 128 

Maps 

Western Cape locator map. 17 

Western Cape provincial map. 125 

Western Cape municipal map. 127 

WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE 

ATLANTIC OCEAN 

N 

CAPE TOWN 

Sout 

Wellington Worcester 

Tankwa 

Fish 

Breede 

Sak 

Northern Cape 

Riet 

Western Cape 

Touws 

Bu fels 

Dwyka 

Groot 

Gourits 

Gamka 

Leeuw 

Olifants 

Groen 

Sout 

Sout 

Kariega 

Ongers 

Eastern Cape 

Kouga 

Groot 

INDIAN OCEAN 

Seekoei 

Sundays 

WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017 10

CREDITS 

Publisher: Chris Whales 

Publishing director: 

Robert Arendse 

Editor: Simon Lewis 

Writing: John Young and 

Karen Kühlcke 

Online editor: Christoff Scholtz 

Art director: Brent Meder 

Design: Colin Carter 

Production: Lizel Olivier 

Ad sales: Sam Oliver, Gabriel 

Venter, Jeremy Petersen, Nigel 

Williams and Sydwell Adonis 

Managing director: Clive During 

Administration & accounts: 

Charlene Steynberg and 

Natalie Koopman 

Distribution and circulation: 

Edward MacDonald 

Printing: FA Print 

Cover photo courtesy 

of Rodger Bosch 

www.rodgerbosch.co.za 

Western Cape Business 

A unique guide to business and investment 

in the Western Cape. 

The 2017 edition of Western Cape Business is the 10th issue 

of this highly successful publication that, since its launch 

in 2005, has established itself as the premier business and 

investment guide to the Western Cape province. 

The Western Cape has numerous promising investment and business 

opportunities and this issue includes contributions from Alan Winde 

(Minister of Economic Opportunities for the Western Cape Government), 

interviews with Ryan Ravens (CEO of Accelerate Cape Town), Arifa Parkar 

(Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum CEO), Wesgro CEO Tim 

Harris and Lance Greyling (Invest Cape Town) as well as contributions from 

various business leaders. In addition, you will also find comprehensive 

features on all the key sectors in the Western Cape. 

To complement the extensive local, national and international distribution 

of the print edition of the magazine, the full content can also be 

viewed online at www.westerncapebusiness.co.za. Updated information 

on the Western Cape is also available through our monthly e-newsletter, 

which you can subscribe to online at www.gan.co.za, in addition to our 

complementary business-to-business titles that cover all nine provinces 

as well as our flagship South African Business title. 

Chris Whales 

Publisher, Global Africa Network Media 

Email: chris@gan.co.za 

CREDITS 

DISTRIBUTION 

Western Cape Business is distributed internationally on outgoing 

and incoming trade missions, through trade and investment 

agencies; at top national and international events; through 

the offices of foreign representatives in South Africa; as well as 

nationally and regionally via chambers of commerce, tourism 

offices, airport lounges, provincial government departments, 

municipalities and companies. 

COPYRIGHT | Western Cape Business is an independent publication 

published by Global Africa Network Media (Pty) Ltd. Full copyright to 

the publication vests with Global Africa Network Media (Pty) Ltd. No part 

of the publication may be reproduced in any form without the written 

permission of Global Africa Network Media (Pty) Ltd. 

PHOTO CREDITS | Pictures supplied by Anglo American, flickr.com, 

Transnet National Ports Authority, Sasol, World Bank Images, City of Cape 

Town, Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, Accelerate, Northlink College, IRC 

Wash, Aquacor, South African Tourism, Wikimedia, gewainer@flickr.com, 

mycapetown.co.za, Railways Africa, pascalparentphotos, Pinterest, and FWJK. 

PUBLISHED BY 

Global Africa Network Media (Pty) Ltd 

Company Registration No: 2004/004982/07 

Directors: Clive During, Chris Whales 

Physical address: 28 Main Road, Rondebosch 7700 

Postal address: PO Box 292, Newlands 7701 

Tel: +27 21 657 6200 | Fax: +27 21 674 6943 

Email: info@gan.co.za | Website: www.gan.co.za 

ISSN 1816-370X 

DISCLAIMER | While the publisher, Global Africa Network Media (Pty) 

Ltd, has used all reasonable efforts to ensure that the information contained 

in Western Cape Business is accurate and up-to-date, the publishers 

make no representations as to the accuracy, quality, timeliness, or 

completeness of the information. Global Africa Network will not accept 

responsibility for any loss or damage suffered as a result of the use of or 

any reliance placed on such information. 

11 

WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017

MESSAGE 

Growth strategy is paying off 

Alan Winde, Western Cape Provincial Minister of Economic Opportunities, 

explains how Project Khulisa will impact the province. 

Alan Winde, Western Cape 

Provincial Minister of 

Economic Opportunities 

In the Western Cape, we have 

taken a focused approach to 

job creation and growth. 

To achieve this objective 

we have put in place our Project 

Khulisa growth strategy, which 

focuses on a set of high-potential 

sectors, namely tourism, agriprocessing 

and oil and gas. 

In each of these areas, we worked with the private sector to develop 

tailored action plans to drive growth. 

I am happy to report that we are making significant progress. 

Tourism employs 204 000 people, and under Project Khulisa we 

have set ourselves the goal of adding up to a further 100 000 jobs 

to the sector. Through Project Khulisa we are focusing on driving an 

increase in leisure and business tourism. 

The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) continues 

to deliver a significant contribution to economic growth. That is why 

we are doubling the CTICC’s capacity. We’ve also seen a R1-billion 

private investment into the Century City Conference Centre and Hotel. 

The Aquarium added a conference facility when it upgraded and 

many hotels are doing the same. A large number of hotels are being 

developed, partly in response to increased conference numbers, but 

also in response to general good growth figures in this space. 

We know that conference delegates have a higher spend than 

leisure tourists, and that they often return for a holiday with their 

families. From here, they could purchase property in the region, or 

decide to open a business here. 

It is all interlinked. On the leisure front, we are driving an events 

strategy to pull tourists to our smaller gem towns. From our investment 

in seeding events, we have helped drive 150 000 tourists to travel in the 

region, generating an economic impact of R240-million. Very shortly 

we’ll be embarking on a project to define the competitive identity of 

our region, creating a compelling story about who we are, what we 

have to offer, and why we should be at the top of travellers’ bucket lists. 

We’ll take the outcome of this process to market in 2017. 

We are continuing with our plans to position the province as the 

trail capital of Africa. This year we launched the first part of our cycle 

track, which will eventually stretch from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town. 

The first 5km of the cycle route consists of bespoke-designed single 

track on a section of land between Knysna and Sedgefield. 

This track will become the backbone of a trail system driving 

business to farms and communities all along our southern coastline. 

We will also focus on culture and heritage tourism, food and wine 

tourism, and our growing events economy. 

In agri-processing, we are seeking to grow the size of the sector 

and add up to 100 000 jobs. 

Our plan to boost the sector includes efforts to increase halal 

and wine exports, and to create an enabling environment for all 


12

MESSAGE 

agri-processed products to flourish. We have made headway, together 

with our partners, in our drive to increase water storage in the Brandvlei 

Dam, and we have commissioned the equipment we require for our 

residue-testing facility. All of the initiatives under Project Khulisa are 

designed to open international markets for our produce, and I am 

pleased with the progress we have achieved thus far. 

Oil and gas also presents a significant opportunity to grow our 

economy. It is our goal to add up to a further 60 000 jobs to this sector, 

and increase its economic contribution to R3-billion. 

One of our flagship initiatives in driving growth in the oil and gas 

sector is the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone along the West 

Coast, which is being managed 

by the Saldanha Bay Industrial 

Development Zone Licencing 

Company. 

We’re seeing a good flow of 

vessels along our coast and in 

the pipeline is a major project 

to recertify vessels here. The 

lease between the Saldanha 

Bay Industrial Development 

Zone Licencing Company and 

the Transnet National Ports 

Authority (TNPA) is in place, and 

we expect to start construction 

next year. TNPA will also be asking 

for a formal proposal from 

an international consortium 

to develop the 500m terminal 

at Mossgas. 

There’s been an overwhelmingly 

positive investor response. 

At the time of going to print, the 

Licencing Company already has 

Memorandums of Understanding 

non-disclosure agreements and 

rights of first refusal in place 

with 36 companies, and building 

plans have been submitted for 

three firms. 

They’re getting ready to start 

construction as soon as the 

necessary approvals have been 

obtained. 

Along with a focus on these 

priority sectors, we have identified 

strategic economic enablers. 

These include securing an 

affordable and reliable energy 

supply and reducing red tape. 

Through a focussed approach, 

we are moving closer 

towards reaching our goals, 

and I am confident through our 

partnerships, we will continue 

to grow our economy, Better 

Together. 

13 


A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF THE 

WESTERN CAPE 

PROVINCE

Tourism and technology are boosting the 

Western Cape economy and Brexit offers 

new opportunities for exporters. 

The Western Cape straddles the west and 

south-eastern coastlines of South Africa. 

The province’s southernmost point is 

Agulhas, which is also the southern tip of 

Africa where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. 

Trade with Europe (including Britain) has long 

been the mainstay of the Western Cape’s export 

income. The top three destinations in 2013 (the 

Netherlands, the UK and Germany) combined to 

import R17.2-billion worth of Western Cape goods. 

The European Union (EU) signed an Economic 

Partnership Agreement with the Southern African 

Development Community (SADC) in June 2016 

that included some very good news for the 

Western Cape. For example, dairy products would 

attract no duty, a range of geographic indicators 

(including Karoo lamb and rooibos) were accepted,

SPECIAL FEATURE 

and the amount of wine that could be exported was 

increased from 50-million litres to 100-million litres. 

Thirteen days later Britain voted to leave the EU. 

This means that at least two new treaties have to be 

signed: a SADC-EU treaty that excludes the UK from 

the provisions and a new SADC-UK treaty. This could 

present new opportunities for all parties but it does 

mean that the landscape will be somewhat different. 

The Western Cape stretches to the north along the 

Atlantic Ocean about 400km from the provincial capital, 

Cape Town. The Port of Saldanha Bay lies along this 

coast; it is intended to become a hub for the maritime 

repair and oil and gas industries. The eastern boundary 

is defined by the Bloukrans River, which means 

that tourism hotspot Plettenberg Bay falls within the 

Western Cape. Beaufort West on the N1 highway is 

the biggest town in the north-eastern section of the 

province. 

The province is well served with infrastructure 

such as the N1 and N2 highways, and the N7 which 

services the West Coast. Three ports at Saldanha Bay, 

Cape Town and Mossel Bay serve different markets. 

The Port of Cape Town has recently opened a Cruise 

Terminal and a large new fuel storage terminal is being 

constructed in the port. 

Cape Town International Airport and George 

Airport see to air travel needs. Cape Town also hosts 

an oil refinery (Chevref) and a gas-to-liquids refinery 

at Mossel Bay, which is run by the national oil 

company, PetroSA. 

Koeberg nuclear power station is South Africa’s 

only such power station and there are a further three 

open-cycle gas turbines and a pumped-water-storage 

scheme. Wind and solar power are being installed 

rapidly across the province as South Africa tries to end 

its dependency on fossil fuels. 

The population of the Western Cape is also well 

served by educational institutions including the 

University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch, 

the University of the Western Cape and the Cape 

Peninsula University of Technology. Cape Town has 

three Technical and Vocational Education and Training 

(TVET) colleges and there are a further three for the 

Boland, the Southern Cape and the West Coast, all 

with multiple campuses. 

The Cape Town International Convention Centre 

is the province’s leading facility in the events and 

conference field, and it is undergoing an extension 

that will lead to its doubling in size. The extension 

is due to open in 2017. Many hotels have conference 

facilities and a large number of new hotels are being 

built, particularly in and around Cape Town. 

The national parliament is located in Cape Town 

and there is a separate provincial legislature. The 

Western Cape is unique among South Africa’s nine 

provinces in that the Democratic Alliance (DA) runs the 

province. The African National Congress is the majority 

party in the national parliament and it controls the 

other eight provinces. 

The DA also governs most of the provincial municipalities 

in the province, including the metropolitan 

municipality of Cape Town. There are five district 

municipalities, which are further divided into 24 

local municipalities. 

In 2015, the population of the Western Cape was 

estimated to be 6.2-million. The official languages of 

the province are Afrikaans, English and Xhosa. 

The province has diverse climatic conditions and 

geographical features. The north-west coastal strip 

is dry but the valleys inland from the coast support 

intensive citrus and grape cultivation. The Garden 

Route regions of the Southern Cape are heavily 



forested. In between there are the rugged mountains 

of the Cederberg, the wheat and barley fields 

and winelands of the Boland and the Overberg, the 

fruit-producing valleys of the Klein Karoo and the dry 

plains of the Great Karoo. The province and the region 

are most commonly associated with Table Mountain, 

which watches over the city of Cape Town and forms 

a national park of its own. 

The Western Cape has the natural advantage of 

access to the warm Agulhas current along the south 

coast and the cold Benguela current up the west 

coast, offering opportunities for a wide variety of 

aquaculture and mariculture products to be farmed 

along the province’s coastline. 

Economy 

Finance, business services and real estate combined 

contribute 28% to the gross domestic product (GDP) 

of the Western Cape. The financial services and insurance 

sector in particular has been a key component 

of the economy for many years, with many of South 

Africa’s biggest companies having their headquarters 

in Cape Town. Asset management and venture 

capital companies have been growing strongly in 

recent times. 

Agriculture is another important sector. Although 

only accounting for 4.3% of GDP on its own, the 

sector is responsible for the fruit and vegetables 

that contribute to agri-processing, which accounts 

for nearly 40% of the province’s export basket. (Agriprocessing 

accounts for 8.1% of GDP.) Citrus, wine, 

apples and pears, grapes, fruit juice, fruit and nuts 

and tobacco all appear in the top 10 of the province’s 

exports. Seventy percent of South Africa’s beverage 

exports came from the Western Cape over the last 

decade. Grape and wine sales to Europe remain 

very strong but the Chinese market is becoming 

increasingly important. 

Refined petroleum was the single biggest earner 

for the Western Cape in 2015, with exports valued 

at R18.2-billion (Wesgro). 

The province has a diverse manufacturing sector 

ranging from textiles, clothing, footwear and 

furniture to coke and refined petroleum products. 

Excluding agri-processing, other manufacturing 

makes up 6.9% of GDP. Several significant foreign 

investments have been received into the Western 

Cape in recent years: Hisense, GlaxoSmithKline and 

Kimberley-Clark, among others. 

Sector growth 

The Provincial Government of the Western Cape is 

putting multiple resources into Project Khulisa, a 

plan to promote growth in three sectors that will 

also create new jobs: Oil and Gas, Agri-processing 

and Tourism. 

Other sectors that are also expected to grow 

quickly are: 

• ICT: Cape Town is already a knowledge hub with 

banks supporting fintech hubs and several firms 

making high-tech medical equipment. The City 

of Cape Town has an ICT strategy and the Silicon 

Cape Initiative is doing all it can to keep the momentum 

going in this field. 

• Film: The skyline near Somerset West has been 

notable for the rigging of two huge sailing ships 

17 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017


punctuating it for many months: this is the Cape 

Town Film Studios, which hosted the Black Sails 

production team. More than 19 000 filming permits 

were issued by the City of Cape Town between 

2014 and October 2016. Universal Studios 

and Disney have a presence in Cape Town. The 

city of George is another important hub for the 

film industry. 

• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Amazon 

and Asda are just two big international companies 

that have call centres in Cape Town. Many 

more have signed up for similar services, and 

many more are expected. The national BPO association 

says that 5 000 jobs were created in 

South Africa in 2015, and it expects this to accelerate 

in 2017. 

• Green economy: Atlantis is being promoted as 

a green economy manufacturing hub. The renewable 

energy sector is growing very fast and 

opportunities are opening in many fields; biogas 

and use of waste are areas of huge potential. The 

Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme, 

or WISP, has achieved some major milestones 

in diverting organic waste and saving in greenhouse 

fossil gases. WISP is a GreenCape initiative. 

Each of the sectors listed above could be categorised 

as “tech” industries. Another one that could fall 

in this category is “design”. The Western Cape wants 

to lead in innovation. 

Renewable energy, the green economy, energy 

efficiency – all of these related concepts, once just 

a fuzzy dream, have become the bedrock of future 

business plans. 

Green buildings are becoming much more than 

a “nice-to-have”. A planned residential development 

in Somerset West, the Blue Rock Village with 1 000 

flats, will be powered by solar power and have water 

and energy management systems. The Hotel Verde 

at Cape Town International Airport claims to be 

carbon neutral and has a six-star rating from the 

Green Building Council of South Africa. 

Small, medium and micro enterprises are said 

to create jobs faster than large concerns. To bolster 

the SMME sector, the Industrial Development 

Corporation is supporting the Philippi Village 

Container Walk, an initiative of The Business Place 

and Bertha Foundation initiative. A total of 127 containers 

house entrepreneurs of every sort from shoe 

shops, barbers and construction material retailers to 

accountants, NGOs and a LEAP Science and Maths 

School training centre. 

The annual Premier’s Entrepreneurship 

Recognition Awards (PERA) has received more than 

1 000 entries since 2013. Some of the categories in 



2016 were for job creation (Doring Bay Abalone was 

the winner), innovation (Praelexis, a data company) 

and emerging rural business (Anja’s Pantry from 

Vredenburg). 

West Coast District Municipality 

Towns: Saldanha Bay, Malmesbury, Clanwilliam, 

Vredenburg, Moorreesburg. 

The economy of this region ranges from manufacturing 

in Saldanha, Atlantis and Malmesbury to 

agriculture and forestry centred on inland towns 

like Moorreesburg (wheat) and Cederberg (forestry) 

and Citrusdal. Cement is made in Riebeek West and 

Piketberg and fishing takes place all along the coast. 

Rooibos tea and shoes are made in Clanwilliam. The 

remote mission station of Wupperthal is famous for 

its veldskoens. The Port of Saldanha Bay is the principal 

port for the export of iron ore and is gearing 

itself to service the continent’s oil and gas industry 

and to be a steel manufacturing hub. Mineral sands 

are mined north of Saldanha. 

Cape Winelands District Municipality 

Towns: Stellenbosch, Paarl, Worcester, Robertson, 

Wellington, Franschhoek. 

Nearly 70% of South Africa’s wine comes from this 

area. Vineyards also attract many tourists but tourism 

in the Winelands includes wellness spas, adventure 

tourism and game farms. Manufacturing is concentrated 

on processing grapes and fruit into wine, juice, 

brandy, dried and tinned fruit products. Dairy manufacturer 

Parmalat has an award-winning cheesemaking 

facility in Bonnievale. Robertson is known 

for roses and thoroughbred horses. Stellenbosch 

is home to its eponymous university and houses 

the headquarters of several large companies, such 

as PSG Group. 

Overberg District Municipality 

Towns: Caledon, Bredasdorp, Hermanus, 

Swellendam, Cape Agulhas. 

The Overberg contains the southernmost tip of 

Africa (Cape Agulhas), the oldest mission station in 

South Africa (Genadendal), a large casino resort (in 

Caledon) and some of the best whale viewing in the 

world (Whale Coast). It also hosts some high-quality 

fruit farms in the Ceres Valley and rural villages that 

NAMIBIA 



WESTERN 

CAPE 

BOTSWANA 

North West 

Free State 


Limpopo 

ZIMBABWE 

Mpumalanga 

Gauteng 

SWAZI- 

LAND 

LESOTHO 

KwaZulu- 

Natal 

are popular with tourists, such as Barrydale and 

Greyton. Agriculture is the principal economic activity 

of the region and the services sector is strong. 

Eden District Municipality 

Towns: George, Oudtshoorn, Calitzdorp, Knysna, 

Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay. 

The area has two important tourist components: 

the Cape Garden Route on the coast and the Klein 

Karoo between the mountain ranges. Route 62 is a 

popular route that ends (or starts) in Oudtshoorn, 

home of the Cango Caves. A report by the Bureau for 

Economic Research (Stellenbosch University) found 

that Eden District is one of the best-performing 

regions because of tourism. Mossel Bay hosts the 

country’s main gas-processing plant while George 

is a node of manufacturing, trade, tourism and administration. 

The Klein Karoo has its own wine route 

and port, cheese and brandy are produced. Fruit, 

vegetables and ostriches are other main products. 

Central Karoo District Municipality 

Towns: Beaufort West, Laingsburg, Prince Albert. 

The largest district in the province has the smallest 

population, a reflection of the semi-desert conditions. 

Sheep farming predominates. Beaufort West 

is strategically positioned on the N1 highway, which 

links Cape Town with the interior of South Africa. It is 

nearby the Karoo National Park and not far from Prince 

Albert, a quaint town situated in the shadow of the 

Swartberg Mountain. Prince Albert is a popular tourist 

destination and is close to the dramatic portals that 

link the Karoo to the Klein Karoo: Seweweekspoort, 

the Swartberg Pass and Meiringspoort. 

MOZAMBIQUE 


INTERVIEW 

R2-billion of investment 

into the Western Cape 

Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, reviews a successful year for 

business and investment in the Western Cape. 

Wesgro CEO Tim Harris 

BIOGRAPHY 

Tim Harris is Chief Executive Officer 

of Wesgro, the Western Cape’s official 

Destination Marketing, Investment and 

Trade Promotion Agency. Wesgro is 

more than 30 years old and remains 

the oldest organisation of its kind in 

the country. Prior to that appointment 

he was the Director of Trade and 

Investment in the Office of the Executive 

Mayor at the City of Cape Town and 

the Shadow Minister of Finance with 

Democratic Alliance in parliament. 

He was elected to Parliament aged 

29. Harris has a Masters in Economics 

from UCT. 

Please could you give an overview of Wesgro’s activities 

over the year? 

In a difficult economic climate, Wesgro has performed very strongly 

over the past year. 

Our work always begins with economic insight and the Wesgro 

research team has helped deliver a much deeper understanding of 

economic opportunities in the Western Cape, publishing 115 research 

pieces over the past year. For example, there has been huge interest 

in markets such as Angola, and our report on food and beverage opportunities 

in Anglo was downloaded more than 1 500 times. So the 

research team continues to give us the hard numbers we need to make 

the case for business in the Western Cape. 

The new Wesgro website (www.wesgro.co.za) was launched late 

in 2016 with a much more interactive approach to data and business 

intelligence. It will enable business in the Western Cape to be more 

informed and able to realise opportunities quickly because of the work 

that our economists are doing. We developed online dashboards for 

Tourism and for Air Access, both of which are part of the Province’s 

Project Khulisa initiative. 

On the trade side, we were helped by the weakening of the rand, 

and we trained more than 500 companies in export readiness, helping 

them to build their capacity to export. We also took hundreds of companies 

to market to help grow their global sales. For the first time this 

year we really engaged with the new mandate that the Minister gave us 

to help drive outward investments into the rest of Africa, so we are now 

also helping Western Cape companies to establish operations in Africa. 

On the investment side, we surpassed the R2-billion mark in terms of 

investment landed in the Western Cape. Our biggest investment was a 

R1.189-billion renewable energy project from Spanish-based Acciona in 

the rural area of Gouda, which we worked on with GreenCape. 

Overall, the investment we facilitated created 681 jobs, and 

the agri-team in particular landed three deals including an abalone-farming 

facility in Doringbaai and the world’s first commercial 

fly farm in Philippi, so there was a strong performance 


20

INTERVIEW 

from the investment team despite obvious 

challenges in the global and local economy. 

On the destination marketing side, the 

Convention Bureau helped bring almost 28 000 

new delegates to the Western Cape in the past year, 

with the economic impact of R374-million from the 

bids they landed for events in Cape Town. On the 

Leisure Marketing side, we supported 48 events 

around the province, helping to give people reasons 

to travel out of Cape Town into the outlying regions, 

particularly during the winter season. 

The film team continues to position the Western 

Cape as one of the top film destinations in the developing 

world. They assisted 188 film and media 

companies and conducted four events focused on 

opportunities in the film sector. 

“WE HELPED TO RAISE 

SOUTH AFRICA’S GROWTH 

RATE AND REDUCE 

UNEMPLOYMENT”. 

Air Access is a collaborative project that Wesgro 

coordinated between key government organisations, 

including the Western Cape Provincial 

Government, City of Cape Town, Cape Town Tourism 

and Airports Company South Africa. We’ve added 

over 53 800 new two-way seats on a variety of flights 

from regions all around the world, and are achieving 

the objective of connecting Cape Town to Africa 

and the world in a very practical way. Establishing 

these flight connections is a great way of driving 

trade, investment and tourism. 

The relative performance of the Western Cape 

continues to be impressive – we helped to raise 

South Africa’s growth rate and reduce South Africa’s 

unemployment rate. We’ve had 147 000 people net 

moving into the Cape in the past decade according 

to StatsSA, and almost half of those have come 

from Gauteng, so South Africans are voting with 

their feet for the Western Cape economy, bringing 

skills, capital and experience. Entrepreneurs from all 

backgrounds and from all race groups are seeing 

opportunities to grow in the Western Cape. 

What is the expected effect of Brexit on 

business in the region? 

Brexit is a risk but also an opportunity. The UK is 

an important trading partner for us and they are 

also one of the largest investors in the Western 

Cape over the past decade (measured by number 

of projects). 

The uncertainty around the trading arrangements 

with Britain is not a good thing, as uncertainty 

is a disincentive for business. We’ve had several 

engagements with the Consulate General and also 

our largest agri-exporters who are very exposed to 

the British market, to give them a view of what the 

roadmap is for Brexit but also to focus on the opportunity 

it might present. Right now our trade with 

Britain is governed by EU trading arrangements, and 

there exists the distinct possibility that we may be 

able to negotiate more favourable terms when and 

if Britain exits from the EU arrangement. 

What impact will the Special Economic 

Zones have? 

The plan is to have two zones, with oil and gas services 

at the Saldanha Bay IDZ, and clean technology 

around Atlantis, which GreenCape is putting 

together. What this shows is that Cape Town is being 

defined as a leading global energy city. One of the 

interesting results of the decline in the oil price is 

that it’s forced many cities like Cape Town to look 

at where the skills that were involved in the oil industry 

can be deployed, and we found that many 

of those technical skills are quite transferrable into 

new energy like renewables and clean technologies 

So there’s a synergy between those two , old 

energy and renewables or new energy. Recently, 

the Mayor invited the leading energy cities from 

around the world to Cape Town and when we met 

with them it became clear that Cape Town is really 

special in terms of the broad package of energy opportunities 

and most importantly skills to activate 

those opportunities. I think when we look back in 

a decade you will see Cape Town emerge as a real 

energy capital for Africa. 


FOCUS 

More than the voice 

of business 

The Cape Chamber is “where opportunity meets”. 

Although we have never been as technologically connected 

as we are today, the harsh reality is that we have never been 

as disconnected socially as we are now, in spite of the prevalence 

and growth of social media. The Cape Chamber offers 

access to an established network where legitimate businesses can meet, 

engage and grow. It is a dynamic and safe space for lowering risk, being 

heard and finding opportunity. 

We have been challenged with a macro economy that is showing 

no sign of creating a buoyant platform for profitable business. However, 

no matter what the prevailing climate is for business, there will always 

be opportunity for those who seek it out and rise to the challenge. 

If we used the rest of the country as a comparison, the Western 

Cape’s economic performance is above the average. In addition, this 

is a great place to live, work and play with Cape Town being a clean, 

orderly and beautiful city that attracts innovative and dynamic individuals 

who in turn infuse creativity and growth into the region. There are 

many spin-offs to this, such as our substantially lower unemployment 

rate (when compared to the average for South Africa). We also attract 

considerable foreign direct investment, for example more than R200- 

million invested by Kimberly Clarke, R260-million by Hisense and nearly 

R1-billion by Amazon in BPO and tech projects. 

Although the Cape Chamber, which is the oldest membership-based 

organisation in Africa, will turn 213 years in 2017, it is not business as 

usual. We have, as an organisation, embraced innovation to the extent 

that it is in our very DNA. The result is a substantial member base who 

advocate strongly for what the Chamber does and stands for. 

We are considered the voice of business in the region. Our ability 

to lobby is underpinned by our status of being fiercely independent. 

We are not affiliated to any political party, and we are not beholden to 

any single organisation. We monitor proposed legislation that could 

impact business in the region, and where necessary, submit evidence 

to the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee or other authorities 

in the interests of our members. We stand up and say what needs to be 

said – we are heard and people in authority often heed what we say. 

The Chamber is intimately connected with specialised sectors in the 

economy through our Portfolio Committees that focus on agribusiness, 

digital, economic development, HR, industrial focus, international trade 

Cape Chamber President 

Janine Myburgh 

Cape Chamber Executive 

Director Sid Peimer 

and tourism, small business development 

and transport. We have 

a Youth Chamber that focuses 

on the 13-to 25 year old scholars, 

students and entrepreneurs, so 

as to give them the leverage to 

become successful. In addition, 

we host the Port Liaison Forum, 

a committee comprising users of 

the Port of Cape Town, including 

shipping lines, freight and forwarding 

agents, cargo owners and port 

officials. This facilitates a port that 


24

FOCUS 

is run smoothly and effectively. We 

also have various chapters across 

the peninsula, each with its own 

committee that focus on adding 

value to the members in their 

respective areas. 

We play a significant role in 

keeping our members informed 

of the latest issues affecting business 

and industry, both large 

and small. To that end we host 

a substantial number of seminars 

and workshops to facilitate 

information-sharing and training 

for our members. We have had 

many stimulating and informative 

speakers address members at the 

Chamber. These have included: 

Professor Jonathan Jansen who 

was, until recently, Vice Chancellor 

of the University of the Free State; 

Dr Annthea Jeffrey of the Institute 

of Race Relations; Anette Steyn, the 

Shadow Minister of Agriculture, 

Forestry and Fishing; Dr Ivan 

Meyer, the Western Cape Minister 

of Finance; Ms Lumka Yengeni, 

Chairperson of the Parliamentary 

Labour Portfolio Committee; 

Richard Walker, Regional 

Manager Metrorail; Dr Mamphela 

Ramphela, activist and one-time 

MD of the World Bank; Mr Tshediso 

Matona, Secretary of Planning 

and Acting Director General of 

the Department of Planning, 

Monitoring and Evaluation, and 

many more. 

The Chamber is well respected 

and we can attract high-profile 

speakers to debate issues and 

answer questions from our members. 

Recent events that have 

drawn much attention are our 

“Rumble in the Urban Jungle” 

series of debates. We had two in 

2016 – the first featured the leader 

of the EFF Julius Malema versus the futurist Clem Sunter, and our second 

“rumble” pitted Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan against controversial 

journalist and author Justice Malala. These events received extensive 

coverage and were featured in all major media in addition to being 

livestreamed to an international audience. But more importantly, they 

provided information enabling listeners to make better decisions as 

business people and citizens. 

In addition to the numerous meetings and presentations, the 

Chamber hosts a number of landmark events. Our Small Business Expo 

attracts thousands and is growing at a phenomenal rate. We also introduced 

the Cape Business Summit in 2016, with Google as one of the 

keynote speakers. The Chamber also owns the Design for Living expo, 

which in its heyday attracted 100 000 attendees, but was halted a number 

of years ago. We are currently in the process of repositioning the expo 

as Design for Future Living, which will attract exhibitors and attendees 

who are interested in everything that affects our modern lifestyle. 

Our Exporter of the Year competition celebrated its 26th year in 2016. 

This competition brings together the Western Cape’s leading exporters 

and provides an insight into the work and achievements of many companies 

that are not necessarily well known to the public. The annual gala 

awards dinner has become one of the highlights of the year and an outstanding 

opportunity for networking. We also serve on the Board and run 

the SA Chapter of the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge, a 

global competition that brings some of the foremost women in business 

together, publicises their considerable achievements and allows them 

to network with their peers at an international level. 

In addition to all these events, we host both formal and informal 

networking functions, allowing our members to leverage relationships 

that they have built up through the Chamber. We offer business advice 

covering a range of subjects from legislation to HR to tendering. There 

is also an International Trade Desk, which is the first point of contact 

for trade missions and visiting delegations who come to the Chamber 

to interact with our members. The Chamber is authorised to issue 

certificates of origin for exporters. 

The Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a respected and 

admired brand that has managed to remain relevant in a rapidly 

changing world. It’s “where opportunity meets”. 

CONTACT INFO 

Physical address: 4th Floor, 33 Martin Hammerschlag Way, 

Foreshore, Cape Town 8001 

Postal address: PO Box 204, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 402 4300 | Fax: +27 21 402 4302 

Email: info@capechamber.co.za 

Website: capechamber.co.za 


PROFILE 

Western Cape Business 

Opportunities Forum 

The Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum (WECBOF) is a non-profit organisation 

with a powerful voice for business in the southernmost region of the African continent, 

the Western Cape. 

Description 

The Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum 

(WECBOF) is a member-based organisation for business. 

It has access to channels for information on 

how to grow and develop businesses in mainly the 

Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) sector, 

and is an enabler for its members to access new 

business opportunities. 

Service 

WECBOF is a service association providing businesspeople 

with relevant information, training, 

business opportunities, and representation on 

appropriate investment, public sector and related 

platforms. It also ensures that it is represented on 

the boards of relevant associations and affiliations 

in order to ensure that its members are well-represented 

and that opportunities are filtered to the 

organisation for their benefit. 

Business objective 

WECBOF’s objective is to improve business performance 

in order to achieve improved levels of economic 

growth and employment, reduce poverty 

and meet social objectives. In order to achieve its 

objective, the organisation focuses on addressing 

issues such as contributing to the establishment of 

an environment that is conducive to a free market 

based on competitiveness, access to financial and 

other business support services, and expanding 

markets for products and services. 

Target market 

The organisation’s target market is the entrepreneurial 

community of the Western Cape, including 

the SMME sector. 

CONTACT INFO 

Email addresses 

General enquiries: office@wecbof.co.za 

Chief Executive Officer: arifa@wecbof.co.za 

Administration: rene@wecbof.co.za 


26

WECBOF: Where 

entrepreneurs excel 

Arifa Parkar is the CEO of the Western Cape Business 

Opportunities Forum (WECBOF). 

INTERVIEW 

Arifa Parkar, CEO 

BIOGRAPHY 

Arifa Parkar completed her formal 

education at the University 

of Bombay and Mumbai, earning 

a BA in Economics and Politics 

before moving on to complete 

her LLB in 1985. The same year 

she acquired her qualifications in 

Business Management. In 1999 

she joined the Department of Economic 

Affairs and Tourism before 

becoming Marketing Manager 

at the Cape Chamber in 2001. 

She is an active member and 

executive on the Committee of 

the South African Institute of International 

Affairs (Western Province 

Branch) and was elected the 1st 

President of Mafubo South Africa, 

an international NGO. 

In addition to her role as CEO 

of WECBOF, Arifa also owns and 

runs Aasha Investment Solutions 

(Pty) Ltd. 

You were born in Zanzibar, grew up in the Seychelles, 

Mauritius and India… so when did Cape Town 

become home? 

I came to the shores of South Africa in 1991 and very soon after I 

realised that this could very well be my final choice of a place to call 

home. It just suited me in every aspect – the different cultures, the 

“joie de vivre”, the diversity, and of course the cosmopolitan appeal of 

Cape Town just spread its web around my heart. 

Does your vast international experience enhance 

WECBOF’s work? 

Absolutely – I strongly believe that networking is the key to any business’s 

success. Over the years my personal network has grown quite 

significantly, and this will be the key to opening local, national and 

international opportunities for WECBOF and our members. 

How has WECBOF changed its focus in recent years? 

WECBOF started out as a voice for coloured businesspeople, but today 

it represents all South Africans with a common passion for entrepreneurship 

in the Western Cape. This is our greatest achievement. 

How does WECBOF encourage more opportunities for SMMEs? 

To succeed in today’s collaborative, client-driven, networked economy, 

companies must take advantage of the strength of their business 

relationships to succeed. A new economy is emerging, one built on a 

complex network of information, interaction and change. This evolving 

business landscape, shaken by technological innovation, globalisation 

and downsizing, has led us back to embracing the most fundamental 

aspect of business: relationships. That is why WECBOF is in constant dialogue 

with stakeholders so that we create an enabling environment for 

our members, as well as those with whom we interact and do business. 

Which of your accolades means the most to you? 

I have two personal favourites that stand out from the rest, one from 

CEO Magazine as the “Most Influential Woman in Business” Award, 

and the second was awarded to me by Business Partners for my 

“Contribution to SMMEs in the Western Cape”. These two are very 

dear to my heart. 


DID YOU KNOW? 

OMBDS 12.2016 L10069 

OMBDS 12.2016 L10069 

• 10 years ago the Masisizane Fund was established as an initiative of Old Mutual 

South Africa following the closure of the Unclaimed Shares Trust. 

• The Fund provides loan finance to small businesses. 

• The mandate of the Fund is to contribute meaningfully to employment creation, 

poverty eradication and reduction of inequality, economic growth and the attraction 

of investment. 

• The Fund honours the mandate through the promotion of entrepreneurship, enterprise 

finance and support to small, micro and medium enterprises. 

• The focus of the Fund is on enterprises that are 51% or more owned by previously 

disadvantaged individual(s) and gives priority to rural and peri-urban/township 

areas. 

• Preference is given to businesses owned by youth, people with disabilities or are 

owned by women (51% or more). 

• In order to contribute meaningfully to job creation, productive and labour absorbing 

sectors are targeted: 

Agribusiness 

Franchising 

Supply Chain 

Flagship initiative in agriculture in the Eastern Cape 

• Over the last almost 10 years, the Western Cape has benefited from investments 

from the Masisizane Fund in all of the sectors mentioned above to the value of more 

than R22m. With its focus in agriculture, investments to the value of R14m has been 

made in this sector alone. 

Old Mutual is a Licensed Financial Services Provider

MASISIZANE FUND 

• The Fund supplies non-financial value-adding post-investment services including 

capacity development, business management and technical support, financial 

education, market development and product-service quality standards and 

compliance. 

• Masisizane plays a vital role in the assessment of potential suppliers to Old Mutual 

and the further development of suppliers to include the creation of business to 

business transactions with Old Mutual. 

• Since 2012, the Masisizane Fund has offices in five of the nine provinces with the 

national head office in Gauteng: 

Gauteng (including North West & Free State) 011 217 1746 

Western Cape (including Northern Cape) 021 509 5074 

KwaZulu-Natal 031 335 0400 

Eastern Cape 043 704 0116 

Limpopo (including Mpumalanga) 015 287 4279 

An initiative of the 

Group

Down-town boom town, Cape Town 

A number of high-visibility construction projects are under development in the Cape Town 

CBD and surrounds. 

Thousands of people happily meandering 

through the streets of the inner-city till late 

at night – that’s down-town Cape Town on 

the first Thursday of every month. Started in 

2012 as a way of attracting people to art galleries and 

museums, the event has morphed into an urban festival 

of fun, film, fashion, food and performance art. 

It’s also a good measure of a city economy on the up.


The land earmarked for the Richmond Park development. 

Cape Town’s central business district (CBD) delivers 

a quarter of the city’s economic activity and about 

30% of employment. Construction projects worth 

R16-billion are either being built or are in the pipeline 

for the CBD. Hundreds of hotel beds are being 

added to the city’s tourist offering and public money 

is going in to upgrades of the railway station and 

the Iziko South African Museum. A new Cape Town 

Museum is planned for the old Standard Bank building 

on Adderley Street. 

Major developments on both ends of the Foreshore 

will transform the city’s connection to the harbour and 

effectively extend the very successful formula of the 

V&A Waterfront across the front of Cape Town. 

A new cruise terminal on the western edge of the 

Foreshore (north-west of the Cape Town International 

Convention Centre, CTICC) welcomed 86 000 passengers 

in its first year of operation. The tender to 

run the terminal was won by the V&A Waterfront. The 

Amdec Group is developing The Yacht Club directly 

south of the terminal, a mix of commercial, residential 

and hotel space. 

This is part of a larger Port Gateway project that 

aims to connect the city to the sea. The Roggebaai 

Canal will be extended to Duncan Dock, providing a 

link to both the CTICC and the Waterfront. 

On the eastern edge of the Foreshore, a very 

ambitious plan envisages two new hotels, flats, retail 

space and offices rising out of ground currently occupied 

by three car dealerships and a roadworthy 

station on Christiaan Barnard Street. The Harbour 

Arch concept is based on Johannesburg’s Melrose 

Arch, with seven tower blocks to be constructed 

on 200 000m², roughly half the footprint of the V&A 

Waterfront. The Amdec Group are the owners and 

developers of the project. 

Further afield, a high-visibility site 17km from 

Cape Town CBD is being developed as a mixed-use 

commercial precinct with 300 000 m 2 of gross bulk 

lettable area on a 99-year leasehold basis. Called 

Richmond Park, it is anticipated that the development 

will be popular with distribution and light 

industrial businesses, but it will also incorporate a 

retail centre. 

Hotels 

Marriott International’s introduction of three new 

hotel brands to Cape Town forms part of the re-shaping 

of the Foreshore. Both the Cape Town Marriott 

Hotel Foreshore and the Residence Inn by Marriott 



will be part of the new Harbour Arch precinct, while 

the AC Hotel will be attached to the Yacht Club and 

be the first thing cruise line visitors see after they 

emerge from dealing with customs authorities. The 

three hotels will offer a total of 539 rooms. 

The Rezidor Hotel Group is adding a sixth Cape 

Town property to its portfolio with the opening 

of the Radisson Red Hotel V&A Waterfront Cape 

Town. The Capital Mirage opens in De Waterkant 

in 2016 while the boutique Silo Hotel will perch 

above the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, 

which is going to display its contemporary art in the 

Waterfront’s re-purposed grain silos. 

Tsogo Sun is spending R680-million on the site 

of the old Tulip Hotel to create a two-hotel and 

conference complex. Fronting on Strand Street (and 

Bree and Buitengracht), a total of 500 rooms will be 

available in a SunSquare hotel and a StayEasy hotel. 

Cape Town International Convention 

Centre 

Since it started operating in 1999, the CTICC has 

added R38-billion to the regional economy. It is 

jointly owned by the City of Cape Town (67.8%), the 

Western Cape Government (25.3%), and SunWest 

International (Pty) Ltd (6.9%). The Westin Hotel is on 

the western edge of the conference centre complex 

and several other large hotels are nearby, including 

two Southern Sun hotels, Waterfront Cape Town 

and The Cullinan. 

Building is under way to double the size of the 

CTICC, which will position Cape Town to handle 

mega-conferences such as those dealing with climate 

change. Two major conferences were recently 

secured with the help of the Cape Town & Western 

Cape Convention Bureau: the 18th International 

Congress of Immunology (IUIS) and the International 

Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME). The CTICC 

bids were in competition with London, Paris, Mexico 

and Toronto, Hawaii, Auckland, Beijing and Santiago. 

These two events alone will bring 8 500 visitors 

to the city. 

In 2015/16, the CTICC generated R200-million in 

revenue and earned R65-million in operating profit 

by hosting 504 events. 

Voortrekker Road Corridor development 

The old road to the north is still a very busy road 

but there are plans to bulk up Voortrekker Road 

and make it an attractive investment destination. 

The City of Cape Town has recently put infrastructure 

worth more than R300-million into 

supporting the plan, and has given money to the 

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) 

for it to develop a plan to upgrade the rail corridor. 

The Voortrekker Corridor is one of the 

densest transport nodes, with rail, road and taxi 

linkages throughout. 

The Greater Tygerberg Partnership is driving 

several initiatives to spur developments in the 

region. These relate to attracting investment, affordable 

housing, creating a world-class sporting 

facility at the Haardekraaltjie precinct, and lobbying 

for pedestrian malls, bike lanes and more 

efficient public transport. 

The City of Cape Town presented its Voortrekker 

Road Corridor: Strategy and Investment Plan at the 

African Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit at 

the CTICC in November 2016. 


FOCUS 

A world-class 

convention centre 

welcoming the world 

By expanding its existing footprint, the CTICC is moving closer to its goal of becoming 

one of the top convention centres in the world. 

©ALAIN PROUST 

The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) is a destination 

of choice for conferences, exhibitions and business events on 

the African continent. Located in the foreshore business precinct 

in the City of Cape Town, the centre is currently undergoing an 

impressive expansion project. The expansion – known as CTICC East – is 

set to further the centre’s reputation for hosting the highest number of 

international conferences in Africa and will allow it to simultaneously 

host concurrent large-scale events across CTICC West (the original 

facility) and CTICC East. 

Only a 20-minute drive from Cape Town International Airport, the 

CTICC offers: 

• Two auditoria seating 1 500 and 612 delegates respectively 

• A roof terrace for 380 delegates 

• 33 breakout rooms of varying sizes accommodating 25-320 

delegates 

• 11 399m 2 of dedicated exhibition and tradeshow space 

• Versatile banqueting and function rooms including a grand 

ballroom of 2 000m 2 with breathtaking city views 

• 1 400 parking bays 

CTICC East, scheduled to open in July 2017, increases the centre’s capacity 

with 10 000m 2 of multipurpose conference and exhibition space and 

3 000m 2 of formal and informal meeting space. It has been awarded a 

Four-Star Green Building Rating by the South African Green Building 

Council. 

The CTICC is a purpose-built 

facility in one of the premier tourism 

destination cities. Its expansion 

bolsters its vision to deliver 

extraordinary experiences to a far 

broader audience and become 

one of the top 10 convention 

centres in the world. 

CONTACT INFO 

Physical address: 

Convention Square, 1 Lower 

Long Street, Cape Town 

8001 

Tel: +27 21 410 5000 

Email: info@cticc.co.za 

Website: www.cticc.co.za 

Twitter: @ C T I C C _ O f fi c i a l 

Facebook: facebook.com/ 

CTICC 


34

Experience Extraordinary 

There’s a place where meetings, conventions and 

celebrations are transformed from ordinary gatherings 

into extraordinary experiences. A place where everyone 

knows they are valued, where vision is shared, and where 

today’s ideas come to life as tomorrow’s successful reality. 

Here, a breathtaking location, a selection of superb venues 

and facilities, and uncompromising VIP treatment for all 

are brought together to offer your important guests an 

unforgettable experience worthy of their status. 

This place is Cape Town International Convention Centre. 

And to experience it is to experience extraordinary. 

To transform your special event into an extraordinary experience 

contact CTICC: +27 21 410 5000 sales@cticc.co.za www.cticc.co.za

INTERVIEW 

Cape Town’s new 

warehousing hub 

Gerrit van den Berg of Atterbury 

outlines the proposal to develop Richmond Park. 

Gerrit van den Berg 

BIOGRAPHY 

Gerrit, who heads up the Western 

Cape offi ce for Atterbury, studied 

a BCom Investment Management 

at Tuks (the University of 

Pretoria) before he started working 

for a Johannesburg-based 

developer. On his daily commute 

between Pretoria and Johannesburg 

he would drive past two 

buildings being developed by 

Atterbury. He was so impressed 

with the look of the buildings that 

he plucked up the courage to 

approach the company for a job. 

His initiative paid off and he has 

been working for Atterbury since 

2006. In January 2016 he moved 

to the Western Cape to open the 

regional offi ce in Stellenbosch. 

What prompted the decision to develop Richmond Park? 

Atterbury was approached by two individuals, Richard Glass and Daniel 

Filippi, who saw an invitation to tender for the development of 84ha of 

land adjacent to the suburb of Richwood along the N7 highway. They 

invited us to join them in bidding for the land that had been advertised 

following the awarding of a land claim. 

We were impressed by the fact that the land is joined by key roads in the 

north/central part of the city and is therefore very accessible and so were 

delighted when the tender was awarded to our consortium. 

How will the land claimants benefit from the project? 

The 401 families who lived on the land in the 1970s and ‘80s were removed 

against their will from the land by the former apartheid administration. 

The land was returned to the original inhabitants following a successful 

land claim. 

Our tender bid specified that the original community members would 

become a 25% shareholder in the final development project. The original 

families and their descendants received a monetary amount when the 

lease was registered and they will qualify for an annuity income from the 

proceeds of the development – that is, once the development becomes 

profitable and for the remainder of the 99-year lease. 

Who are you targeting in terms of sales/leases and which 

companies have signed up to move to Richmond Park? 

We are targeting larger distribution and logistics companies, particularly 

those requiring in excess of 5 000m 2 facilities. We have sold 3.5ha of land to 

Cape Fruit Coolers, and also concluded a deal with CTM. We have earmarked 

a retail development of 11 000m 2 at Richmond Corner with Pick n Pay, Clicks 

and Planet Fitness as anchor tenants, scheduled to open in March 2018. 

We estimate there is sufficient space to construct 300 000m 2 of bulk 

in total. 

www.richmondpark.biz 


36

BAT HQ, Cape Town 

Mall of Africa, Waterfall City 

Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius, Mauritius PwC HQ, Waterfall City Richmond Park, Cape Town 

Randport Industrial, Germiston Mall of Engomi, Cyprus Shoppi, Serbia 

From Africa, to Europe and beyond 

Over 22 years Atterbury has created more than 20 shopping centres and many 

other award-winning commercial developments. The company is proud of its 

heritage and business associations, cementing Atterbury as a leading name in 

property investment and development across the African continent and beyond. 

atterbury.co.za

INTERVIEW 

Driving investment 

in Cape Town 

Lance Greyling heads up the newly launched 

Invest Cape Town initiative. 

Lance Greyling 

BIOGRAPHY 

Lance Greyling has experience 

in the private sector, civil society 

and government. After some 

time in the corporate world he 

joined environmental organisation 

Globe Southern Africa as the 

programme manager for Southern 

Africa. In 2003, he joined 

the newly formed Independent 

Democrats under Patricia de Lille 

and was elected to Parliament 

in 2004. He spent 11 years in 

Parliament, serving on a number 

of different portfolios, including 

Trade and Industry, Finance, 

Education, Environmental Affairs 

and Energy. In February 2015, he 

took up the position of Director 

of Trade and Investment at the 

City of Cape Town. 

Please give some background on Invest Cape Town and 

its role. 

Cape Town is known the world over as a beautiful city and a tourist 

destination, but we want to position Cape Town as a globally competitive 

business destination – a great place to invest and a great place 

to do business. If we are going to address our socio-economic challenges 

as a city, we have to grow the economy and create more jobs. 

We have the lowest rate of unemployment of all the metros, but it still 

sits at around 20% which is far too high. If we’re going to make a dent 

in that we have to position Cape Town in the minds of both local and 

international investors as a globally competitive business destination, 

and if they choose to invest here we will make it as easy as possible to 

get their enterprise going. 

What makes Cape Town an attractive destination 

for investors? 

There are a number of exciting things that are happening in Cape Town. 

Firstly, potential investors coming to Cape Town realise that this is a 

city that actually works – the infrastructure is in place, we have reliable 

electricity and water, on an administrative level this is a city that is easy 

to deal with, we’re very responsive to businesspeople and our citizens, 

so we deal with issues quickly and make sure problems are resolved. 

In terms of governance, we’re now the most stable metro in the 

country, with a 65% majority, so there is continuity of policies and 

governance. We’ve had unqualified audits for the past 10 years. This 

factor is vitally important to investors. 

Secondly, there are a number of interesting sectors that have 

emerged in Cape Town, which investors will be particularly interested 

in. We conducted a study of the Cape Town economy to identify areas 

for growth, and what we found was that a lot of the sectors that Cape 

Town is doing well in are sectors that are poised for big global growth 

– sectors of the future. 

An example is the ICT sector – we are very much the tech hub of 

Africa with the most tech start-ups of any city on the continent, and 


38

INTERVIEW 

we also have a mature ecosystem here that can 

support tech companies. 

In BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), we’re 

the leader in South Africa and in Africa. There are 

a number of global companies such as Amazon 

running back-office and call-centre operations out 

of Cape Town. This is another sector where we want 

to attract more investors and where we have an 

attractive offering. 

In terms of the renewable energy and clean-tech 

industries, we’re also a leader. We should shortly 

receive national designation for a Special Economic 

Zone in Atlantis for the clean-tech sector, and we 

already account for about 60% of the manufacturing 

of the renewable energy component for the 

national programme. 

“WE AIM TO POSITION CAPE 

TOWN IN THE MINDS OF BOTH 

LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL 

INVESTORS AS A GLOBALLY 

COMPETITIVE BUSINESS 

DESTINATION.” 

We’re also seeing investment into advanced 

manufacturing such as electronics. An example is 

Hisense, which is expanding its operations in Atlantis, 

and there’s an aerospace cluster in Somerset West 

where there are a number of companies that are 

producing satellites for the global market. 

So we are doing well in the knowledge economy, 

which is supported by the fact that we have four 

higher education institutions here. This is a key point 

for companies looking to invest as they know that 

we have the requisite skills base. 

Cape Town is also a place where people want 

to come and live, so companies know they’re not 

going to struggle to get people to come and work 

for them if they base themselves here. 

Cape Town is also the retail capital of South Africa, 

with many of the retail giants headquartered here, 

Shoprite being an example. This is a good base for 

companies that are looking to penetrate the African 

market, given our port infrastructure, and we also 

have the financial and legal companies to underpin 

and advance an African strategy. 

Are there any incentives that you offer 

to investors? 

We’re limited at local government level in terms of 

incentives we can offer, but we did pilot an incentive 

scheme in Atlantis that worked phenomenally 

well – the one financial incentive we were able to 

offer was a discount on electricity, and companies 

have taken that up, but actually the bigger incentive 

that we offer is in the efficient allocation of land. 

For example, a company looking to build a factory 

here was able to make an investment decision and 

within nine months buy the land from us, get all the 

approvals, get the building plans done, construct 

the factory and then open up their operation in a 

record time. That’s where the real incentive lies, a 

non-financial incentive – in our ability to fast-track 

administrative processes. 

And of course a Special Economic Zone for the 

clean-tech sector would offer a national incentive 

in terms of a lower tax rate, which is a big drawcard. 

How are you taking the message about 

Cape Town to the world? 

First, we’re having three months of structured engagements 

with key stakeholders and partners to 

see what they require to get the message out about 

Cape Town. 

Although we have initiated this campaign, we 

don’t see ourselves as owning it – we want people 

to be economic ambassadors for Cape Town, to 

engage with us as to the kind of materials that would 

be useful to them when they go out on a global 

mission. We will then craft the collateral for them 

to use. 

So it’s not just about us pushing out a message 

of the City of Cape Town, but about us empowering 

economic ambassadors for Cape Town and giving 

them the materials to enable them to sell a good 

story about Cape Town globally. 


INTERVIEW 

Collaboration for 

growth 

CEO of Accelerate Cape Town, Ryan Ravens, explains how 

the organisation is engaging with a variety of role-players to 

shape growth in the city. 

Ryan Ravens 

BIOGRAPHY 

Ryan Ravens has extensive 

experience in leadership positions 

in the public and private 

sectors. Having served as the 

masterplan project manager for 

the FIFA 2010 World Cup, he 

was subsequently headhunted 

by the Gauteng Growth and Development 

Agency. His next role 

was CEO of a holding company 

that invested in numerous initiatives 

whereafter he joined Accelerate 

Cape Town. He holds 

three degrees including an MBA 

from UCT. 

How does Accelerate Cape Town differ from other 

business organisations in the region? 

Our model is very different to the chambers in that we represent or 

aim to represent some of the largest corporates and we are not looking 

to grow our membership massively. We keep our membership 

small because we want to have the big players and the people who 

can collectively shift the landscape, not people who are trying to use 

the platform for business development. Having a small number allows 

me to engage with them quite intimately, so I can have face-to-face 

interaction with the CEOs on a regular basis. 

We have 42 of the largest corporates as members, and we are 

aiming to reach 50. The four universities, two business schools and 

political leadership of the region are part of our network so it becomes 

an effective network that should be capable of shifting the landscape 

and driving the bigger game-changing projects in the region. 

Our independence is important; we don’t accept any money from 

government as that allows us to be an independent voice for the 

private sector. 

What are your key areas of activity? 

When you have limited resources you have to make tough choices 

as to what you can do, so we narrowed our focus to five key areas: 

Talent 

The first focus area is talent, specifically the transformation, attraction 

and retention of young black talent in the corporate environment. 

We found that companies have been spending a fortune to import 

black talent to the Cape but once their orientation programme ends 

and those people haven’t settled socially into the city and built social 

capital, they’re on a plane going back. We do inspiration sessions aimed 

at young leaders and young talent to help them build their personal 

networks in the region and meet their peers in other corporates in 

order to share experiences. 

In 2016 we extended that reach to senior professionals who’ve 

relocated to the Cape. Whether they’re foreign nationals or 


40

INTERVIEW 

senior professionals from other parts of South 

Africa, they are struggling to settle into the city and 

they have similar issues except they have families. It 

has become quite challenging for many corporates, 

so we’ve launched what we call the “Welcome 

to Cape Town” initiative. This is less serious than 

our usual networking engagements because it’s 

geared more towards showcasing the food, wine 

and entertainment of the region, but ultimately 

it’s about helping them meet their peers and the 

feedback so far has been massively encouraging. 

It’s fine focusing on talent, but if we’re serious 

about transformation we also have to look 

at the HR practitioners. We have started the HR 

Practitioner Forum which brings together all the 

senior HR leadership from across these corporates 

to engage around specific issues. These include 

the unintended consequences of the new BEE 

codes and what that means, how they practically 

implement transformation in their organisation 

and best practices. There is an opportunity for 

sharing, so that adds value. We’ve tried to create 

linkages between our focus areas, so when we 

talk about the Atlantis SEZ, for example, there’s a 

tie-in with talent with respect to artisanal training 

and so on. 

WE DON’T ACCEPT ANY 

MONEY FROM GOVERNMENT 

AS THAT ALLOWS US TO BE 

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR 

THE PRIVATE SECTOR. 

Business leadership 

The second focus area is business leadership, which 

has two components. The first is the activities we do 

with the leaders of these corporates which includes 

intimate engagements with people such as Christo 

Wiese, Simon Susman, etc, who act as mentors. We 

engage around specific topics, junk status and Brexit 

and the implications thereof. We invite people from 

the National Treasury or the major banks to participate 

and engage with the local CEOs. 

We also host dinners with the Premier and the 

Mayor, private events around one table so that CEOs 

can engage with them on issues that are impacting 

business in the region. This helps drive real working 

relationships between business and government 

not just talk shops and “protocol-observed” 

type events. 

In the second aspect of our business leadership 

focus, we started reaching out to the diplomatic 

corps by launching the Foreign Office Programme. 

We been quite selective and have focused on the 

Dutch, the Germans, the French and the English 

because they are all actively involved in assisting 

their corporates in this region. From the Asia 

Pacific region it’s Japan, China, India and the USA, 

and those eight represented our Foreign Office 

Programme for 2016. 

Connectedness 

Our third area of focus is connectedness and again 

there are two components. There’s physical connectedness 

and we are doing a series of engagements 

with Wesgro where we’re looking at issues 

of traffic congestion. For example, quite a number 

of members moving into the Waterfront are concerned 

about the level of traffic congestion and the 

way it is negatively impacting productivity. We are 

exploring different options but also looking at rail 

and freight logistics and the direct flights out of 

Cape Town to key economic destinations. 

Then there is virtual connectedness – the fibre 

optic broadband infrastructure, the wifi zones, etc. 

From a social development perspective, you want 

that infrastructure in the townships. Research 

has shown that a 10% increase in broadband 

connectivity results in a 1.3% increase in GDP 

growth. So the City decided to use its budget 

and grow the infrastructure and then they came 

to us and asked what the corporates could do 

with open access networks. 

Our corporates are very excited about it 

because with these wifi zone and fibre optic 

networks you have an opportunity to access 

communities that they had difficulty in reaching. 


INTERVIEW 

Allied to this is the City of Cape 

Town’s strategy to position Cape 

Town as Africa’s first smart city. 

The City had a draft strategy for 

this but it wanted input from regional 

players. The tricky thing is 

they couldn’t go directly to specific 

corporates because that would 

have meant those corporates 

would have needed to be excluded 

from the procurement process. 

I suggested that they speak to us 

because we are not-for-profit and 

I could organise a workshop with 

various role-players. 

The first workshop was held 

at the new Deloitte Greenhouse 

facility and something amazing 

happened. As the City officials outlined various 

initiatives, the private sector representatives 

started putting up their hands and saying things 

like, “We already have a product that does that”, or 

“We were planning to do that in five years anyway 

based on our business strategy but now we know 

it’s needed we can fast-track it”. So, whereas you 

might have expected government to take the 

lead in certain initiatives and for the corporates 

to be gearing themselves up for the procurement, 

it became clear the private sector could take the 

lead now that they had the knowledge of where 

government was intending to go. 

We have now replicated that model for other key 

initiatives such as big data, which is relevant to the 

SKA project. One of the most interesting aspects of 

the Square Kilometre Array project is that the facility 

generates data at an absolutely unprecedented rate 

and we have facilitated some very fruitful discussions 

around associated opportunities. 

Innovation 

Allied to that is our fourth focus area, which is innovation. 

We’ve narrowed the focus specifically to 

academia and business, and have also created links 

with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). We 

are working specifically with the Technology Transfer 

Office (TTO) at each university. Each university has 

been mandated to establish a technology office 

The Thought Leaders sessions are popular with Cape Town 

businesspeople. 

where they house all the inventions, all the innovations 

and the spinout companies that come from 

the university environment. 

Commercialisation out of that incubation space 

into mainstream commerce is a challenge and that’s 

where the link with corporates becomes significant. 

The advanced manufacturing and technology 

that’s coming out of those TTOs has blown me away. 

They attract finance because they’re good products 

but what happens is, because it is headed by a sciences 

or engineering graduate, it flounders because 

there isn’t a depth of business experience. 

We initially approached our corporate network 

to find out if there were individuals who were willing 

to act as directors with a view to mentoring 

these young entrepreneurs and also to potentially 

buying an equity stake. What we discovered is that 

corporate managers are often governance focused, 

whereas what a start-up needs is to grow its market, 

to increase efficiency and product development, 

and to implement systems required for growth. 

Unfortunately, some of the corporate people were 

stifling the start-up with that mindset so we are going 

to develop a start-up mentorship course (an accredited 

standardised course) that seasoned professionals 

can take in order to help them understand start-ups. 

We are also having conversations with players 

in the e-learning space to drive effective e-learning 

initiatives in our region. 


42

INTERVIEW 

Welcome to Cape Town event, from left to right: CEO of Accelerate Cape Town Ryan Ravens, Katlego 

Letlonkane Associate, Employment Law, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc and Savarion Arendse, Old Mutual. 

Sustainability 

Our last focus area is sustainability – food, water and 

energy security. The drought is obviously influencing 

food security so we have had people talking 

about innovative ways of managing water and 

innovative agricultural practices. 

Perhaps the most exciting programme in our 

sustainability focus area is the application that has 

been submitted to the dti to have Atlantis Green 

Technology Industrial Park designated as a Special 

Economic Zone. 

We can’t compete with the Chinese in terms of 

solar panel manufacturing and we don’t have the 

engineering skill and the artisans who can build 

related electrical engineering components. But what 

every solar panel needs is a steel mounting structure; 

what every electrical component needs is a steel 

casing and steel components. 

What we’ve been saying to Green Cape and provincial 

government is, make steel the local content 

component. You have all these big global traders 

rushing in because they get a massive tax break (15% 

versus the usual 29%). That is already a big pull factor, 

but then you compel them to use local steel. This is 

will improve prospects for our steel industry but also 

stimulate the market for artisans (although demand 

is already massive). 

The problem in South Africa is we simply haven’t 

produced enough artisans and recent studies 

have shown if we are to implement the National 

Development Plan and if we are to get our economy 

back on track we need 40-60% of school 

leavers doing artisanal training, but at the moment that 

number is 8%. 

We see this initiative in Atlantis as the optimal 

opportunity to establish more artisanal training in 

colleges. We want to grow the economy in a particular 

direction but it has to be inclusive; there’s no 

point in growing the economy in a direction that the 

mass population cannot participate in. 

As a result of our engagement with Airports 

Company South Africa there is a chance that a facility 

situated between Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and 

Philippi could become the location of an artisanal 

training college. 

These are some examples of our tangible and 

connected approach to growing the regional 

economy. 

www.acceleratecapetown.co.za 



South African economy at a glance 

Insight into the performance of the South African economy is provided through these 

graphical representations of key statistics. 

ZIMBABWE 

NAMIBIA 

BOTSWANA 

Limpopo 

0.9% (7.1%) 

MOZAMBIQUE 

North West 

-3.6% (6.5%) 

Gauteng 

2.1% 

(34.3%) 

Mpumalanga 

2.7% 

(7.5%) 

SWAZI- 

LAND 


2.8% (2.1%) 

Free State 

1.8% 

(5%) 

LESOTHO 

KwaZulu- 

Natal 

2.3% 

(16.1%) 


2.0% (13.6%) 


1.0% (7.6%) 

SA GDP: Percentage of growth per province (2014) and percentage 

contribution to national GDP (figures in brackets). 

SOURCE: STATS SA WWW.STATSSA.GOV.ZA 

PROVINCE CAPITAL PREMIER POPULATION (2015) AREA GRP BILLION RAND 

Eastern Cape Bhisho 

Phumulo 

Masualle 

6 916 200 168 966km 2 R289.9 

Free State Bloemfontein 

Elias Sekgobelo 

"Ace" Magashule 

2 817 900 129 825km 2 R189.1 

Gauteng Johannesburg David Makhura 13 200 300 18 178km 2 R1 305.6 

KwaZulu- 

Natal 

Pietermaritzburg Willies Mchunu 10 919 100 94 361km 2 R610.1 

Limpopo Polokwane 

Stanley 

Mathabatha 

5 726 800 125 754km 2 R271.5 

Mpumalanga Mbombela David Mabuza 4 283 900 76 495km 2 R284.2 

North West Mahikeng 

Supra 

Mahumapelo 

3 707 000 104 882km 2 R249.5 

Northern Cape Kimberley Sylvia Lucas 1 185 600 372 889km 2 R79.9 

Western Cape Cape Town Helen Zille 6 200 100 129 462km ² R518.1 

Snapshot of South Africa’s provinces 

SOURCE: INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATION’S SOUTH AFRICA SURVEY 2016 AS REPORTED ON BUSINESSTECH.CO.ZA 



How South Africa’s economy performed in 2015. * 

* PRELIMINARY RESULTS | SOURCE: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, 4TH QUARTER 2015 | WWW.STATSSA.GOV.ZA 

SECTOR LP MP GP NW KZN FS NC EC WC 

Agriculture 2.5 2.8 0.4 2.1 3.8 4.3 6.0 7.5 3.5 

Mining 29.4 24.9 3.3 33.6 1.9 13.3 26.7 0.2 0.3 

Manufacturing 2.5 11.5 13.5 4.4 15.8 8.5 2.1 12.2 11.8 

Electricity 2.8 5.4 2.4 1.4 2.5 3.1 3.0 1.4 2.0 

Construction 2.5 3.3 4.3 2.6 3.0 2.0 1.6 2.1 4.3 

Wholesale 10.8 10.3 14.2 9.3 15.5 12.3 9.9 14.7 17.0 

Transport 5.4 5.8 8.3 6.1 11.9 7.1 7.8 7.9 9.1 

Finances 14.0 10.9 22.8 11.1 16.5 14.2 11.6 18.6 26.6 

Personal 

Services 

Government 

Services 

3.8 4.3 3.6 7.0 5.8 10.2 8.1 9.1 5.1 

16.0 10.5 17.0 12.1 13.3 14.7 12.8 22.0 10.2 

Taxes 10.3 10.3 10.1 10.3 10.0 10.3 10.2 10.2 10.0 

Gross Domestic Product by province, percentage contribution. 

SOURCE: STATS SA WWW.STATSSA.GOV.ZA/?PAGE_ID=735&ID=1 



7% 

6% 

5% 

4% 

3% 

2% 

1% 

0 

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 

CPI (percentages from 2011 to 2016) 

PPI (percentages from 2011 to 2016) 

denotes data for September 2016 rather than the average for the full year. 

** 

Inflation rate 2011 to 2016 

SOURCE: WWW.STATSSA.GOV.ZA 

Mineral products 20.41% 

Precious metals 18.24% 

Vehicles, aircraft and vessels 12.57% 

Products iron and steel 12.02% 

Machinery 9.69% 

Chemicals 6.47% 

Vegetables (including fruit, nuts and cereals) 4.96% 

Prepared foodstuff (including beverages) 4.29% 

Plastic and rubber 2.11% 

Wood pulp and paper 1.92% 

South Africa’s top 10 export commodity categories: 2015 

SOURCE: SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE WWW.SARS.GOV.ZA 

Machinery 25.02% 

Mineral products 16.12% 

Vehicles, aircraft and vessels 10.4% 

Chemicals 10.37% 

Equipment components 7.3% 

Products iron and steel 5.54% 

Plastic and rubber 4.13% 

Textiles 3.72% 

Prepared foodstuff (including beverages) 2.93% 

Photographic, medical equipment 2.71% 

South Africa’s top 10 import commodity categories: 2015 

SOURCE: SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE WWW.SARS.GOV.ZA 


46

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to providing excellent client service – a commitment that is confirmed 

by the high ratings consistently provided by client surveys. 

“We are a relationship-driven business, focused on JSE-listed companies, 

large unlisted companies, branches or subsidiaries of inbound 

multinational entities and public sector entities at national, provincial 

and local government level. The Coastal region incorporates the 

Durban and Cape Town offices, with clients from Saldanha Bay in 

the west to Richards Bay in the east,” says Alistair Pearce, Divisional 

Executive of Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking. “In the 

Cape, we have two offices and focus mainly on the life assurance, 

retail, media, asset management and oil industries, the consumer 

goods and food sectors, and the public sector – the latter being a 

sector we’re targeting for substantial growth.” 

What we do differently 

The division provides a differentiated client value proposition, based on 

established relationships and an in-depth understanding of its clients’ 

businesses and the industries in which they operate. It provides a fullservice 

wholesale banking offering – including lending, deposit-taking, 

transactional banking, global trade services and asset finance – by way 

of dedicated corporate bankers who are primarily responsible for dealing 

with corporate clients. 

Specific solutions 

The division provides a variety of funding solutions amounting to 

between R50-million and several billion rand from short-term and 

working capital facilities, trade finance and letters of credit and 

guarantees, to vanilla and complex term debt structures by way of 

bilateral, club and syndicated transactions, the issuance of corporate 

paper and other debt instruments. Leveraged buyouts (LBOs) 

and management buyouts (MBOs) are also funded, with Nedbank 

Corporate and Investment Banking acting as lead arranger, coarranger 

or facility agent. 

Transactional banking offers 

full-spectrum domestic-clearing 

bank services, including current 

accounts, cash management and 

electronic banking, through its 

scalable Internet-based NetBank 

Business system, its high-volume 

host-to-host platform, Corporate 

Payments System, and a full range 

of cross-border and international 

transactions. The deposit-taking 

franchise is strong, with a range of 

tenor-linked investment offerings 

paying interest rates, linked to a 

range of instruments. 

Commitment to the 

community 

“As part of the Nedbank Group, 

we are committed to making a 

difference in the community in 

which we operate and, through 

the Nedbank Foundation, contribute 

to a number of educational 

causes. We are especially proud 

of our Western Cape essay writing 

competition in partnership with 

the Western Cape Government”. 

For more information on Nedbank 

Corporate and Investment 

Banking contact Alistair Pearce, 

Divisional Executive on tel: 

+27 21 416 6825 or email: 

alistairp@nedbank.co.za 

47 


FOCUS 

Nedbank Business Banking: 

Making it easier to 

do business 

Business customers benefit from Nedbank’s relationship-based banking model. 

Great news for Cape business owners and entrepreneurs seeking 

a unique banking experience: Nedbank Business Banking 

has over 80 business managers located across the Western 

Cape who are ready to assist you with professional advice 

and industry-specific solutions. 

“At Nedbank Business Banking we believe that you need a financial 

partner who not only understands your circumstances and aspirations, 

but can also provide you with relevant solutions and a banking experience 

that is hassle-free, allowing you to concentrate on the running of 

your business,” says Goolam Kader, Nedbank Business Banking’s Divisional 

Executive for the Western Cape. 

At the core of the bank’s offering is a relationship-based model, with 

a business manager dedicated to your business as the key entry point 

into the bank. Each business manager is part of a client services team, 

additional members being a credit manager, credit analyst and services 

manager, all of whom have a genuine interest in the success of each 

individual business. “When you do business with us, you are speaking to 

people who know the area and are familiar with the various industries 

operating here,” explains Kader. 

Kader adds that Nedbank is constantly innovating and these principles 

are further embedded in our first-to-market approach with the launch of 

Whole-View Business Banking, which emphasises that by partnering with 

us, we are able to provide a holistic view of the client`s entire business. 

This will have substantial benefits to our clients, including leveraging 

skills and resources across the bank; better business, transactional and 

cash flow solutions; better understanding of our client`s liquidity risk and 

associated costs as well as improved overall pricing. 

An added benefit of banking your business with Nedbank Business 

Banking is that your business and your personal financial needs as well 

as that of your employees can be managed in one place. 

“Very often business owners and their businesses are financially dependent 

on each other. Our client service teams now also offer individual 

banking solutions, better advice and a hassle-free service to you and 

Goolam Kader, 

Nedbank Business Banking 

Divisional Executive, 


your staff as we already know and 

understand your needs,” explains 

Kader. 

With this in mind, Nedbank 

introduced Nedbank@Work – a 

unique service to employees 

of companies who bank with 

Nedbank. The service facilitates 

convenient banking at the workplace 

through bankers or consultants 

on site, in the branch or via our 

call centre and internet channels. 

In addition, Nedbank@Work offers 

non-financial support to you and 

your employees free of charge. 

For more information call Goolam 

Kader on +27 21 928 2000 or 

email goolamk@nedbank.co.za 


Nedbank Retail Banking: 

Making banking 

accessible to all 

FOCUS 

Nedbank intends working with communities to make banking services more accessible. 

Our clients are engaged by skilled, enabled and productive 

staff who, through meaningful conversations, ensure we 

deliver our clients’ needs and aspirations. As a bank for all, 

Nedbank realises that communities and their representatives 

are key stakeholders in our bank for all strategy. As such, the bank’s 

strong relations with government, organised business and communities 

remain a key focus in growing its client base of over seven-million. 

Our presence in the Western Cape community goes a long way 

in allowing for greater financial inclusion while contributing to social 

upliftment and economic development. 

Nedbank continues to grow its distribution presence across South 

Africa, including the Western Cape as the fastest-growing province. 

This enables us to provide accessible banking to all South Africans. 

We continue to invest in our frontline staff that operate across 95 traditional 

branches, eight relationship centres and seven personal loan 

centres. Nedbank has embarked on a distribution strategy to convert 

all traditional branches to “Branch(es) of the Future”. 

Branches of the Future are equipped and enabled with world-class 

technology to create a great place to bank for our clients and a great 

place to work for our staff. We currently have 25 “Branch of the Future” 

stores in the Western Cape. To make banking more convenient, we 

currently have eight branches that operate and trade on a Sunday. For 

further convenience to our clients, we have also increased our ATM 

distribution to 606 and Intelligent Depositors to 127 in the province. 

Nedbank’s client-centred approach has seen the bank intensify 

its efforts in delivering a distinctive client experience through innovation. 

The introduction of the award-winning Nedbank App Suite 

is evidence of the bank’s progress and its understanding of client 

needs. The App Suite serves as a virtual extension of our distribution 

network operating from the palm of your hands. “It makes it easy for 

clients to do their banking securely – from anywhere, anytime,” says 

Sharon Smith: Regional General Manager of Western Cape Branch 

Networks at Nedbank. 

“Our offering in Western Cape Retail extends to Small Business 

and Professional Banking. We believe that small business is a critical 

segment of our economy and plays a key role in job creation. To 

Sharon Smith, Nedbank 

Regional General Manager 

Branch Networks 

support small businesses we have 

dedicated relationship managers, 

either in branch or in relationship 

centres for every small business 

account holder. We have a website 

called ‘simplyBiz.co.za’ that 

serves as a networking platform 

for small business owners and 

provides ongoing support in 

numerous aspects of business. 

We also have a fully integrated 

electronic banking application 

that incorporates payroll, as well 

as accounting, all accessible via a 

single platform,” Smith adds. 

For more information about our 

Nedbank Retail Banking offering 

please call Sharon Smith on 

+27 21 928 2000 or send an email 

to sharonsmi@nedbank.co.za 

49 


FOCUS 

Accessible 

onsite banking 

Nedbank is happy to help its clients learn 

to better manage their money. 

Nedbank@Work aims to make a difference in the communities 

in which we operate through financial wellness education 

for all employees in both the private sector and government. 

This is done through tailored financial fitness and consumer 

education training. Our continuous involvement in corporate social 

programmes in communities throughout the Western Cape also 

supports growth and development. 

How Nedbank@Work works for you, the employee 

It’s hard to focus on anything if you are having personal financial challenges 

like needing a personal loan, providing for school or university 

fees, or for unexpected costs like funerals. 

Unfortunately, dealing with a lot of these worrying financial issues 

takes time and energy, and more often than not they can only be 

sorted out during office hours, when you don’t have time. 

That’s where Nedbank@Work comes in: 

Nedbank@Work makes convenient banking at your workplace possible. 

But, we offer more than just the convenience of having a relationship 

banker on site to open accounts and address queries; we also help 

you understand your financial position and work with you on a plan 

to reach financial fitness. 

What are the benefits of Nedbank@Work? 

• You have access to a dedicated sales consultant, whose role is to 

establish convenience and ensure the best service delivery for all 

employees. 

• Our financial fitness and consumer education training provides you 

with the services and expert advice you need to help you better 

manage your personal finances, make provision for unexpected 

circumstances, provide for 

your children’s education, etc. 

• The Financial Fitness Trainer 

will also be able to assist you 

when it comes to improving 

your credit ratings and managing 

your budget. 

• You also get great-vaue 

banking products as well as 

immediate access to your 

salary if your company banks 

with Nedbank. 

• Peace of mind as a result of 

financial well-being. 

• We’re continuously there on 

site, making it that much easier 

to access and expand on and/ 

or enhance your existing suite 

of banking products. 

• And because we bring the 

bank to your workplace, you 

don’t have to waste your 

lunchtime by going to the 

bank to wait in long queues. 

Any company or government 

department interested in offering 

the Nedbank@Work value to 

their employees can contact the 

Area Manager, Shamima Nazeer 

on +27 21 412 3478 or email 

ShamimaN@nedbank.co.za 


Make the most of your 

money with our local and 

international expertise 

At Nedbank Financial Planning and Nedbank Private Wealth 

we care about your financial security and goals. 

FOCUS 

This means ensuring that you have a plan to cater for your 

circumstances as your needs evolve and change. We provide 

clients with holistic financial planning and a range of services 

to support this. As our client, you can build wealth by aligning 

your decisions with your deepest values and highest aspirations. 

We offer financial advice that is customised to each client’s needs. 

For some clients, this is about establishing a financial plan, and for 

others it may be about customised international estate planning 

structures and intergenerational wealth transfers. 

Based on your needs and circumstances, a Nedbank Financial 

Planner or a dedicated Wealth Manager can help you make the 

most of your money. To become a Nedbank Private Wealth client, 

you need to earn at least R1.5-million per year and/or have R5-million 

of investable assets. But if you don’t yet qualify, you can still benefit 

from our specialist expertise through Nedbank Financial Planning. 

We are here to help put a plan in place to grow your money to 

achieve your financial aspirations. 

Your Nedbank Financial 

Planner and Nedbank Private 

Wealth Manager have access to 

specialist teams who can help 

you: 

• Structure sound estate and 

succession plans to protect 

your own interests and the 

interest of your family 

• Grow your money by investing 

in a range of top local and 

offshore investments, including 

using our specialist stockbroking 

service 

• Protect your personal and 

business assets against life’s 

uncertainties through shortand 

long-term insurance solutions 

• Access your money whenever 

and wherever it suits you 

through a full range of local 

and international banking 

services available through a 

single point of contact; 

• Give your wealth a life beyond 

yours by leaving a legacy with 

our philanthropy services 

Contact Nedbank Financial 

Planning on 0861 238 887 or 

contact Nedbank Private Wealth 

on 0860 111 263. 

Visit www.nedbank.co.za. 

51 


FOCUS 

Old Mutual’s 

Provincial Management Board 

Old Mutual’s Provincial Management Board (PMB) was created to enable positive futures 

through collaboration at all levels of the organisation. 

What are the Provincial 

Management Boards? 

Each province in South Africa 

has a board that is served by an 

Old Mutual Exco member and 

representatives from the business 

units, including Corporate, Retail 

Affluent, Retail Mass, Old Mutual 

Investment Group, Mutual & Federal 

and Nedbank. 

What is their objective? 

The boards were established in order 

to drive priorities and performance 

in the regions. Our key objective is to promote 

collaboration and efficiency by aligning projects, 

decisions and resources of the different business 

units in the regions. This is to help Old Mutual 

South Africa (OMSA) execute its strategy in the 

regions with greater effectiveness. 

The boards enable us to maximise synergies and 

cross-fertilisation between the different businesses 

in the regions and allow us to approach customers 

and the communities we serve as one green group. 

They also play an important role in building our 

brand and reputation: 

How do they benefit the communities you 

operate in? 

Through the relationships they manage, the 

Provincial Management Boards play a key role 

in positively impacting South Africa’s socioeconomic 

development in the regions. 

It is key to our corporate culture that we strive 

to improve the lives of people and uplift the 

communities we serve, and we believe that this 

helps to keep the OMSA fortress strong. 

Savarion Arendse, 

Provincial 

Management Board 

Chairman 

We also fully support the National 

Development Plan (NDP) as, for us, the 

fundamental objectives of the Plan 

(reducing poverty, unemployment 

and inequality) can best be achieved 

through forging healthy public and 

private partnerships. 

How important is networking 

in order to achieve the Board’s 

objectives? 

We believe strongly in the importance of 

networking. Senior members of OMSA 

as well as the Old Mutual Investment 

Group go on roadshows across South Africa a couple 

of times a year to visit various regions and meet with 

Provincial Management Boards, key stakeholders 

and employees. 

The main objective is to build strong relationships and 

networks, and then to share these insights and updates 

with our colleagues throughout the Old Mutual group. 

Who makes up the PMB membership and 

what are their roles and responsibilities? 

The PMB comprises senior leadership of each 

business unit represented in the province, in addition 

to senior leadership (regional managers) for Nedbank 

and Mutual & Federal, as well as the OMSA Exco. 

The roles and responsibilities of the PMB 

chairperson is as follows: 

• Fostering collaboration. 

• Removing obstacles to the PMB’s successful 

delivery, adoption and use. 

• Maintaining at all times the focus of the PMBs 

on the agreed scope, outcomes and benefits. 

• Monitoring and managing the factors outside 

the PMB’s control that are critical to its success. 


52

Old Mutual SuperFund – 

A Comprehensive Retirement 

Solution 

FOCUS 

Old Mutual Corporate has developed a flexible and dynamic retirement savings umbrella 

fund that offers substantial employee benefits – at the same time helping the company to 

grow their appeal as an employer of choice. 

Help your employees save for retirement 

Every business in SA needs to incentivise and enable 

its employees to save for their future – not only for 

the wellbeing of those employees, but also to help 

South Africa build a savings culture. 

By making employee benefits more accessible, 

flexible and affordable than ever before, Old Mutual 

SuperFund offers a simple way for businesses to help 

their employees save for retirement. 

Old Mutual SuperFund is as unique as your company, 

and delivers exactly the right solution, at the 

right price, tailored to the needs of your business and 

its employees – regardless of the size or diversity of 

your workforce. 

It does this by means of three simple, distinct and 

highly effective retirement funding and risk cover 

solutions, each with its own, flexible level of member 

and employer choice. 

As a result, Old Mutual SuperFund has made 

employee benefits a reality for businesses of every 

shape and size across South Africa. And it can do the 

same for your business. 

Why should you invest in employee 

b e n e fi t s 

Offering employee benefits unlocks significant 

competitive advantages, not least of which is an 

enhanced appeal as an employer of choice, so you 

can compete effectively for the best talent. 

• Adapts to the 

changing needs of 

your business; 

• Integrates seamlessly 

into your business 

and payroll processes; 

• Has simple eligibility 

requirements to 

maximize employee 

access; 

• Offers transparent, 

simple and affordable 

fees*; 

Clint Beech, 

Regional Sales 

Manager 

• Uses a risk-free authorised collection payment 

processes; and 

• Comes with dedicated, professional support. 

For more information on Old Mutual SuperFund 

visit www.oldmutual.co.za/superfund or speak 

to your financial adviser. 

* When comparing employee benefits costs with that of 

our competitors, be sure to consider all the fees involved, 

including those for investment management, advice, 

and administration. 

And when your employee benefits are delivered 

through Old Mutual SuperFund, the benefits are 

compounded because the solution: 

53 


FOCUS 

A passion for people 

Old Mutual’s success as a trusted investment, savings, insurance and banking group 

since 1845 has been built on financial acumen and dedication. Another critical aspect of 

the Old Mutual business is the passion for the communities we serve, says Helene Africa, 

Provincial Manager at Old Mutual. 

How did the Mass Foundation Cluster 

come into being? 

Old Mutual is 170 years old but the Mass Foundation 

Cluster started 40 years ago, primarily because we 

identified a need in the middle-income market for 

our products. Employers also asked for something 

for their clients who were not in the high-income 

bracket, such as a simple funeral product or even a 

basic savings or retirement product. 

As our clients evolved and our initial client basket 

of two products became increasingly bigger until 

we had a whole basket of products, even down to 

education. We try to listen to our clients and help 

them to progress with their financial life as their 

needs change. 

Today the Cluster includes the short-term 

insurance product iWYZE through to financial 

support products such as loans, consolidation 

products and any financial need a client might have. 

In the past clients would have to go to a competitor 

for assistance with a loan and then other financial 

products as their needs changed, so we realised 

that we needed to look at a client’s financial needs 

from a wider perspective to be able to retain them 

as clients and also to accommodate their growing 

needs. We operate through four divisions: 

• Foundation Business Unit 

• Retail Mass Business Unit 

• Old Mutual Finance Business Unit 

• iWYZE 

However, our focus and vision continues to be centred 

around our clients as we aim to be their most 

trusted partner. As our customers are at the hub of 

our business we constantly look at ways of earning 

and building on their trust by delivering on time and 

delivering value-for-money prodicts. 

In what ways 

has your business 

adapted to 

suit your clients 

changing needs? 

We launched new 

technology aimed 

at improving service 

to our customers, as 

we moved from a 

manual environment 

to paperless and 

Helene Africa, 

Provincial Manager 

harnessing the power of technology. All our 

advisers are now equipped with laptops and 

they run everything through this, instead of 

paper. Information is now captured from point 

of sale in order to reduce errors and to prevent 

a paper application from being lost. It has been 

a big innovative move and shift for us but it was 

essential as young people in particular want to do 

things online without face-to-face interaction, so 

it’s important to satisfy that need. This came about 

because we always listen to what our clients want. 

We are also constantly researching the digital 

environment and what our future client is going 

to look like. 

What are some of the challenges you face 

in doing your business? 

Insurance is not a product that sells itself, and clients 

don’t come knocking on your door. You have to go 

out and create awareness about why these products 

are important for them to consider. 

The middle-income segment don’t necessarily 

have lots of disposable income to cover 

the costs related to death in a family or a serious 


54

FOCUS 

injury or illness, so the need to have insurance is 

definitely out there. However, there is a big 

educational need, which is why we went on a 

journey with our Financial Education which offers 

the public information on money management 

as well as financial workshops, and also employ 

facilitators to train communities, clients or stakeholders. 

Even if we don’t bring any business from these 

workshops and initiatives, they have a wider 

micro economic benefit, and this impacts on the 

macro economy, so we see it as an important project. 

However, once you start speaking to people it’s a 

whole new world and they suddenly realise they have 

been wasting money for a long time that could easily 

have been used to protect or build their financial life. 

It’s important to us to help people who aren’t earning 

much to realise their dreams and to reach their goals. 

What we aim to bring to the attention of our clients 

is the fact that, when it comes to your finances, if you 

make a mistake you won’t pay for it now – instead you 

really pay for it in 10 to 15 years time. Unfortunately a 

lot of people wake up too late and suffer financially. 

This is also why it’s critical to get out there to the 

young workforce in particular, because if we can 

help people to start out with the right decisions and 

products from the start of their career it will make a 

tremendous difference to their financial future. 

effort to work in and create opportunities to give 

back through staff volunteering. Staff who want 

to participate can choose if they want to give of 

their time, or they can give from their paycheck. To 

honour their contribution, Old Mutual then matches 

that amount at the end of the year and distributes it 

to the relevant communities. 

We also make funds available for our staff 

members who have been working on community 

projects. This is our Staff Volunteerism programme 

where Old Mutual will donate up to R20 000 to a 

project if our staff are supporting it with their time. 

This obviously gives back to the community, but it 

also allows Old Mutual to honour and support our 

staff who give of their time through a meaningful 

cash donation. 

What is different about how you do your 

business? 

With our Mass Business unit we pay our advisers 

salaries, not commission. We find that salaried 

staff are better able to offer the correct service 

to the public and that distinguishes them from 

commission earners who are, perhaps understandably, 

motivated by their commission. By paying them a 

salary we believe it allows them to really look after the 

client and to build trust as a financial adviser, not 

just a sales person. Our advisers are then better able 

to sell a client what they need and what they can 

afford, not what the salesperson wants in terms of 

their commission. 

Our aim is to provide that really good service 

because then we start to build a good relationship 

with the client and they will then hopefully want 

to seek our advice for their other future needs. We 

see it as really caring for their wellbeing and then 

going on a journey with the client, and by seeing 

them as a person. 

We’re also very passionate about our people - 

our clients and our staff – and if you walk into our 

business you will get the sense for how they care. 

That spirit has really helped to make us successful. 

How else does Old Mutual give back to the 

community? 

We are passionate about giving back to the 

communities in which we work, so we make an 

55 


FOCUS 

Old Mutual’s debt consolidation 

Old Mutual Finance has developed a unique plan to help clients who are battling to 

survive financially to consolidate their debt and save thousands of rands on initiation fees 

and administration charges – helping clients to manage their finances in a smart way. 

What makes our lending business 

different? 

At Old Mutual Finance, we have a deep rooted 

respect for our customers, for their circumstances, 

needs and culture. It drives us to treat customers 

with dignity, provide outstanding service and to do 

our utmost to provide the best financial solutions. 

Old Mutual is known as the savings and 

assurance powerhouse of South Africa. We also 

recognise that lending is a reality for most people. 

Generally lending and savings are seen as conflicting 

needs and offerings. Old Mutual Finance therefore 

takes an holistic view of customers’ savings, risk and 

lending needs by providing a balanced basket of 

products that meet these needs. 

What are our lending principles? 

• Affordability is the cornerstone of our lending. 

Debt is often seen as bad. However, if used 

responsibly and prudently, debt can open many 

doors and opportunities for customers – think 

about loans for education, home extensions etc. 

It is therefore vital that customers understand their 

repayment obligation and be able to afford the 

loan instalments over the period of the loan. 

• Financial education. 

The financial services industry is complex and 

financial terms can be equally confusing. During the 

loan application process our Financial Consultants 

provide basic financial education to this end. 

• Spending time. 

We prefer spending more time with customers 

to ensure that they understand the loan process 

and take their obligations under the agreements 

seriously. Applying for a loan shouldn’t be as easy as 

“buying a loaf of bread”. 

Old Mutual Finance 

has opened more than 

250 new retail branches 

conveniently located in 

shopping centres, CBD’s 

and near transport nodes, 

offering lending, transactional 

banking, insurance 

sales and client servicing. 

Each client receives a 

free copy of their Experian 

credit bureau profile as 

part of our consultation, 

along with guidance 

Buyisile Keli, 

Senior Provincial 

Manager at Old 

Mutual Finance 

on what to do if certain of their bureau information is 

incorrect. As part of our ongoing commitment to 

financial education, clients are also informed about what 

kinds of behaviour can improve their credit records. 

Do the smart thing and contact your nearest Old 

Mutual Finance Branch, and get your plan to financial 

freedom. 

Visit www.oldmutualfinance.co.za 

to find your nearest branch or call us on 

086 000 0886 


56

Advice that matters 

FOCUS 

Old Mutual has a dedicated team of advisers who are trained and accredited to offer you 

expert advice backed by the experience of Old Mutual’s investment professionals. 

You know the value of advice in your respective 

field of expertise. At Old Mutual, we are not 

business specialists, but we do know a lot about 

financial planning. 

We have a team of financial advisers who can give 

you the right advice at the right time and create 

financial security for you, your business and your 

family. A personal financial adviser will meet with 

you at your convenience, get to know you and 

keep abreast of changes in your life and business, 

in order to ensure your financial plan stays aligned. 

Old Mutual provides financial advice for middleand 

high-income customers through our 

focus on our long-term savings, investment and 

protection of business. We do this by delivering on 

our promise to be every customer’s most trusted 

financial partner, helping them to achieve their 

lifetime goals. 

We also believe true wealth is about more than 

just how much money you have. It is about 

being able to live the life you want. Our wealth 

OLD MUTUAL PERSONAL FINANCIAL 

ADVISERS 

• Undergo mandatory Financial Advisory and 

Intermediary Services (FAIS) compliance. 

• Complete extensive training. 

• Have access to in-house resources including 

specialist advice on legal and tax issues. 

• Have access to research and advanced 

financial needs analysis and planning software. 

management business 

has a comprehensive 

offering tailored to 

meet the needs of high 

net-worth individuals 

through personalised 

financial service to every 

customer. 

We build on our 

heritage of trust 

and accountability to 

help our customers 

thrive by enabling 

them to achieve their 

Barend van der 

Westhuizen, 

Regional General 

Manager, PFA 


financial goals. Our team of financial experts offer 

you peace of mind in partnering with a company 

with a track record of looking after our customers. 

For more than 170 years, Old Mutual has been meeting 

the diverse financial needs of millions of South 

Africans. Let us do it for you as well. 

Physical address: Carl Cronje Drive, Southgate 

Office Park, 2nd Floor, Tyger Waterfront, 

Bellville 7530. 

Email: bvanderwesthuizen@oldmutual.com 

Telephone: 021-974 8607 (office) 

57 


Special Economic Zones are 

boosting growth on the West Coast 

Dedicated development hubs on the West Coast are tapping into the potential of two of 

the fastest-growing economic sectors in Southern Africa – oil and gas and manufacturing 

for the renewable energy sector. 

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) is the 

lead agent in the creation of Special Economic 

Zones (SEZs), which are part of the national 

Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP). SEZs are designed 

to attract investment, create jobs and boost 

exports. Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) are 

a type of SEZ. 

Several incentives are available to investors in 

SEZs. These include tax breaks from the South 

African Revenue Service (SARS), subsidised interest 

rates from the Industrial Development Corporation 

(IDC), subsidies for employees earning below a 

certain level and subsidies for the training of the 

workforce, incentives and grants from the dti, and 

incentives from national electricity utility Eskom. 

Other benefits might include a building allowance, 

employment incentives and the fact that an SEZ is 

a customs-controlled area. Skills transfer is another 

stated aim behind the SEZ programme. 

Specific incentives relating to energy savings 

and reductions in environmental impact are available, 

both from Eskom and the dti. Within the dti’s 

Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement 

Programme there is a Green Energy Efficiency Fund, 

all of which are designed to make investment – of 

the right kind – more attractive. 

Atlantis 

The suburb of Atlantis was one of apartheid’s bad 

experiments that left residents stranded far north 

of the metropolis with no industry or employment 

to speak of. The planned creation of an SEZ with 

a focus on green technology is already changing 

that reality. The SEZ is a collaboration between the 

Western Cape Provincial Government (whose unit 

GreenCape is taking the lead), the City of Cape Town 

and the dti. 

Although the SEZ has not officially been established, 

several important investments have been 

made into the area and the idea is gaining traction. 

Spanish wind-tower manufacturer Gestamp 

Renewable Industries (GRI) has added to its initial 

investment of R300-million, which created 200 

jobs. Others include Resolux (R25-million), which 


58


makes internal components of 

wind turbines; Kaytech (a geotextiles 

firm) which has recently 

expanded (R130-million), as has 

Skyward Windows (double glazing, 

R50-million). All told, there 

has been about R680-million 

invested Atlantis in the green 

technology field. 

Chinese giant Hisense established 

a high-tech factory in Atlantis 

in 2013, and is keen to expand its 

investment down the value chain, 

especially using green technology 

to make more efficient fridges and 

television sets. 

The proposed Atlantis Green 

Tech SEZ has several particular incentives 

available. These include: 

• Financial measures including 

an electricity tariff subsidy 

• Exemption from land-use 

application fees 

• Assistance from the City of 


• Town for companies to obtain faster environmental 

authorisation from the 

Department of Environmental Affairs and 

Development Planning 

The state (through the dti) is likely to pass legislation 

that requires developers to increase the level of local 

content on the solar panels or wind turbines that are 

used in renewable energy projects. Any movement 

in this sphere could benefit Atlantis. 

Saldanha Bay 

The Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone 

(SBIDZ) has formally been in existence since 2013 

and has ambitious plans to tap further into the 

burgeoning oil rig maintenance and repair business. 

About 130 rigs round the Cape every year, and at the 

moment South Africa attracts only a tiny fraction 

of them to its ports. 

The SBIDZ fits neatly into two over-arching 

visions: Operation Phakisa (the national 

government’s strategy to unlock value from the 

“Oceans Economy”) and Project Khulisa, the targeted 

growth strategy of the Western Cape Provincial 

Government, which includes servicing and repairing 

of oil rigs as a priority. South Africa currently 

accounts for 1% of the global market of ship repair 

and refurbishment. 

Priority sectors at Saldanha are upstream oil 

and gas and marine engineering and services, and 

32 companies have already signed non-disclosure 

agreements as investors in the IDZ. The IDZ is run 

by the SBIDZ-Licencing Company, which works together 

with the Transnet National Ports Authority 

(TNPA) on many joint projects. 

These are being undertaken to create good conditions 

for possible investors. Quay-side infrastructure 

has been upgraded including a wastewater 

treatment plant and a new road and bridge over 

the MR559. Fencing and access control points in 

support of the customs zone are being constructed. 

Three major projects are under way or in the planning 

stage and are overseen by national government, 

the Southern African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA) 

and SBIDZ-LC: 

Offshore Supply Base 

Basil Read won the contract to extend TNPA’s 

general maintenance quay to create an Offshore 

Supply Base (OSB). The quayside is 294m with a 

further 3.8ha being available onshore for support 

operations. It will cater for ships and rigs looking for 

oil along both coasts of Africa, and any other rigs 

passing along the coast. 

Berth 205 

This is the name of a planned specialised rig and 

vessel repair quay that will be able to cater to the 

latest design in oil rigs. 

Mossgas Jetty 

Equipment and vessel-servicing facility: this 

planned 1 000m-long jetty will be perpendicular 

to the shoreline of the Port of Saldanha Bay. It 

will have a maximum width of 120m and be able 

to serve several ships or rigs in need of repairs or 

servicing at the same time. In addition, there will 

be a floating dock. TNPA has done several studies 

on the possible location of the jetty and the local 

and international market will be canvassed for 

companies to do the work. 


FOCUS 

Celebrating export 

excellence 

The well-established Western Cape Exporter of the Year Competition, hosted by the Cape 

Chamber and sponsored by the ECIC, highlights the diversity of export products 

originating in the province. 

Finalists and winners at the ECIC/Cape Chamber Western Cape Exporter of the Year Competition. 

Abagold Ltd, the Hermanus company that breeds, grows 

and exports abalone by the ton, was declared the big 

winner at the ECIC/Cape Chamber Western Cape Exporter 

of the Year Competition at the gala dinner held on 13 

October 2016 at the prestigious Cape Sun. 

The Cape Chamber, which has served as the host for the awards 

for 26 years, serves, enables and leads business in the region. The 

Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) is the headline sponsor 

of the competition and an underwriter of export credit loans and 

investments. 

The theme for the evening was 

“out of this world”, and it was indeed 

an intergalactic experience. 

Incidentally, as the first African into 

space, Mark Shuttlelworth’s company, 

Thawte, was a previous competition 

winner (and sold to VeriSign 

shortly thereafter for R3.5-billion). 

The 12 finalists for the 2016 

awards included: 


60

FOCUS 

• Abagold Ltd, the world’s largest 

abalone producer outside 

Asia 

• Afrinatural Holding, producers 

of natural botanical ingredients 

from all over Africa 

• All Women Recycling, transforming 

plastic waste into 

beautiful handicrafts 

• Bassalicious, producers of a 

range of vibrant and tasteful 

natural sauces 

• Chimpel, an innovative design 

and manufacturing company 

producing exotic leather 

merchandise 

• Franz Falke Textiles, producers 

of socks and fine hosiery 

• Geo Data Design, a geospatial 

solution provider providing 

industry-leading geographic 

solutions tailor-made for 

Africa 

• JF Hillebrand, an international 

service provider specialising 

in the logistics of beer, wine, 

spirits and keg supply chain 

management 

• Klein Karoo International, 

the world’s leading producer 

of ostrich goods, including 

meat, leather, feathers and 

by-products 

• Mervyn Gers Ceramics, specialits 

in bespoke dinnerware 

designed in collaboration with 

award-winning chefs 

• Oh Voila design, manufacture, 

retail and wholesale of 

affordable fashion jewellery, 

accessories and corporate 

handmade gifts 

• Peninsula Drums, specialises 

in the manufacture and 

reconditioning of metal 

and plastic drums as well as 

bulk containers 

• Technical Systems, a key manufturer and world-wide distributor of 

livestock feeding equipment 

Abagold Ltd won both the overall prize for excellence in exporting, which 

included R50 000 in cash and the Cape Chamber award for the best nonmanufacturing 

company. 

For the first time in the history of the competition, there was a tie 

for second place with Franz Falke Textiles, which won R20 000 worth 

of IT assistance from Auric Consulting, and Geo Data Design winning 

a R20 000 branding refresh supplied by Fable Design (also an Auric 

Consulting company). 

The Transnet Port Terminals Trophy for the best engineering/manufacturing 

company went to Franz Falke Textiles (Pty) Ltd. The company 

makes 8.5-million pairs of running socks, mostly for the United States 

market and is the first textile company to be an export winner for 

many years. 

Geo Data Design (Pty) Ltd, a company that interprets satellite images 

and information, won the Credit Guarantee Small Exporter Trophy 

and the Gerald Wolman Trophy for excellence in exporting to African 

countries. It also shared the overall second prize with Franz Falke 

Textiles (Pty) Ltd. 

Another double winner was Technical Systems (Pty) Ltd, which 

manufactures automated feeding systems for intensive pig and poultry 

farms. It won the Bonitas Innovation Trophy and the SAGITA Trophy 

for excellence in design. 

The Nedbank Trophy for Transformation went to Bassalicious (Pty) 

Ltd, a company that produces and exports quality sauces. 

The Exporter of the Year is not judged on the volume or value of 

product produced, but on excellence in exporting. This creates a level 

playing field for both big and small exporters. 

For the 2016 competition, we did some arithmetic and found that 

the entrants earned more than R3-billion in foreign exchange for the 

Western Cape. The finalists alone brought in more than R1.7-billion! Add 

to that the previous entrants that continue to export, and we are looking 

at many billions of rands brought into the Western Cape economy. 

Also, the provincial government and the City of Cape Town are keen 

to promote business and go out of their way to make it a little easier 

to get things done. The Chamber believes that this kind of teamwork 

and quality of enterprise and innovation shown by our exporters will 

make for a better future for us all. Here’s to the 27th Exporter of the 

Year in 2017! 

For more information on the 2017 Exporter of the Year competition, 

please email Mary-Jean Thomas-Johnson at mary-jean@ 

capechamber.co.za or contact her on +27 21 402 4300. 


Skills development 

A number of investors are driving skills development in the province. 

The Western Cape has two problems relating to 

employment: not enough work for unskilled 

workers, and not enough skilled workers to take 

up available jobs. This double-sided challenge 

is a legacy of apartheid and it exists throughout 

South Africa. 

Although the province has higher overall ratios of 

highly skilled and skilled workers than the national 

averages, less than 20% of the construction industry’s 

workforce in the Western Cape is categorised 

as skilled or highly skilled (Quantec, 2013). According 

to a national business conditions survey conducted 

in early 2016, a skills deficit is hampering the 

construction industry. 

Construction has been one of the best performing 

sectors in the Western Cape economy for a number 

of years, so improvement in this sphere is vital. 

The food sector is the other important area where 

work has to be done to impart skills to the workforce. 

The Western Cape Provincial Government has 

listed skills development as one of four key “enablers” 

of the regional economy. A specific intervention 

relevant to the construction industry is offered by 

the provincial Department of Transport and Public 

Works. Targeted training for emerging contractors 

is presented in regional centres like Riversdale and 

Worcester, and in Piketberg and Saldanha. The fourweek, 

modular course, which covers issues such as 

site management, safety and enterprise development, 

allows contractors to continue running their 

businesses while they study. The course supports 

the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). 

Another provincial initiative was launched in 

October 2016: the Western Cape’s Apprenticeship 

Game Changer. Announced at the annual meeting 

of the Premier’s Council on Skills, the Game Changer 

aims to introduce 32 500 qualified apprentices into 

the labour market by 2019. R1-billion has been allocated 

over a three-year time frame. Businesses 

have been asked to identify the specific skills they 

need, so for example the oil and gas sector needs 

welders certified to a certain level. 

A range of interventions at national and regional 

level have been launched to tackle the problem in 

the public and private sphere: 

• Six of South Africa’s biggest construction 

companies have established a R1.25-billion 

skills fund 


62


• The national Department 

of Higher Education and 

Training (DHET) declared the 

period starting in 2014 as “The 

Decade of the Artisan” with 

a goal of producing 30 000 

per year by 2026 (the current 

figure is about 13 000) 

• Sector Education and Training 

Authorities (SETAs) collect 

dues from companies in a particular 

industry (Wholesale and 

Retail, Banking, Construction, 

Chemical Industries, for example) 

in order to promote 

training in that industry. A 

percentage of this money is 

returned to the company if 

that company can show that 

they have a workplace training 

plan. The rest of the money 

is used to offer skills training 

• The National Skills Authority 

(NSA) works with SETAs in carrying out the 

National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS). The 

Human Resource Development Council of South 

Africa (HRDCSA) is an over-arching body that 

aims to give guidance to the many institutions 

working on skills development and training. It is 

managed by the DHET. The HRDCSA has identified 

five key areas where the skills pipeline must 

be improved: access to TVET colleges; intermediate 

skills (artisans in particular) and professionals; 

production of academics; collaboration between 

industry and educational institutions in research 

and development; worker education and 

foundational learning. 

The strategic goal of the DHET is to create “a 

capable and skilled workforce for inclusive growth”. 

There are many institutions supporting this goal in 

the Western Cape, including three academic universities, 

one comprehensive university, one university 

of technology and six Technical and Vocational 

Education and Training (TVET) colleges. Unisa, the 

country’s biggest distance learning institution, has 

a strong presence in the province with a campus in 

Cape Town and a service centre in George. 

TVET colleges have been asked to concentrate 

on 13 trade areas, including bricklayers, millwrights, 

boilermakers and riggers. R16.5-billion has been allocated 

by national government to skills development 

and infrastructure over the medium term. 

Technology 

CiTi, the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative, is 

a Western Cape Provincial Government initiative. CiTi 

is a technology hub with several components: The 

Barn (supporting start-ups); VeloCiti (enterprise and 

entrepreneurship development); CapaCiti (technology 

skills development and placement). 

The renewable energy sector holds great promise 

for economic growth, and it should provide many 

jobs but specific training is required. In collaboration 

with the German government, the DHET has 

invested more than R100-million in the South African 

Renewable Technology Centre (SARTEC), a teaching 

unit of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 

(CPUT). The Bellville campus of CPUT is training wind 

turbine service technicians and providing qualifications 

for trainers in the same field. 

Stellenbosch University (SU) hosts the Centre for 

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES) 

and the University of Cape Town has the Energy 

Research Centre. 

Young people are at the heart of the provincial 

government’s drive to widen access to information 

technology. As of 2016, a total of 181 MOD centres 

had been established by the Department of Cultural 

Affairs and Sport: MOD stands for Mass participation; 

Opportunity and access; Development and 

growth programme. 

This is part of a broader, R9.4-billion, provincial 

government plan to assist young people in areas 

such as access to broadband, internships offered, 

and the acquisition of technical skills. 

TVETs and colleges 

TVET colleges exist to impart skills that are relevant 

to the workplace. The College of Cape Town has 

eight campuses and its selection of courses gives 



a good illustration of the range 

of studies available to students 

at TVET colleges. Courses at CCT 

range from engineering (electrical, 

civil and mechanical), through 

travel and tourism, hospitality, hair 

care, beauty therapy and art and 

design, to business studies, information 

technology and education 

and training. The college 

has three residences in different 

parts of the city. Career guidance 

is offered and the college has a 

work placement programme 

for graduates. 

Northlink College is in Cape 

Town’s northern suburbs and 

is an innovator in workplace 

monitoring. It has three business 

units that give students experience: 

Hair and Cosmetology, the 

Clothing Factory, and a restaurant 

and conference centre. The 

Fitting and Machining Centre of 

Excellence at Wingfield has the 

latest equipment. 

False Bay TVET College 

has campuses in Fish Hoek, 

Muizenberg, Mitchells Plain, 

Khayelitsha and Westlake. 

Engineering skills are a key focus 

for this college, together with 

hospitality. Appropriately, given 

its geographic locations, False 

Bay TVET also teaches Yacht and Boat Building. The 

college has an enrolment of more than 10 000. 

Outside the Cape metropole, Boland College 

looks after Stellenbosch, Worcester, Paarl and 

Caledon, while the Southern Cape College covers 

a wide area, from George to Beaufort West. The West 

Coast College also has a big catchment area. 

Private colleges such as MANCOSA (Management 

College of Southern Africa) often specialise in particular 

fields. In this case, a range of certificates, diplomas 

and degrees in business, commerce and 

administration is presented at five sites around South 

Africa, including Cape Town. The business training 

programmes of Africa Skills Private College include 

courses on leadership, occupational health and 

safety and new venture creation. 

Universities 

In 2014, a total of 5 680 engineers qualified from 

South Africa’s 26 universities. A further 2 667 computer 

scientists were capped but these numbers are 

far from adequate to cater to South Africa’s economy. 

Western Cape universities are very aware of the need 

to align their courses and research programmes with 



the needs of the economy. However, pure research 

cannot be ignored and in this area all three of the academic 

universities are strong: the University of Cape 

Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of 

the Western Cape. 

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is 

offered both by the Graduate School of Business 

at UCT (which also has an executive MBA) and the 

University of Stellenbosch Business School. USB also 

presents an MPhil in Development Finance. 

The National Nanoscience Postgraduate 

Teaching and Training Platform is based at the 

University of the Western Cape in Bellville, with master’s 

degrees in nanoscience and nanotechnology 

on offer. UWC also has 14 SARChi Chairs, including 

Nano-Electrochemistry and Sensor Technology, 

Bioinformatics and Human Health Genomics and 

Microbial Genomics. 

There are three World Health Organisation (WHO) 

Collaborating Centres at UWC and the Centre of 

Excellence in Food Security (with Pretoria University) 

is funded by the National Research Foundation 

and the Department of Science and Technology. 

Biotechnology and food security come together in 

the Plant Biotechnology Research Group at UWC, 

which studies ways of developing crops that can 

resist drought. 

This kind of focus on specific challenges facing 

society in South Africa is an example of universities 

working to make their research relevant. 

The University of Cape Town is offering a 

course in Health Innovation that encourages talented 

young South Africans to find solutions to the 

country’s health problems. The MPhil in Health 

Innovation falls under the Division of Biomedical 

Engineering and is open to anyone with a four-year 

degree in a relevant discipline, which could be anything 

from medicine to engineering. 

Several master’s degree programmes at UCT 

aim to address the particular challenges of South 

African society: the Climate Change and Sustainable 

Development degree can be tackled through any 

one of the university’s six faculties and in 2017 a new 

degree will be on offer, a Master’s in Public Health 

(Faculty of Health Sciences). 

Another UCT degree that tackles a specific challenge 

faced in the South African economy is a Master’s 

in Sustainable Mineral Resource Development. 

Stellenbosch University is another Western Cape 

institution that is tackling sustainability: a diploma 

will soon be on offer in this discipline, through the 

School for Public Leadership. The university also intends 

offering an MSc in Food and Nutrition Security 

that will tackle the problem from several angles. 

In George, students have access to courses offered 

by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 

(NMMU): Saasveld is home to the School of Natural 

Resource Management and the York Street Campus 

delivers courses in business and social science, 

accounting and business management. 

Among the new courses on offer at the Cape 

Peninsula University of Technology are diplomas 

in geomatics (one of South Africa’s most soughtafter 

skills to aid surveyors, town planners and civil 

engineers), clothing and textile technology, and 

horticulture and landscape architecture. 


PROFILE 

College of Cape Town 

The forward-looking college has a history dating back to 

the early 20th century. 

Louis van Niekerk, 

Principal of the College 

of Cape Town 

The College is a 

public Technical 

and Vocational 

Education & 

Training (TVET) 

College, under 

the Department of 

Higher Education 

and Training. 

Qualifications offered 

are accredited, 

affordable and 

quality assured by 

Umalusi, various 

SETAs and SAQA. 

Description of educational offerings 

The College is a leading provider of education and 

training in mainly the Technical and Vocational 

Education and Training (TVET) band and has much 

to offer students and prospective partners as an 

alternative to Basic and Higher Education and 

Training. Qualifications include skills programmes, 

technical, vocational and occupational training 

that lead to recognised, accredited qualifications 

that are in high demand by commerce 

and industry. 

Students are able to pursue a range of courses in 

the following disciplines: 

• Art and Design 

• Beauty Therapy 

• Building and Civil Engineering 

• Business Studies 

• Education and Training 

• Electrical Engineering 

• Hair Care 

• Hospitality 

• Information Technology 

• Mechanical Engineering 

• Travel and Tourism 

Location of facilities 

The College is situated in the central area of the 

Peninsula. The central office is located in Salt 

River, and the College of Cape Town also has 

three residences. 

It has eight campuses located in: 

• Athlone 

• Cape Town city centre 

• Crawford 

• Gardens 

• Guguletu 

• Pinelands 

• Thornton 

• Wynberg 

Support services 

Students at the College may access a variety of 

support services to assist them within coping with 

problems and difficulties, whether personal or academic. 

These services are provided free of charge 

and include: 

• Counselling 

• Academic support 

• Health education workshops 

• Assistance in applying for loans (loans are not 

supplied directly by the College) 


66

PROFILE 

• Work placement services 

• Social and cultural services 

Key facts and figures 

Year established: The College of Cape Town is 

the oldest Technical and Vocational Education 

and Training institution in South Africa with a 

proud history dating back to the beginning of the 

20th century. 

As the name suggests, we are based in Cape Town. 

Four former technical colleges, Athlone College, 

Cape College, Sivuyile College and Western Province 

Technical College, were officially merged on 

1 February 2002 to become the College of Cape 

Town. This arose from a rationalisation in TVET colleges 

in which some 150 colleges around the country 

were reduced to 50. 

No of staff: 670 (full-time) 

No of registered students: 14 379 

Qualifications offered: Certificates, Higher 

Certificates, Diplomas, UNISA B.Ed Degree 

(Foundation Phase), Skills Programmes, Learnerships, 

Accredited Trade Test Centre 

CONTACT INFO 

Key contact people: 

Louis van Niekerk, Principal. 

Wilfred Jackson, Chief Financial Officer. 

Sharon Grobbelaar, Marketing Manager. 

Physical address: 334 Albert Road, 

Salt River, Cape Town 7945 

Postal address: PO Box 1054, 

Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 404 6700 / 086 010 3682 

Fax: +27 21 404 6701 / 086 615 0582 

Email: info@cct.edu.za 

Website: www.cct.edu.za 


INTERVIEW 

Member-oriented 

scheme strengthened 

by high reserves 

Christo Becker, Principal Officer of Selfmed, shares some 

insights on the medical insurance industry. 

Christo Becker 

BIOGRAPHY 

After completing his studies in 

1996, Christo worked as a paramedic 

in Cape Town and Port 

Elizabeth (where he was seconded 

to run the Eastern Cape 

operation for Netcare911). He 

furthered his career in healthcare 

when he was appointed as 

hospital manager for a hospital 

in the Netcare Group. Christo 

went on to manage a number 

of other hospitals before joining 

Selfmed Medical Scheme as the 

Principal Officer in 2014. 

Please provide an overview of Selfmed, including the 

history and size of the organisation. 

Selfmed Medical Scheme was established 50 years ago and it is one 

of the older schemes in South Africa. 

Providing coverage for about 8 000 principal members and 13 000 

beneficiaries, we are one of the smaller schemes and we focus on providing 

individual attention to our members. Our size allows us to do this. 

Could you outline the different schemes? 

Members are able to choose one of five medical aid options: 

Selfnet – this entry-level product is our most affordable as it covers a 

narrow band of benefits. 

MedXX1 – a hospital plan that extends beyond the prescribed minimum 

benefits and pays out at 100% of scheme rates for covered 

in-hospital treatment and in-hospital doctor’s consultations. 

Selfsure – an option that provides in-hospital and out-of-hospital 

benefits and is a great choice for a family with young children. 

Med Elite – a broader hospital plan that covers additional conditions 

including greater coverage for oncology expenses, hip, knee and 

back operations. 

Selfmed 80% – 80% of bills relating to a wide range of conditions 

are covered. 

What is the solvency ratio of Selfmed and how does this 

compare to other medical aid schemes? 

Selfmed has a solvency ratio of 118%, which is way more than the 25% 

mandatory requirement. We are one of the top schemes in the country 

in terms of our reserves. 

What differentiates your offerings from those of your 

competitors? 

Selfmed has a very strong member focus. As someone who has 

previously worked as a paramedic and a hospital manager, I’m 

passionate about healthcare. All of us share the passion and want 


68

INTERVIEW 

to ensure our Selfmed members 

receive good healthcare. 

We are able to attend to requests 

for ex-gratia payments 

on a case-by-case basis and our 

members appreciate knowing 

that their health conditions are 

not compared to other people’s, 

but are evaluated individually. 

Furthermore, because our 

cash reserves are so high and 

our systems (administration, call 

centre and marketing, etc) are 

managed internally, members 

feel confident about the level of 

service we can provide. 

What is your view of the 

National Health Insurance 

(NHI) scheme and how do 

you think it will impact private 

healthcare in South 

Africa? 

We all support the idea that 

healthcare should be accessible 

to all, however, a number of issues 

weren’t addressed in the White 

Paper. These include what the basket of care will 

look like and who will provide the care. 

This is the first phase of a 14-year implementation 

period and it is likely that the parameters of the NHI 

will change during its implementation. 

A specific risk for private healthcare providers 

relates to the introduction of a one-payer system. 

I don’t think people are going to be happy to take 

the money they usually pay into a medical aid and 

pay it into a centralised state-run system. 

Given that the UK, with its lower unemployment 

rate and higher number of taxpayers and health 

professionals, struggles to deliver the desired level of 

care via its National Health Service, it is unlikely that 

that South Africa will have the reserves to roll out a 

system that will rival private healthcare. 

How does the South African healthcare 

system compare internationally? 

I believe that the private healthcare system in South 

Africa – private medical care and medical insurance – 

is equal to the best in the world. Many of our doctors 

and medical professionals go overseas for training or 

to attend medical conferences and we have some of 

the most advanced medical equipment in the world 

in our private hospitals. Furthermore, in countries like 

the USA, medical care is far more expensive than it 

generally is in South Africa. 

Ideally, representatives of the entire healthcare 

industry here should get together to discuss challenges 

and collaborate on viable ways to solve 

these so that quality healthcare can be made 

accessible to more people. 

Increased legislation, particularly legislation 

relating to prescribed minimum benefits, has 

meant that medical schemes are under increased 

pressure though. 

www.selfmed.co.za 


KEY SECTORS 

Overview of the main economic 

sectors of the Western Cape 

Agriculture 72 

Wine and grapes 76 

Fishing 83 

Mining 86 

Oil and gas 88 

Energy 92 

Water 94 

Manufacturing 98 

Construction and 

property development 104 

Tourism 106 

Banking and financial services 110 

Information and 

communications technology 118 

Business process outsourcing 119

INTERVIEW 

Focus on economic 

game-changers 

Western Cape Business spoke to Western Cape Provincial 

Minister of Economic Opportunities Minister Alan Winde 

about creating growth and jobs. 

Alan Winde, Western Cape 

Provincial Minister of 

Economic Opportunities 

BIOGRAPHY 

Alan Winde became MEC for 

Finance, Economic Development and 

Tourism in May 2009, shortly after 

the Democratic Alliance won the 

Western Cape Province. Winde has 

been a member of the Western Cape 

Provincial Legislature since 1999. During 

his first term he served as provincial 

finance chairman and executive 

committee member with the 

Democratic Party. He has also 

served as chief whip of the 

official opposition in the West ern 

Cape, as the DA spokesperson on 

Environment and Planning and as the 

deputy DA spokes person on Economic 

Development and Tourism. 

What is your brief? 

Defining my job is easy. I am responsible for making provincial strategic 

goal number one – creating growth and jobs, happen. Together with 

my team, we’re looking at strategies to improve every facet of our 

economy. We’re obsessed with making our region more competitive 

and more compelling as a place to live, work and play. 

When I came in for the second term, I was determined to become 

the most accessible Ministry in South Africa, in touch with business 

people and in the heart of the city. So we moved our office space to 

a renovated ground-floor shop on Long Street. 

What are your priorities? 

We have identified a suite of economic game-changers. These include 

getting rid of red tape so business can start and operate more 

efficiently; securing stable energy for growth; improving broadband 

access; and ensuring we meet the demand for skills. 

For instance, in reducing red tape, in an area like the Voortrekker 

Corridor space, how do we as government put pre-zoning in place? We 

can do the environmental impact assessment (EIA), and the developer 

submits a planning proposal. In this way, you enable an easier decisionmaking 

process for developers. We need to put the levers in place so 

that this process does not take six months, but six weeks. 

Securing a reliable and affordable energy supply is also an important 

enabler. In the Western Cape, our approach is to diversify our sources 

of energy. 

The Information Communication and Technology (ICT) sector is 

growing at lightning speed. The Western Cape government’s incubators 

at the Bandwidth Barns in Woodstock and Khayelitsha lead our 

efforts to inculcate a culture of new tech innovations, led by driven 

entrepreneurs, and there has been huge interest by the private sector 

including French and British firms on the same mission. Barclays’ Rise 

Cape Town supports fintech companies. They have put money into 


72

New York, London and Manchester, and also in Cape 

Town. DVT’s app-testing facility just off the N1 is the 

biggest in the southern hemisphere. 

With regard to skills, we have an artisanal focus 

and are aiming to produce 32 500 artisans in the next 

three years. To get the last mile done, on-the-job 

training, we have to get businesses on board to offer 

the required in-service training component. 

Does the green economy hold potential for 

the Western Cape? 

We are very excited about a recent Moody’s report, 

which found that the green economy in South Africa 

is the fastest growing in Africa, and is one of the 

fastest in the world. The Western Cape hosts 70% 

of green economy manufacturing and 60% of head 

offices of green economy companies. GreenCape has 

a mandate to grow the green economy. 

Do you have a focus on particular sectors? 

At the start of the new five-year term in 2014, we 

worked with McKinsey and Company to conduct a 

deep-dive study into our economy. Drawing from 

best practice in emerging market economies from all 

over the world, they helped us develop a choice strategy: 

let’s concentrate on fewer sectors and drill much 

deeper. These sectors were tourism, agri-processing 

and oil and gas. This became Project Khulisa, which 

means “cause to grow” in isiXhosa. 

What were the key factors in choosing 

these sectors? 

Project Khulisa earmarked the following sectors as 

the biggest growth engines for the next five years: 

• Agri-processing had 1.8% growth in Gross Value 

Add (GVA) and 7.7% jobs growth 

• Tourism was growing at 6.8% GVA growth and 

7.8% jobs growth 

The next sectors on the list were ICT, BPO and film 

with the green economy cutting across many sectors. 

Can you give examples of how your department 

supports businesses in the key 

sectors? 

We are driving a suite of initiatives to grow agriprocessing, 

under the banner of Project Khulisa. 

These include efforts to boost halaal and wine 

INTERVIEW 

exports, and to create an enabling environment 

for all agri-processed products to flourish. We have 

made headway, together with our partners, in our 

drive to increase water storage in the Brandvlei Dam 

so that more hectares can come under irrigation, 

producing more product for agri-processed goods. 

We have also commissioned the equipment we 

require for our residue testing facility, so that we 

can accomplish the testing required to export more 

product to key international markets. All of the initiatives 

under Project Khulisa are designed to open 

international markets for our produce. 

As part of Project Khulisa, we have also prioritised 

direct air access. We are pleased with the significant 

impact of the work we’ve done in boosting arrivals 

to our province. 

There has been an impressive 60% increase in 

Origin and Destination (O&D) passengers coming 

through Qatar since the project started. There has 

been an increase of 53% in O&D passengers from 

Turkey from 36 348 to 55 714. This growth is linked 

to the landing of direct Turkish Airlines flights into 

Cape Town. 

In total, between July 2015 and December 2016, 

we will have expanded six direct routes and established 

two new direct routes, resulting in 400 000 

additional two-way seats to Cape Town. 

What are some of the indicators of this 

good growth? 

A total of 654 000m² was approved for construction 

in the Western Cape in 2015, nine times more 

than the figure approved in Gauteng. Absa is 

centralising its operations at Century City, British 

American Tobacco has just moved into offices at 

the Waterfront. Hisense, which already has a manufacturing 

facility in Atlantis, is working at how it can 

plug into the green economy. It is looking to treble 

or quadruple its investment into the region. Recently 

Cape Town received an award as best offshoring 

destination from a British outsourcing organisation. 

This is testament to the business confidence in the 


73 


OVERVIEW 

Agriculture 

Processing plants boost rural employment. 

While the contribution of agriculture to provincial gross 

domestic product (GDP) is small at 4.2%, the fact that 

nearly 40% of exports from the Western Cape derive 

from fruit or agri-processing makes this a vital sector to 

the health of the regional economy. 

Seven of the 10 biggest export earners are either agricultural 

products or agri-processed goods. 

In the national context, agricultural products made up 5.2% of the 

country’s export basket in 2015. The African continent accounted for 

22.7% of total exports. 

Wheat is another of the province’s strong sectors: the Western Cape’s 

310 000ha planted to wheat in 2015 represented 64% of South Africa’s 

crop. Japan is a major destination of the province’s maize production. 

In canola, the Western Cape is even more dominant, with 99% of the 

nation’s hectares. (StatsSA). A working group of the Protein Research 

Foundation is developing strategies to increase the yields and plantings 

of canola. A canola symposium was held in Bredasdorp in 2016. 

The province’s climatic regions vary from Mediterranean around 

Cape Town and on the coast (where rainfall can be 2 000mm at places) 

to the drier regions of the inland Karoo districts where annual rainfall 

SECTOR INSIGHT 

A new testing centre will be 

built in the Western Cape to 

certify agricultural products 

for export to the EU. 

figures can be below 150mm. 

Just over three-million hectares 

of the province is cultivated and 

270 000ha are under irrigation. 

The sector supports almost 

10 000 farms and employs 

214 000 people. Farming carried out 

on the Western Cape’s 13-million 

hectares of agricultural land comprises 

approximately 21% of South 

African commercial agriculture. 

The Provincial Government 

of the Western Cape has identi- 


74

OVERVIEW 

fied agri-processing as one of 

the three key sectors that can 

deliver high growth and lots of 

jobs. Over a five-year period to 

2014, the sector grew at nearly 

5% and delivered jobs growth of 

more than 7%. 

Agri-processing holds potential 

to increase employment 

in rural areas. If it receives the 

dedicated attention and support, 

it could add up to 100 000 

jobs and generate R26-billion 

for the economy under a highgrowth 

scenario. 

Among the areas on the todo 

list of Western Cape Minister 

for Economic Opportunities Alan 

Winde, whose ministry is responsible 

for agriculture, is to bring 

more irrigated land on-stream 

to increase product into the 

agri-processing chain; to keep 

promoting wine sales to the 

world; to expand African exports 

(Angola is proving a good first 

step); investigating whether the 

Western Cape can tap into the 

global halaal market said to be 

worth $2.3-trillion; and to build 

a testing centre for agricultural 

products so they can be certified 

for sale into the European Union 

(EU). 

Zoning laws also have to be 

adopted to promote growth in 

rural areas. He gives an example 

of a fruit pulping and drying company 

in the small town of Gouda, 

which was restricted by zoning 

laws when it wanted to expand 

its factory space beyond 1 000m². 

“They are growing at 65% and you 

are telling them to pack up and 

move to the city? Gouda loses 

1 000 jobs!” Winde says that it 

must be the objective of government 

and planners to create an enabling environment for companies 

to expand. 

In presenting his 2016/17 budget, Minister Winde said that the number 

of jobs in the agricultural sector had grown by 63% in a year, citing 

StatsSA data. This figure included seasonal jobs. 

Many more opportunities for employment may come about if the trend 

reported on by City Press in August of 2016 grows bigger: experienced 

citrus farmers moving to the Western Cape from other areas. Reporting 

that five farmers from Limpopo and the Eastern Cape had bought farms in 

Citrusdal, Robertson and Wellington, the newspaper noted that the variety 

of new fruit types (apart from lemons and other citrus fruit) to be planted 

by these new farmers would supply work all-year round for local people. 

Mandarins, seedless watermelons and squash are among the other fruits. 

There is also good news for agriculture in the Western Cape – out 

of Gauteng. South African Breweries has built a new malting plant in 

that province. To get to an annual production figure of 130 000 tons of 

malted barley for the new facility, more barley will have to be grown. 

The locally-sourced barley that SAB buys will rise from 65% to 95% of 

total stock. The company’s only other malting facility is in the heart 

of barley-growing country, at Caledon in the Overberg region, where 

180 000 tons are processed every year. 

The Western Cape is a major producer of fruit and vegetables and is by 

far the biggest producer of peaches in South Africa. The country produces 

about 60 000 tons per year. 

Only 1% of South Africa’s fruit is dried, but that still represents 51 000 

tons of product. The Western Cape is strong in dried fruit and nuts with 

Montagu Dried Fruit and Nuts, Cape Dried Fruit Packers (also based in 

the Boland town of Montagu), and Safari among the biggest producers 

and distributors. 

POSITION COMMODITY AMOUNT 

1 Refined petroleum R18.2bn 

2 Citrus R8.6bn 

3 Wine R8.6bn 

4 Apples and pears R6bn 

5 Grapes R6bn 

6 Iron and steel R3bn 

7 Fruit juice R2.2bn 

8 Fruit and nuts R2.1bn 

9 Tobacco R1.8bn 

10 Engine parts R1.6bn 

Top 10 exports 2015 

SOURCE: QUANTEC, 2015 


OVERVIEW 

The estimated cost of the 

drought to the wine and fruit industries 

is about R1.2-billion. 

Companies 

Drought 

A severe drought has had an effect on all agricultural enterprises 

throughout South Africa. 

For some time now, most regions have not received the rainfall they 

expected. Rainfall recorded in September 2016 in the Central Karoo 

ranged between 0mm and 2mm. This will affect grazing for animals 

in summer. Irrigation in most areas has been affected and in some 

places has had to be stopped. 

Although the Western Cape’s winter grain crop regions received 

some timely rain, a long-term “climate response action plan” has 

been introduced called Smart Agri. This is a partnership between the 

provincial government, the private sector and academic institutions. 

Among the recommendations for the way forward is conservation 

agriculture, which is being tested at the provincial research farm, 

Langgewens. Minimum tillage and crop rotation are among the strategies 

being adopted. 

Zeder Investments is the agricultural 

arm of investment holding 

company PSG Group (which 

has become well known to the 

general public through Capitec 

Bank and Curro schools). Zeder 

has been very active in increasing 

its stake in agricultural companies 

in recent years, most notably 

Capespan, where it is now 

the holder of 98.1%. Capespan 

has a turnover of R7.6-billion 

across three divisions: farms, logistics 

and fruit. Brands include 

Cape and Outspan, Capespan 

Logistics (known as FPT for Fresh 

Produce Terminals) and Groot 

Gariep Koelkamers. Zeder has a 

similarly large stake in the holding 

company that controls three 

seed companies, Zaad Holdings 

(turnover R1.2-billion), and it has 

further shareholdings in egg and 

grain companies. Zeder is a 39.6% 

shareholder in Kaap Agri Ltd. 

Kaap Agri has more than 200 

operating points stretching from 

its headquarters in Malmesbury 

in the Swartland to Namaqualand 

and beyond. What started out as 

a farmers’ co-operative is now 

a large enterprise with eight 

business units covering everything 

from grain (Wesgraan), to 

packaging (Pakmark) and retail 

(Agrimark). 

Zeder also owns 27.2% of 

Pioneer Foods, which makes and 

distributes many big food and 

drink brands across Southern 


76

OVERVIEW 

Africa, including Weet-Bix, Liqui- 

Fruit, Ceres, Sasko and White 

Star. The company has an annual 

turnover of R20-billion and it has 

two Bokomo facilities producing 

wheat biscuits, cereal and muesli 

in the United Kingdom. 

Overberg Agri is an unlisted 

company with a wide range of 

investments in several sectors, 

including mining, pet food and 

industrial fasteners. Promeal 

manufactures pet-food in Atlantis 

and Boltfast distributes nuts, fasteners 

and screws all over South 

Africa. Grain services, irrigation, 

financial services and retail form 

more traditional parts of the agricultural 

company’s profile, which 

had a turnover of R2.8-billion in 

2015/16. Headquarters are located 

in Caledon and the group has 

1 144 permanent employees. 

SSK (Sentraal Suid Ko-operasie) 

has outlets in the Overberg (headquarters 

are in Swellendam) and 

in the Southern Cape as far east 

as George. There are retail outlets 

at Swellendam, Heidelberg 

and Robertson, and grain depots 

at Swellendam, Heidelberg, 

Karringmelksrivier, Protem 

and Ashton. 

SSK has increased its reach 

with the acquisition of Tuinroete 

Agri, which has four grain silos 

and 19 retail outlets and depots 

stretching along the Garden 

Route from Riversdale to Jeffrey’s 

Bay. It also has a presence in the 

Langkloof and at Aberdeen in 

the Karoo. SSK either controls 

or has an interest in companies 

that engage in oil extraction, 

property, equipment, animal 

feed, abattoirs, investments and 

motor sales. 

The Klein Karoo group based in Oudtshoorn focusses on ostriches 

through Klein Karoo International. Separate units deal in fashion products, 

feathers, leather, skins and meat production. 

Other companies in the group cover seed sales, auctions and a 

retailer, Klein Karoo Agri, which has two petrol stations, six shops, a 

mechanisation business and an irrigation business. 

ONLINE RESOURCES 

Agricultural Research Council: www.arc.agric.za 

Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy: www.bfap.co.za 

Cape Agency for Integrated Sustainable Development in Rural 

Areas: www.casidra.co.za 

Citrus Growers’ Association: www.cga.co.za 

Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum: www.fpef.co.za 

Fruit SA: www.fruitsa.co.za 

HORTGRO: www.hortgro.co.za 

Klein Karoo: www.kleinkaroo.com 

National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: 

www.daff.gov.za 

SA Grain Information Service: www.sagis.org.za 

SA Olive Industry Association: www.saolive.co.za 

SA Table Grape Industry: www.satgi.co.za 

SA Trade Directory of Indigenous Natural Products: 

www.cpwild.co.za 

South African Rooibos Council: www.sarooibos.org.za 

Western Cape Department of Agriculture: www.elsenburg.com 


OVERVIEW 

Wine and grapes 

China is importing the fruits of the Western Cape’s vineyards. 


Nearly 50 000 people work 

in the province’s table grape 

sector. 

• A Cape wine farm is selling 

exclusively to China. 

• KWV has been sold to a 

global company. 

Chinese consumers love the grapes of the Western Cape, 

whether they are presented to them in bunches or in bottles. 

Alterations to importation regulations are set to massively 

boost table grape sales to China, and wine farmers 

are selling ever-increasingly volumes to that country. 

Table grapes 

South Africa’s table grape producers and exporters had something to 

cheer about in 2016. Because China has changed its cold-treatment 

protocol, South Africa can now increase its exports to that country to 

R2.5-billion within five years. 

In 2015, 10 600 tons of table grapes were sold into China but the 

figure could not be increased because of the cold-treatment protocol 

relating to the South Africa product, which affected quality, market 

share and price. The Chinese market for table grapes has been growing 

at 30% since 2000 and stands at about $600-million. 

The South African Table Grape 

Industry Partnership (SATI) is a 

partnership whose board membership 

represents every growing 

region. The industry’s contribution 

to the national GDP is estimated 

at more than R3-billion. 

The table grape industry provided 

over 46 000 direct jobs to 

the Western Cape during the 

2015/16 harvest. The Western 

Cape is responsible for 65% of 

total production volumes in 

table grapes. 

There is also a significant contribution 

to downstream production 

income – R3.2-billion to 

other product-input providers, 

R720-million to packaging material 

suppliers and R250-million to 

logistics suppliers. 

On farms with black ownership, 

income of R183-million was 

generated in 2014/15. 

Key industry figures for the 

annual national harvest: 

• More than 85 000 jobs 


78

OVERVIEW 

• Wages valued at R950-million 

• Additional R600-million job 

creation by suppliers in the 

value chain 

Three of South Africa’s grapegrowing 

regions are located in 

the Western Cape: 

• Olifants River: The river flows 

from the Cederburg Mountains 

westwards towards the Atlantic 

Ocean via Namaqualand. 

• Berg River: The Du Toitskloof 

Mountains are the main geographical 

feature of this region 

named for the strong-running 

river that irrigates the fields of 

grape varieties such as Red 

Globe, La Rochelle and Bonheur. 

• Hex River: The river runs past 

the Matroosberg where snow 

falls are a regular occurrence. 

Popular varieties are La Rochelle, 

Sunred Seedless and Barlinka. 

Wine 

A bottle-making factory in 

Gauteng is doubling its capacity 

because Cape wine exports 

are rising so quickly. Exports 

from the Western Cape reached 

R8.6-billion in 2015. 

Nampak told Business Day 

in 2016 that the main factor in 

increased orders from its Cape 

wine buyers was the Economic 

Partnership with the European 

Union, allowing easier access into 

the EU for Southern African goods. 

Total exports of wine out of the 

Cape have grown from 50-million 

litres to close to 450-million, 

with many of the new sales going 

to China. 

The Chinese market was valued 

at R240-billion in 2015 (IWSR) and a 

joint venture between Leopard’s Leap and Yangzhou Perfect (51%) has 

bought the wine farm Val de Vie to make wine to export to that country. 

The wine is branded L’Huguenot. 

There is a move to try to shift South Africa’s focus away from 

bulk wine sales, to bottled wines. The website beveragedaily.com 

quoted the managing director of Origin Wines stating that for every 

10-million litres of additional wine bottled in South Africa in 2016, additional 

direct income of R200-million should accrue to the Cape Winelands. 

The decision by Britain’s electorate to extract the country from the 

EU will lead to some complications, but Western Cape Minister for 

Economic Opportunities Alan Winde believes that the new situation 

could lead to many new opportunities. The EU may push for the reduction 

in some of the figures set for imports (on the basis that a chunk of 

the allocation would have been going to Britain), but Britain will surely 

want to negotiate a good deal with South Africa as quickly as possible. 

There are over 3 500 wine producers in South Africa, with the large 

majority located in the Western Cape. 

Wine is produced by estates, independent cellars and producer cellars 

or co-operatives. The Distell group runs five distilleries and seven 

wineries in the Western Cape, produces about a third of the country’s 

natural and sparkling wine and is ranked 12th in the world in terms of 

global wine volume sales. 

The multi-brand KWV was sold in 2016 to consumer investment 

group Vasari. The reported sale price was R1.15-billion. Niveus, the 

previous owner of KWV, retains the company headquarters building 

in Paarl (La Concorde) and the Laborie wine estate. 

Wellington Wines is a new venture that arose from the merger of 

the Wellington Co-operative and the Wamakersvallei Co-operative. 

DGB is a large wine and spirits company that makes much of its own 

product at five famous wineries. These include Boschendal, Bellingham 

and Douglas Green. Edward Snell & Co is a wine and spirits wholesaler 

that also makes its own line of spirits. Fourteen brandy distilleries can 

be visited on the Western Cape Brandy Route and a further six on the 

R62 Brandy Route on the road east. 


Integrated Production of Wine: www.ipw.co.za 

National Agricultural Marketing Council: www.namc.co.za 

Nietvoorbij Institute for Viticulture and Oenology: 

www.arc.agric.za 

SA Wine Industry Information & Systems: www.sawis.co.za 

South African Brandy Foundation: www.sabrandy.co.za 

South African Table Grape Industry: www.satgi.co.za 

Western Cape Department of Agriculture: www.elsenburg.com 

Wines of South Africa: www.wosa.co.za 


INTERVIEW 

The magic grape 

Beyers Truter, who is associated internationally with the 

Pinotage varietal, shares some insights on the local 

winemaking industry. 

Beyers Truter 

BIOGRAPHY 

Beyers Truter received a BSc 

Agric degree from the University 

of Stellenbosch before 

starting his winemaking career 

at Kanonkop. Today he is the 

cellar master and co-owner of 

Beyerskloof. He played an enormous 

role in the development 

of the Pinotage red wine grape 

varietal when, in 1991, he was 

named international Winemaker 

of the Year with a Pinotage wine 

at the International Wine and 

Spirits Competition. He was 

also the founder and chairman 

of the Pinotage Association. He 

has won numerous local and 

international awards. 

Please provide an overview of your business operations 

and the Beyerskloof Wine Estate. 

Beyerskloof was established in 1988 and is known internationally for its 

Pinotage wines, the only indigenous South African variety. 

We have grown tremendously over the last few years and we are 

considered one of the foremost producers of Pinotage and Cape 

Blends in South Africa. Although I don’t want to grow too fast, there 

is a big demand for South African wines. My son is now in charge of 

the vineyards and winemaking and we intend to expand operations. 

I regard the fact that my son is actively involved in the business and will 

continue to build it as the biggest reward of my life thus far. 

Could you explain something about your relationship 

with Pinotage? 

I have a very long relationship with Pinotage. I would say the relationship 

started in 1981; I was farming at Kanonkop and I tasted a 1972 

wine from Simonsig. I liked it so much that I phoned winemaker Frans 

Malan to ask him about it – it was a Pinotage, which at that stage was 

a kind of “black sheep” of wines. Well, I have always been fond of “black 

sheep” and the relationship has flourished ever since. 

In 1995, I established the Pinotage Association, which focuses on 

prioritising research ideas, knowledge dissemination and marketing of 

the varietal. It is a magic grape with a wonderful classic taste! 


80

INTERVIEW 

Please describe the relationship with 

Nedbank, in terms of your business and 

the wine industry. 

Nedbank does a lot to support the wine industry; 

in particular, they sponsor the Cape Winemakers 

Guild Auction. In addition to well-known estates, 

individuals are also able to market their topclass 

wines through the event. They are also involved 

in the sponsorship of the Nedbank Vinpro 

Information Day held annually. Nedbank is also our 

Business Bank. 

What is your view of the current state of 

the wine industry in South Africa and the 

outlook for the next five-to-10 years? 

Some South African wines are doing very well. 

I could mention Pinotage and Chenin Blanc, 

local sales of which have grown by 73% and 60% 

respectively over the past five years. 

I foresee that it will continue to go well for the 

wine industry in the short-to-medium term but 

unfortunately the outlook is not as positive for the 

grape farmers. The price of grapes has not risen as 

much as the price of the value-added product – 

wine in the bottle. 

What prompted you to start a community 

project focusing on alcohol abuse among 

women and youth pregnancy, and what 

impact has the project had? 

Some years ago, I started the FAITH Fund (Foetal 

Alcohol-Syndrome and Interrelated Treatment Help 

Fund) and we have been working at communicating 

the negative effects of drinking during pregnancy 

ever since. It is widely known that the Western 

Cape has a serious problem when it comes to Foetal 

Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). 

We have what we call the “Klop-klop” project, 

where we literally send people door-to-door to 

speak to farm workers, particularly pregnant women, 

about the dangers of drinking while pregnant. We 

follow up by visiting pregnant women each month 

until they deliver and we provide food and necessities 

to assist them. We also visit schools and clinics as 

far afield as Beaufort West and Graaff-Reinet. 

I do this because I believe that every child needs 

a future and FAS robs children of a future they can 

look forward to. 

How is the drought likely to impact the 

wine industry? 

Typically during periods of dry weather you have a 

smaller crop but sometimes a superior crop, so the 

effects “cancel each other out”. Longer term, however, 

continuing drought would significantly affect 

volumes, which would affect wine sales. 


PROFILE 

South African Table 

Grape Industry 

South Africa: preffered country of origin for the 

world’s best-tasting grapes. 

SATI represents 

growers in key 

government and 

industry initiatives 

aimed at creating 

more opportunities, 

from ownership to 

accessing new markets 

in a sustainable 

way. 

SATI assists growers 

with crucial industry 

information, 

Willem Bestbier, CEO 

transformation, statistics, research, technology and 

technical transfer as well as training and education 

with the aim of establishing South Africa as the 

Preferred Country of Origin for the world’s besttasting 

grapes. 

South African table grape growers and exporters 

are committed to being a reliable supplier of table 

grapes by delivering a safe, flavour-filled product of 

the highest quality. 

grape producer as wide a choice as possible with 

profitable markets. 

Mission 

SATI delivers service excellence to create a progressive, 

equitable and sustainable South African table 

grape industry. 

SATI’S key areas of intervention 

• Technical market access 

• Research and technology transfer 

• Information and knowledge management 

• Transformation 

• Communication and stakeholder engagement 

• Human capacity and skills development 

• Technical support 

continued on page 82 

They have dedicated themselves to ensuring 

that our special taste, quality and choice product 

meet the highest level of compliance with world 

market standards. 

Vision 

South Africa is the Preferred Country of Origin 

for table grapes and will provide every table 


82

PROFILE 

These interventions are aimed at assisting producers 

to Gain, Retain and Optimise (GRO) market access. 

SATI is funded by a grower levy, and is a co-founder 

and a key supporter of the Sustainability Initiative of 

South Africa (SIZA). 

A world of variety 

There are five major growing regions in South Africa. 

The difference in soil and climate enables growers 

to supply the markets from November to May. The 

early season is dominated by varieties from the 

Northern Provinces and the valleys of the Orange 

and Olifants Rivers , followed by table grape varieties 

from the Berg River and Hex River regions. 

The South African table grape industry is ideally positioned 

to work with the government on all levels 

to make a significant contribution to the primary 

goals of the National Development Plan, namely 

job creation, rural development and the earning 

of foreign revenue. 

CONTACT INFO 

Contacts: 

Willem Bestbier, Chief Executive Officer 

Email: willem@satgi.co.za 

Joseph Lombardt 

Manager: Information and Knowledge 

Management 

Email: joseph@satgi.co.za 

Physical Address: 63 Main Street, Paarl 7624 

Tel: +27 21 863 0366 

Fax: +27 21 863 3039 

Email: info@satgi.co.za 

Website: www.satgi.co.za 


84

Fishing 

More fish, fewer chips. 

OVERVIEW 

The Oceana Group has made some purchases that will boost its 

fishing and fish processing volumes. It has also sold off its potatoprocessing 

business, Lamberts’ Bay Foods. With the purchase 

of Foodcorp’s fishing rights and an American fishmeal and oil 

company, Daybrook, Oceana now has operations in the USA, South 

Africa and Angola and achieved revenues in 2015/16 of R8.2-billion. 

The biggest brand performer for Oceana is Lucky Star canned 

pilchards, which enjoys 80% of market share in South Africa. 

Demersal fish such as hake and kingklip account for 46% of the 

national catch, with pelagic fish (anchovy, pilchards and sardines) 

making up 23%. Lobster makes up 11% and linefish 13%. The Western 

Cape is responsible for about 75% of the nation’s fishing. 

The value of the national catch across 22 commercial fishing 

sectors is about R6-billion. Sectors range from the highly capitalised 

deep-sea trawling industry to much smaller-scale lobster and 

abalone operations. 

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana 

has stated his intention to restructure the horse mackerel industry to 

promote local fishers and processors. A 15-year contract awarded in 

2015 on this basis was overturned by the courts after objections by 

bodies such as FishSA, which represents eleven fishing associations. 

Most of South Africa’s major food companies have fishing divisions. 

Pioneer Fishing has no connection to the multi-product group Pioneer 

Foods, and is owned by Suiderland Corporation and African Pioneer 

Limited. Pioneer Fishing controls a canning, fishmeal and fish oil factory 

in St Helena Bay called Oranjevis, a joint venture with Terrasan Pelagic 

Fishery, and a processing and freezing factory in the Port Elizabeth 

harbour (Eyethu Fishing). 


FishSA: www.fishsa.org 

National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: 

www.daff.gov.za 

SA Deep Sea Trawling Industry Association: www.sadstia.co.za 

Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative: 

www.wwfsassi.co.za 


Government intends restructuring 

the horse mackerel industry 

to boost local fishers. 

Premier Fishing, a subsidiary 

of Sekunjalo Investments, runs 

16 vessels and operates at seven 

locations, including Atlantic Cold 

Storage, which has capacity to 

store 2 500 tons of fish and 405 

tons of live lobster. The company 

has lobster plants at Port Nolloth 

and Hout Bay, and a fish meal 

plant at Saldanha. 

Viking Fishing is active in fishing, 

processing and fish farms. It 

has 1 250 employees across its 

varied operations, which include 

trawling for hake; sardines and 

anchovies; the west coast rock 

lobster and prawns (in South 

Africa and Mozambique). 

Sea Harvest is vertically integrated 

and owns all its fishing 

vessels, processing facilities 

and cold storage facilities. Sea 

Harvest runs several shore-based 

factory plants, sells to more 

than 2 000 stores and has 46% 

of South Africa’s retail frozen 

fish market. 

Dromedaris Visserye specialises 

in Cape lobster, and supplies 

sardines and anchovies to China 

and Japan. 




OVERVIEW 

Mining 

The sands of the West Coast are giving up their riches. 

A 

new mineral sands project on the West Coast near Lutzville 

and Koekenaap has started sending product to China. 

Australian miner Mineral Commodities (MRC) says it will 

spend R5-billion at its Tormin mine to 2019 in search of zircon, 

rutile, ilmenite and garnet. 

Namakwa Sands is an existing mineral sands operation on the 

West Coast, owned by Tronox. Tronox is listed on the New York Stock 

Exchange and South African company Exxaro Resources is a 43.87% 

shareholder. The company has a mine and concentration plant at 

Brand-se-Baai and a mineral separation plant at Koekenaap near 

Lutzville about 350km from Cape Town. Ilemnite, rutile and zircon 

are extracted at this site and then taken to the company’s smelter at 

Saldanha Bay. Zircon is used in tile glazing and ilmenite is melted to 

become pig iron for use in engine blocks. The left-over slag is used as 

pigmentation in paints. 

The Cape Bentonite Mine (with five quarries) near Heidelberg is run 

by Ecca Holdings with another site east of Knysna at Roodefontein. 

Dimension stone occurs around Vanrhynsdorp (which also has some 

gypsum) and medium-grain granite is found at Paarl. 

Sixteen rare earth minerals have been identified north of 

Vanrhynsdorp, with the most prevalent being cerium, an important 

component of catalytic converters. South Africa is a world leader in 

converters. Other minerals found at the site are used in magnets, 

batteries and electric-powered cars. 

More than one investor has come and gone, but the acquisition 

in 2015 by Steenkampskraal Thorium Limited (STL) of the shares of 


African Mining Indaba: www.miningindaba.com 

Chamber of Mines of South Africa: 

www.chamberofmines.org.za 

Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za 

Geological Society of South Africa: www.gssa.org.za 

National Department of Mineral Resources: www.dmr.gov.za 

Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: 

www.saimm.co.za 


Sixteen rare earth minerals 

have been identified north of 

Vanrhynsdorp. 

Rareco has given it the right to 

the rare earth deposits at the 

Steenkampskraal monazite 

mine. STL already had the thorium 

rights. STL has an associate 

company in Norway, Thor Energy. 

The plan is to mine, process and 

refine thorium for nuclear fuel applications 

in Norway. STL reports 

that Steenkampskraal has one of 

the world’s highest-grade rare 

earth and thorium deposits with 

an average grade of 14.4% rare 

earths and 2.14% thorium. 

Limestone for cement, agricultural 

lime and feed lime is 

extracted at several sites in the 

province’s western regions while 

kaolin is found in Noordhoek and 

Somerset West. Ball clay is mined 

in the Albertina district by G&W 

Base and Industrial Minerals, a 

subsidiary of the Zimco Group. 

Pretoria Portland Cement 

(PPC) has operations near 

Riebeek-West and Piketberg (De 

Hoek). Slasto and building stone 

is quarried near Clanwilliam. 

Consol quarries glass sand 

near Philippi. 


88

OVERVIEW 

Oil and gas 

The Western Cape Government is hoping to exploit opportunities related to the gas sector. 


A new LPG terminal will be 

commissioned at Saldanha 

in 2017. 

• Chevron wants to sell its 

refinery. 

• A new fuel storage terminal 

is being built in Cape 

Town harbour. 

Thirty-two companies are set invest in the Saldanha Bay Industrial 

Development Zone (SBIDZ). These companies are in the oil and 

gas, and servicing and logistics sectors. The idea of providing 

infrastructure and incentives at the SBIDZ in these sectors is 

reaping rewards. 

Large industrial operations already exist at Saldanha and the Port 

of Saldanha Bay is used for the export of South Africa’s iron ore. Large 

quantities of oil are transported around the Cape of Good Hope every 

year: 32.2% of West Africa’s oil and 23.7% of oil emanating from the 

Middle East. Reduced global prices for oil and troubles in the container 

ship market have caused some stress in the local sector – DCD 

Marine went into voluntary business rescue in November 2016 – but 

the long-term prospects for shipping and oil and gas are still strong 

enough for national government to pursue Operation Phakisa (which 

includes a strong maritime economy push) and for Transnet National 

Ports Authority to spend heavily on upgrading the nation’s ports. 

Considerable planning has gone into positioning the SBIDZ as a 

hub for a range of maritime repair activities and oil rig maintenance 

and repair. (A separate article on the SBIDZ appears elsewhere in 

this publication.) But Saldanha has not been chosen by the national 

Department of Energy (DoE) to host a gas-to-power plant: Richards 

Bay and Coega (Port Elizabeth) have instead been listed as the sites 

for 2 000MW and 1 000MW potential, if private investors for projects 

at those ports can be found. The 

Provincial Government of the 

Western Cape has asked the DoE 

to reconsider and wants Saldanha 

to be allocated at least 1 000MW 

potential for private companies 

to consider bidding to run such 

a power plant. 

If gas was used to generate 

power, the next step would be 

for factories to consider using gas 

and then the whole energy mix 

could be changed. The Western 

Cape Ministry of Economic 

Opportunities sees the potential 

of gas in the context of working 

together with wind and solar energy. 

Gas, a CSIR report has concluded, 

could be a very good support 

for renewable energy during 

times of peak demand. 

Another possible gamechanger 

is shale gas. The Council 

for Geoscience (CGS) is doing an 

intensive study of South Africa’s 


90

OVERVIEW 

potential shale gas resources. The 

study centres on the area around 

Beaufort West in the Karoo. The 

study wants to look at the reserves, 

the technology associated 

with getting the gas out of the 

ground and the value chain. 

Natural gas lies offshore to 

the west of South Africa in the 

Atlantic Ocean (Ibhubesi) and off 

the southern coast in the Indian 

Ocean (Bredasdorp Basin). Both 

fields have great potential: Block 

2A of the Ibhubesi gas field northwest 

of Saldanha is estimated to 

have reserves of 850-billion cubic 

feet of gas and the Bredasdorp 

Basin is said to have reserves of 

one-trillion cubic feet, but getting 

to the gas has proved tricky. 

The Bredasdorp Basin is close 

to Mossel Bay where a gas-toliquids 

plant is located. Project 

Ikhwezi, run by South Africa’s oil 

company PetroSA, produced 25- 

billion cubic feet (bcf) from that 

field instead of a projected 242bcf 

(Engineering News). PetroSA recorded 

a net operating loss of 

R14.6-billion for the 2014/15 

financial year. 

Sunbird Energy (a joint venture 

between Sunbird Energy 76% 

and PetroSA 24%) was reported 

in March 2016 to be proceeding 

with plans to produce gas from 

the Ibhubesi field, but lower 

global gas prices and negotiations 

with national utility Eskom 

(which has to agree to buy the 

gas) were factors that had to be 

considered (Financial Mail). 

Further afield, major gas finds 

have been made off the coast 

of East Africa and plans to pipe 

greater volumes of Mozambican 

gas to Gauteng are far advanced. 

Industrial gas manufacturing in the Western Cape is a particular 

focus for Air Products, a part of the Metkor Group controlled by Remgro. 

The company is the largest supplier in the pipeline and on-site markets, 

and it also supplies to the packaged chemicals, bulk and chemicals 

markets. The company has a national footprint, with a very strong presence 

in the oil, gas and chemical hub of the country around Sasolburg 

and Vereeniging. Air Products has a network of private distributors who 

get support from the company in terms of sales, service and technical 

advice. Safety training is also offered. 

Facilities 

The gas-to-liquids plant that PetroSA runs at Mossel Bay on the south 

coast is one of the country’s key pieces of energy infrastructure. Getting 

new feedstock for this plant is now an urgent priorty (and something 

which Project Ikhwezi was supposed to do). 

The Chevref oil refinery in the Cape Town suburb of Milnerton is one 

of six in South Africa. It produces about 110 000 barrels a day of South 

Africa’s total production of 703 000 barrels a day. Chevron gave notice 

in early 2016 of its intention to leave South Africa. A price of R15-billion 

has been suggested for Chevron’s assets, which include a lubricants 

business and 850 Caltex petrol stations (Sunday Times). 

A new facility is to be added to the oil and gas sector in Cape Town 

– a 118 000m³ fuel storage unit. The Bergan terminal will comprise 12 

tanks located on the Eastern Mole of the Port of Cape Town and it will 

be connected by pipeline to the Chevref refinery. 

A new import terminal dedicated to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) 

is being constructed at Saldanha Bay by Sunrise Energy. The terminal 

will be an open-access facility, so any gas importer, distributor or 

downstream user can use it for the importation of LPG, commercial 

propane or commercial butane. It is due to be commissioned in the 

second quarter of 2017. 


Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association of Southern Africa: 

www.lpgas.co.za 

National Department of Energy: www.energy.gov.za 

National Energy Regulator of South Africa: www.nersa.org.za 

Petroleum Agency of South Africa: 

www.petroleumagencysa.com 

PetroSA: www.petrosa.co.za 

Saldanha Bay IDZ: www.sbidz.co.za 

South African Oil and Gas Alliance: www.saoga.org.za 


92

Air Products 

South Africa 

PROFILE 

This leading industrial gases and related products company has 

introduced innovations throughout its history. 

Air Products South Africa manufactures, supplies 

and distributes a wide variety of atmospheric gases, 

speciality gases, performance materials, equipment 

and services to the southern African region. 

Founded in 1969, the company has grown rapidly 

and has used its world-class production and regional 

distribution facilities to become the largest 

supplier in the on-site and pipeline markets. It is also 

a leader in the bulk, packaged gas and chemicals 

supply markets. 

Liquid and gaseous product is distributed to customers 

throughout South Africa using the company’s 

modern fleet of cryogenic tankers and cylinder 

trucks. This ensures reliable supplies of gases such 

as oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and carbon 

dioxide to major corporations in the steel, stainless 

steel, chemical, petrochemical and engineering 

industries. 

In fact, Air Products touches the lives of consumers 

in positive ways every day, and serves customers 

in a range of industries from food and beverage, 

mining and petrochemicals, primary metal and steel 

manufacturers, chemical applications, welding and 

cutting applications to laboratory applications. 

Business units 

Air Products has four business units to serve its 

broad client base. 

On-site generation 

These systems include small membrane cabinets, 

packaged plants, large air separation and hydrogen/ 

carbon monoxide/syngas plants and industrial gas 

pipelines. The systems are classified as either generated 

gases or tonnage gases. 

Bulk gas 

This division facilitates the supply of bulk liquid product 

to a wide range of customers. Products including 

liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon dioxide, 

liquid argon and gaseous hydrogen are transported 

from the company’s four main air separation units 

via its fleet of road tankers. 

Specialty gases 

There are over 100 different gaseous and liquid 

chemicals and thousands of different gas mixtures. 

These products can be supplied in any quantity, 

from a few grams or litres to a 4 000m³ trailer load. 

Chemicals 

The Air Products chemical offerings are backed up 

by its applications support personnel, who rigorously 

match product properties to meet specific 

end-use applications. 

CONTACT INFO 

Tel: +27 11 570 5000 

Email: info@airproducts.co.za 

Website: www.airproducts.co.za 


OVERVIEW 

Energy 

Manufacturing in the renewable energy sector is taking off in Atlantis. 

The energy landscape of the Western Cape is undergoing rapid 

change. Mostly this is because the potential of renewable energy 

is being realised, but if a gas-to-energy plant becomes a reality in 

the province, then another big shift could take place. 

The Western Cape already hosts the country’s only nuclear power 

station (Koeberg, north of Cape Town) and it has a pumped water 

storage plant and three open-cycle gas turbines. 

The West Coast was the site of two of the country’s first experimental 

wind farms. Successful trials there and elsewhere (and 

critical power shortages in the national grid) led to the adoption 

by national government of a scheme to invite private producers 

to bid for the right to build plants that would produce wind, solar 

or hydropower. This is the Renewable Energy Independent Power 

Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and the first bids closed 

in December 2011. 

By the time the fourth bid closed in 2015, the Western Cape had 

been allocated 11 projects, six wind and five photo-voltaic solar power. 

The total capacity of these projects totalled 592MW. Among the foreign 

companies to engage in renewable energy projects in the province 

are Gamesa and Acciona, Gestamp Renewables, Vestas, Sunpower 

and JinkoSolar. 

The Provincial Government of the Western Cape is prioritising 

energy in its plans, and this includes generation (gas, biogas and 

renewables), distribution and energy-saving. 


Progress reports on energy 

plans are presented to the 

Premier every six weeks. 

• There are 2 000 private 

energy providers in Cape 

Town. 

A wide range of experts drew 

up the provincial energy plan, 

the key points of the energy plan 

include: efficiency in the system; 

get the uptake of renewable energy 

to move faster; and move to 

gas. With every project within that 

plan, a detailed timetable has been 

worked out and reports are sent to 

the Premier’s office every six weeks. 

Western Cape Minister 

of Economic Opportunities 

Alan Winde notes that the 

Department of Agriculture, simply 

by carefully recording its usage 


94

OVERVIEW 

patterns, has cut its electricity bill by 

R1.7-million. 

On top of this, the Western 

Cape has its own private producers’ 

programme. “As I speak, there 

are more than 2 000 private producers 

in Cape Town,” says Winde. 

These range from a solar panel on 

the roof of a single private household 

to major installations in the 

Waterfront. Excess power is sold 

to the city. 

Winde is lobbying hard for the 

national Department of Energy 

to allow Saldanha Bay to be a site 

for a gas-to-power plant. “There 

should be at least 1 000MW at 

Saldanha. If the private sector 

and investors think it is a bad 

idea, then that’s fine.” He clearly 

believes that investors will think it 

a very good idea to invest in a site 

that already has bulk power consumers 

like ArcelorMittal Steel. If a 

gas plant is built at Saldanha, then 

it could be a catalyst for the use 

of gas in many other sectors such 

as manufacturing and residential. 

“Then gas plays a different 

role in the economy,” says Winde. 

“That is enabling a whole process 

and it complements the work we 

are doing. If you have solar and 

wind power, then you need the 

base, something to cover the 

peak hours: gas can do that.” 

About 100km south of 

Saldanha, on the West Coast road 

to Cape Town, is Atlantis, where 

a green economy manufacturing 

hub is under construction. 

A number of companies have 

already invested in making wind 

turbines, ladders and platforms 

for turbines and solar panels 

among other things. With about 

R680-million already invested, 

and another R1-billion projected, the renewable energy economy is 

making an impact. 

There are many manufacturing opportunities. A pilot plant to investigate 

one of the more sophisticated aspects of solar technology is 

operating at the Techno Park in Stellenbosch. Photovoltaic Technology 

Intellectual Property (PTiP) and German engineering company Singulus 

Technologies have started making thin-film solar modules. 

Funding for the project’s infrastructure came from the Technology 

Innovation Agency, a unit of the Industrial Development Corporation 

(IDC), and Stellenbosch University. 

The Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Energy Institute is a 

leader in research in the field of electricity, and is also responsible for 

a regional publication relating to domestic use, DUE. 

A unit based on the Bellville campus of CPUT teaches courses 

related to renewable energy. The South African Renewable Energy 

Technology Centre (SARETEC) offers courses such as Wind Turbine 

Service Technician and Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician and 

various short courses such as Bolting Joint Technology. By the end 

of 2016, more than 1 500 people had attended courses at SARETEC. 

In November 2016, SARETEC became the home of the Solar 

Academy, with the support of German solar energy company, 

maxx|solar energy. 

The Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies is at the 

University of Stellenbosch, while the University of Cape Town has the 

Energy Research Centre. The University of the Western Cape is doing 

research on the possibilities of hydrogen as an energy source. 

A programme run by Green Cape claims to have engineered 21 000 

tons in fossil greenhouse gas savings over five years through its Western 

Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP). This is the equivalent 

to annual electricity usage in 5 600 South African households. WISP 

is a network of 300 businesses to share unused resources and create 

value from “waste”. 


African Wind Energy Association: www.afriwea.org 

Eskom: www.eskom.co.za 

Green Cape: www.greencape.co.za 

National Department of Energy: www.energy.gov.za 

National Nuclear Regulator: www.nnr.co.za 

South African Photovoltaic Industry Association: 

www.sapvia.co.za 

South African Wind Energy Association: www.sawea.org.za 

Southern African Solar Thermal and Electricity Association (CSP): 

www.sastela.org 

Sustainable Energy Africa: www.sustainable.org.za 


OVERVIEW 

Water 

Farms and factories are becoming water wise. 


WWF-South Africa and 

Woolworths are working on 

rural water plans. 

• UCT researchers have 

won a Water Research 

Commission prize. 

• French company Veolia 

is installing desalination 

plants. 

In 2030 South African demand for water will be 17% greater than 

supply. That is the verdict of the 2030 Water Resources Group. 

The Western Cape’s dams were at 61% in the fourth quarter of 

2016, against 90% at the same time in 2015. The biggest provincial 

dam, which is Cape Town’s main source of water as well as providing 

irrigation for farms, Theewaterskloof, stood at 52%, 14% down on the 

previous year. Elsewhere: 

• Garden Route Dam (George) was at 72% versus 100% in 2015 

• Kammanasie Dam (Oudtshoorn) was at 29% versus 100% in 2015 

• Hartebeestkuil Dam (Mossel Bay) was at 52% versus 88% in 2015 

In November 2016, the City of Cape Town introduced level-three 

water restrictions, banning all irrigation systems and hosepipes for 

domestic lawns. 

The good news is that South Africa and the Western Cape are doing 

something about the situation. Times of crisis can also be times when 

innovation and entrepreneurship come to the fore. 

The Water Resources Group, an international consortium of private 

companies, agencies and development banks, has established a South 

African chapter, the Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN). It has a 

focus on three things: water efficiency and leakage reduction; effluent 

and wastewater management; and the agricultural supply chain. 

SWPN aims to support government and programmes have been put 

in place in all three areas that are showing results. 

The Western Cape Provincial Government has a two-pronged 

strategy: new water infrastructure for agriculture and water demand 

management programmes to 

improve efficiency. 

In terms of its water infrastructure 

and maintenance of its 

wastewater treatments plants, 

the Western Cape fares relatively 

well compared to most other 

South African regions. Only 3% 

of households reported to the 

General Household Survey of 

2014 that their water services had 

been interrupted. Fully 87.7% were 

satisfied with water delivery services. 

Access to water and sanitation 

in the province is generally 

very good. 

A provincial scheme to improve 

rivers has been outlined 

by Premier Helen Zille. The River 

Improvement Plan ultimately 

seeks to improve the lives of 

people living alongside rivers, 

but also ensure that river 

water quality enhances the region’s 

economy. The fruit, grape 

and wine sectors need good 


96

OVERVIEW 

quality water, as do agri-processing 

concerns. Programmes 

include upgrading wastewater 

treatment plants, clearing 

alien vegetation and 

regular monitoring of water 

quality. The scheme encompasses 

the Olifants-Doorn and 

Breede rivers. 

The Western Cape 

Department of Agriculture has 

launched a climate action plan 

called Smart Agri, which includes 

doing studies on conservation 

agriculture. The plan draws on 

the expertise of academics and 

companies in the private sector. 

One of the possible plans 

to add to the supply of the 

Western Cape Water Supply 

System is the Berg River–Voëlvlei 

Augmentation Scheme. This 

would entail pumping water 

out of the Berg River in winter, 

having first allowed for enough 

water to cover the ecological water 

requirements of the river and 

the estuary. 

The last time a severe drought 

affected the province, many of 

the towns along the Garden 

Route installed desalination and 

recycling plants. More than one 

of these facilities had to close 

because not enough care had 

been taken in choosing the site, 

so environmental issues and silting 

stymied the plans. 

However, Mossel Bay has a 

functioning plant and Lamberts 

Bay on the West Coast will soon 

have a 1 700m³ per day plant. This 

will be the sixth such plant installed 

by French company Veolia 

Water Solutions & Technologies. 

Other sites include Saldanha, 

Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. 

A water stewardship programme has been introduced in the Breede 

River catchment area. WWF-South Africa, Woolworths and Marks and 

Spencer are collaborating on a scheme encouraging stone fruit farmers 

to put in place systems that reduce risk to water supply and quality. 

WWF-SA also has a Water Balance Programme that works to increase 

the amount of clean water coming into the environment. Woolworths’ 

contribution to this plan involves getting rid of alien vegetation on the 

farm where it sources its wines (Paul Cluver Wines) and in the Leeu 

River catchment area. 

Improving quality 

The introduction by the National Department of Water and Sanitation 

(DWS) and the Water Institute of South Africa (WISA) of the Blue and 

Green Drop Awards has been very successful. The nation’s municipalities 

receive scores reflecting how well they are doing in terms of 

providing clean water. 

In order to win a Drop Award (Blue for water quality, Green for waste 

treatment), water systems have to score 95% or higher. The DWS has allocated 

R4.3-billion to helping municipalities deliver water. The Interim 

Water Supply Programme will concentrate on 23 district municipalities. 

The awards are run by WISA with the help of consulting engineering 

group Aecom SA. Aecom assists municipalities in preparing for the 

audit and has a wide range of capabilities within the water-treatment 

sector, including bulk and reticulation water and sewage pipelines. 

The City of Cape Town won a C40 Cities Award in 2015 for its programme 

to conserve and manage demand for water. 

The Water Institute of South Africa has 1 800 members. It does 

research, keeps its members up-to-date and runs conferences. As in 

most areas of life in South Africa, environmental standards are set and 

maintained by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS). 

The University of Cape Town’s Engineering and Built Environment 

Faculty has won a Water Research Commission prize for its work on 

the treatment of acid mine drainage. 


Breede-Overberg Catchment Management Agency: 

www.breedegouritzcma.co.za 

National Department of Water and Sanitation: www.dws.gov.za 

South African Water Research Commission: www.wrc.org.za 

Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority: www.tcta.co.za 

Water Institute of Southern Africa: www.wisa.org.za 

Water Resources Group: www.2030wrg.org 


BGCMA 

Situated in the southwestern corner of South Africa, 

the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management 

Agency (BGCMA) plays a pivotal role in protecting, 

developing, conserving, managing and controlling 

water resources. Formerly known as the Breede- 

Overberg Catchment Management Agency, the Gouritz 

region was recently incorporated within the mandate. 

The merger came after the former Minister of Water 

Affairs, Edna Molelwa, approved the expansion of the 

boundary and area of operation of Breede-Overberg 

CMA in terms of Section 78(4) of the National Water 

Act, 1998 (Act No 36 of 1998). The area of operation 

of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management 

Agency includes the previous Breede-Overberg Water 

Management Area and the Gouritz Catchment. 

“The strategic focus of the agency incorporates 

water resource planning, water use management, institutional 

development, water resource protection 

and water allocation reform,” says CEO Phakamani 

Buthelezi. “The vision of the BGCMA, ‘quality water 

for all, forever’, was developed around the question 

of how the BGCMA can make a positive contribution 

and engender meaningful change within a broader 

social context.” 

The main elements of the vision are inclusion and 

participation of all stakeholders, mediation between 

competing environmental and human priorities, 

ensuring availability of good quality water and a 

responsibility to assist in eradicating poverty. 

Buthelezi explains that the BGCMA works closely 

with local governments on water management and 

water-related services to ensure synergy between the 

priorities of the Catchment Management Agency and 

the local and district municipalities. 

“The BGCMA is the operating arm of the 

DWS and its aim is to bring water resource services 

in an efficient manner to the inhabitants of 

the Breede-Gouritz Water Management Area,” 

explains Buthelezi. 

“Furthermore, the BGCMA works closely with 

other government departments to ensure compliance 

in all water use practices. The BGCMA provides 

comments on rezoning and consolidations to 

relevant municipalities, and on environmental impact 

studies and basic assessment reports in conjunction 

with the Department of Environmental 

Affairs.” 

The BGCMA is currently busy with the validation 

and verification process where all water users will be 

evaluated for legal compliance. This process will assist 

with the management of water allocations in the 

Breede-Gouritz Water Management Area (WMA). 


98

Our Vision is 

“Quality water for all, forever” 

Our Mission is to manage our water resources 

responsibly through stakeholder engagement 

and to devolve decision making to the lowest 

level for the benefi t of all water users in the 

Breede-Gouritz area. 

Breede-Gouritz CMA is responsible for: 

• Water Resource Planning 

• Water Allocation Reform 

• Water Use Management 

• Institutional Management 

• Resource Protection 

For more information, contact us on: 

Breede-Gouritz CMA (BGCMA) 

51 Baring Street 

Worcester, 6850 

101 York Street (New Offi ce) 

George, 6529 

Breede-Gouritz CMA 

Private Bag X 3055 

Worcester, 6849 

Ms Malehlohonolo Mlabateki - 

Public Relations and Marketing Offi cer 

Tel: (023) 346 8000 

Fax: (023) 347 2012 

E-mail: mmlabateki@breedegouritzcma.co.za 

www.breedegouritzcma.co.za

OVERVIEW 

Manufacturing 

Diesel locomotive engines are powering up in Montague Gardens. 

A 

diverse manufacturing sector contributes 15% to the 

Western Cape’s GDP and the renewable energy sector holds 

huge potential for further growth. 

Growth in the manufacturing sector between 2003 and 

2013 averaged 2.2% and the Provincial Economic Review and Outlook 

(Western Cape Treasury 2015) predicts the same level of growth 

to 2020. 

A recent Moody’s report on the green economy in Africa states 

that South Africa is growing the fastest in that sector in Africa, and 

at one of the fastest rates in the world. The Western Cape is driving a 

green economy manufacturing strategy focussed on the suburb of 

Atlantis. At this stage, some 70% of South Africa’s manufacturing in 

renewables is happening in the Western Cape. 

Even an established investor such as fridge manufacturer Hisense 

is exploring ways to make its product greener, either through its own 

processes or encouraging its suppliers to go down that route. 


Seda has launched an 

enterprise incubator at False 

Bay TVET College. 

• Cape Town’s catamaran 

builders are world leaders. 

Investment agency Wesgro 

has noted the following major investments 

into the Western Cape 

since 2003: Hisense, Kimberly- 

Clark, Tellumat, Exar Corporation, 

GlaxoSmithKline and General 

Electric. 


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OVERVIEW 

Within the Western Cape 

manufacturing sector, the 

agri-processing subsector (including 

food and beverages 

and tobacco) is the largest employer 

(24%) followed by metals, 

metal products, machinery and 

equipment at 19%. 

The Western Cape Provincial 

Government has identified agriprocessing 

as a key growth sector, 

one of those most likely to 

deliver economic growth and 

jobs. For too many years, jobless 

growth was the norm. 

An initiative of the Small 

Enterprise Development Agency 

(Seda) aims to boost manufacturing 

in metal fabrication and 

furniture. False Bay TVET College 

will host a Rapid Incubator and 

Centre for Entrepreneurship 

(CFE) which will teach students 

how to start businesses 

and how to make their 

products marketable. 

Areas 

Manufacturing in the Cape 

Winelands District makes the 

single biggest GDP contribution 

(19%) to provincial GDP. Many small 

towns in the rural areas have some 

kind of agri-processing facility. 

Bonnievale has two cheese 

factories, Mooivallei Suiwel and 

Parmalat, which have recently 

decided to increase the size of 

their operation in the Breede 

River Valley. 

Iron production at Saldanha 

includes hot-rolled coil produced 

by ArcelorMittal (about 

two thirds of which is exported 

to other countries in Africa) and 

cold-rolled and galvanised steel by DSP, a joint venture between 

South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and a Belgian 

company, Duferco. 

Within the City of Cape Town there are several areas where 

manufacturing takes place, including Epping Industria, Blackheath 

Industria, Bellville South, Paarden Island, Maitland and Ndabeni, 

Airport Industria, Parow Industria and Montague Gardens. 

A City of Cape Town survey has found that Montague Gardens 

has 308 manufacturing concerns, more than any other area. It is 

also well suited to logistics and distribution, being near to the N1 

highway and to the road north along the West Coast. 

MTU Friedrichshafen has spent R50-million on upgrading its 

engine business at Montague Gardens. MTU is the core business 

of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, a division of Rolls-Royce plc. The 

overhaul was done as preparation to make 232 diesel engines for 

Transnet Freight Rail. Additional training for staff has been provided 

on site and in Germany, and an extra 20 staff have been added to 

deal with the order. 

MTU’s other facility in the Cape is a maintenance and support 

centre at the South African Navy base at Simon’s Town. MTU also 

has a strong presence in the mining sector. 

According to the City, the industries in which Cape Town has 

a competitive advantage include fishing, clothing and textiles, 

electronics, furniture and wood product manufacturing – in addition 

to the more service-driven hospitality, finance and business 

services industries. 

Food and beverages 

The combination of excellent and plentiful agricultural produce, good 

manufacturing capacity and a skilled workforce give the Western 


OVERVIEW 

Cape a competitive advantage in the food and beverages sector. 

A sophisticated transport infrastructure system allows it to service 

international markets. 

Famous Brands has bought a Western Cape brand in its drive for 

greater backward integration. Lamberts Bay Foods supplied Famous 

Brands restaurants with chips for two decades. With its purchase 

from Oceana, Famous Brands now has greater control over one of 

the vital items on the menu of its 26 restaurant brands, including 

Wimpy, Steers, Fishaways and Mugg & Bean. Lamberts Bay Foods 

sources potatoes from all over South Africa, but its proximity to the 

potato-growing Sandveld region is helpful. A meat-processing plant 

in Cape Town supplies the group with meat patties, ground beef, 

chicken cubes and fillets. The Famous Brands logistics centre in the 

Western Cape services 308 restaurants six days a week. 

British American Tobacco, which has about 65% of the legal 

domestic market, has its administrative headquarters at the V&A 

Waterfront in Cape Town. 

The wheat-growing areas of the Swartland host several mills such 

as Sasko’s facility in Malmesbury. Bokomo has several manufacturing 

facilities: Atlantis (Weetbix cereals); Epping (oats and baking facilitiy); 

Ndabeni near Pinelands (Moir’s Jelly and custard and instant puddings); 

Worcester (dried fruit and cake mix); Bonnievale (Werda salads); 

Malmesbury (Sugarbird glace fruit and jams). Safari Vinegar is based 

in the Strand and there are two 

Heinz manufacturing plants at 

Wellington and Atlantis. 

Two of the biggest chickenprocessing 

facilities are located 

on the N7 highway to 

Malmesbury (Tydstroom) and 

on the N1 to Worcester (Rainbow 

Chickens). The Western Cape has 

about 16 000 commercial pork 

sows and produces a quarter of 

South Africa’s milk. 

Willards has a factory in 

Goodwood, in nearby Parow 

there is a Simba factory and local 

chip and snack manufacturer 

Messaris, which has been in operation 

since 1898, has a facility in 

Elsies River. Nestlé produces condensed 

milk and milk powder in 

Mossel Bay and canned pet food 

in Cape Town. Tiger Brands makes 

mayonnaise in Bellville and have 


102

OVERVIEW 

also invested heavily in its prepared 

meals plant in Cape Town. 

SABMiller’s Newlands brewery 

is one of the busiest in the country 

as it is responsible for providing 

product for a very large 

geographical area. 

Coca-Cola bottler and distributor 

Peninsula Beverage has 

three plants, at Parow, Athlone 

and Vredendal on the West Coast, 

and employs 1 300 people. 

Bashew’s cooldrinks has been 

a Cape Town favourite since 1899 

and the company’s returnable 

bottle celebrated a 40th anniversary 

in 2010. Quality Beverages 

is a much more recent entrant 

to the market but its two main 

products, Jive and Aqua Blue, are 

doing well. 

The Ceres Beverage Company 

(TCBC) has three major divisions 

producing fruit juices, concentrate 

and carbonated soft drinks. Twizza 

has a factory in Bellville South. 

Boat building 

The Western Cape boat-building 

sector is concentrated in greater 

Cape Town. Several companies 

are internationally competitive 

in the catamaran and yacht markets 

and there is a good spread of 

firms making large custom boats, 

inflatable boats and commercial 

craft. Associated sectors include 

sail-making, engines, repairs 

and masts. 

Key export markets include the 

USA, Europe and the Caribbean 

with increased interest being 

shown from Asia and Australia. 

Nautic Africa makes larger vessels, 

including patrol, defense, oil 

and gas platform, and commercial vessels. It is also active in service 

and support, parts and spares and vessel leasing and management. 

Robertson & Caine’s manufacturing facility in Woodstock produces 

three boats a week for the international market. With a staff 

complement of 1 350, a record of having launched more than 

1 300 vessels and a subsidiary company in Tampa, Florida, the company 

is a world leader in power catamarans and sailing catamrans. 

Atlantis is home to Admiral Boat Manufacturers and Phoenix 

Marine, both specialist catamaran manufacturers, and Celtic Yachts 

who make catamarans and cruising yachts. Ullman Sails makes sails 

in Maitland while Two Oceans Marine Manufacturing constructs its 

catamarans on the Foreshore. 

The Whisper Boat Building Academy is located at the False Bay 

TVET College. 


Cape Town Boatbuilding and Technology Initiative (CTBi): 

www.ctbi.co.za 

Cape Chamber of Commerce: www.capetownchamber.com 

National Agricultural Marketing Council: www.namc.co.za 

National Department of Trade and Industry: www.thedti.gov.za 

South African Boatbuilders Export Council (SABBEX): 

www.sabbex.co.za 

South African Textile Federation: www.texfed.co.za 

Wesgro: www.wesgro.co.za 


Seascape Stainless 

Specialised manufacturer of stainless steel and aluminium components 

and products for the marine, automotive and agricultural industries. 

Seascape Stainless Steel Services and Formatube 

(Pty) Ltd (an ISO 9001:2015 certified 

company) have recently merged operations. 

Seascape Stainless Steel Services has been 

the preferred supplier to the marine industry 

for a number of years, and with the addition of 

Formatube under our brand, we can now offer 

the specialised tube bending and manipulation 

services in stainless steel and aluminium 

that has won several awards. 

In the early years of its existence, Seascape 

Stainless Steel Services focused on the yachting 

industry’s very particular stainless steel 

needs. It has subsequently extended its specialist 

manufacturing services to products 

suitable for a number of other industries. 

Formatube is renowned for its ability to 

bend piping without welding it, resulting in a 

finished product that has a smaller degree of 

ovality than most competitor products. 

Capitalising on the success of the two businesses 

and to accommodate our growth, we 

are now operating from a new state-of-theart 

facility in Blackheath in the Western Cape. 

We also intend expanding operations into 

Europe in 2017. 

What we do 

Our skilled team of engineers and artisans with decades 

of combined experience are able to provide a range of 

specialist services including: 

• Supply and distribution 

• Tube forming and manufacture 

• Manipulations 

• Cutting 

• Rolling 

• Notching 

• Precision bending 

• Mandrel bending 

• Customised designs 

• Precision manufacturing of stainless steel and 

aluminium marine accessories 

• Polishing 

• International trade in required products 

• Guillotines and press-brake cutting and bending 

• Laser cutting 

CONTACT US TO DISCUSS YOUR MANUFACTURING 

OR TUBE BENDING REQUIREMENTS. 

TEL: +27 21 905 0087 | FAX : 086 695 0635 

EMAIL: sales@seascapesss.com or koorts@seascapesss.com

Steel Services 

Industries supplied 

We are able to supply customised, high-quality 

products to the following industries: 

• Marine 

• Automotive 

• Agricultural 

• Architectural 

• Petrochemical 

• Aerospace 

• Pharmaceutical 

• Food and Wine 

Footprint 

We have been supplying the local market for 15 years and the international market for eight years. 

Our products are being supplied to a range of countries including the United Kingdom, the USA, New Zealand, 

Australia, Norway, the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and a number of other African and European countries. 

MEMBERS OF: 

Sassda 

MEMBER 

FIND US AT: 

26 Cincaut Road, 

Saxenburg Industrial Park 1, 

Blackheath, Cape Town

OVERVIEW 

Construction and property 

development 

Construction is on the rise in the Western Cape. 


3 000 housing units are 

planned for the old Conradie 

Hospital site. 

• Two new estates have 

been built in George. 

Commercial and residential development plans totalling 

654 000m² were approved in the Western Cape in 

2015, a 14% rise over the previous year and a figure 

almost nine times greater than that for the province 

of Gauteng. 

The construction sector has grown steadily over the past several 

years and is expected to be the fastest-growing sector in the 

next five years, especially in the City of Cape Town. Infrastructure 

spending and residential developments are the key drivers in this 

trend (Western Cape Treasury). 

The hotel-led construction boom in the central business district 

of the City of Cape Town is the subject of a separate article 

elsewhere in this publication. A large hotel and conference centre 

development was opened in early 2016 at Century City. 

House prices in Cape Town are moving upwards faster than 

anywhere else in the country, both in terms of inflation (10.35% 

vs 5.59%, Lighthouse) and average house prices (11.89% vs 5.6%, 

Pam Golding). A six-bedroomed Clifton house sold for a record 

R90-million in November 2016. 

The economic development department of the City of Cape Town 

has done a survey of 23 of the city’s industrial areas, designed to help 

the decision-making process for 

investors and businesses wanting 

to expand. The report found 

that there were 7 229 businesses 

in the 23 areas and that industrial 

property was concentrated in two 

areas: Voortrekker Road and the 

metropolitan south-east including 

the airport precinct, Epping 

and Philippi. 

The CBD hosts 39% of office 

space in Cape Town, with 

Bellville/Tygerberg accounting 

for 25%. The fairly new development 

at Century City has already 

secured 12% of office accommodation 

with the established suburb 

of Pinelands (which houses a 

huge Old Mutual office) responsible 

for 11%. 

The first Western Capespecific 

real estate investment 

trust (REIT) listed 

on the stock exchange in 

November 2016. Spear Reit’s 

R1.5-billion portfolio comprises 

mostly industrial property (46%) 

with retail and office space each 

making up 22%. 


106

OVERVIEW 

Growth areas 

Brackengate 2 is a new industrial 

area that has been developed 

east of the R300 highway. It is 

intended as a warehousing and 

distribution node, given the easy 

access to the N1 and N2 highways. 

Shoprite has a distribution centre 

at the site. Brackengate Business 

Park, the first phase of the development, 

has tenants such as Fruit 

and Veg City, Docufile, Pearson 

and British American Tobacco. 

Voortrekker Road is the subject 

of several interventions to 

encourage bulking up (businesses 

and residential). The 

Greater Tygerberg Partnership is 

working to provide a catalyst for 

new developments that will build 

on the area’s existing strengths: 

transport links, medical facilities, 

retail, motor dealerships and 

residential. 

Possible construction projects 

could arise out of the fact that 

about 100 000 students are in 

the area. The Greater Tygerberg 

Partnership has done a study 

on students’ accommodation 

needs and encouraged building 

owners to cater to this need. 

Two buildings have recently 

been purchased with the intention 

of turning them into student 

accommodation. 

The Voortrekker Road Corridor 

already has services and an established 

built environment 

but it also has some dilapidated 

structures and has lots of open 

spaces. In other words, it has lots 

of potential. 

A pilot scheme is being 

launched on the 22ha site of the 

old Conradie Hospital, which lies not far from Voortrekker Road in the 

suburb of Pinelands. A 3 000 housing unit development is planned 

there, which will align with the provincial government’s concept of Live, 

Work and Play. With the state (provincial or local government) putting 

in the bulk infrastructure, costs for developers would be significantly 

reduced – the quid pro quo is that the developer must then set aside 

a certain number of housing units (49%) to grant-funded housing. 

Spatial planning also underpins the thinking behind the concept 

of an “aerotropolis”, the idea of using a city’s airport to be a catalyst for 

growth across multiple sectors. The airport’s cluster of industries and 

storage facilities should be linked to the metropolitan south-east and 

two sections in Philippi: the industrial area and the horticultural area. 

An area that continues to grow in terms of residential property 

is the West Coast. With mountains to the east, it is logical that areas 

north of Cape Town will grow: the only constraint is access to water. 

Blouberg, Parklands and Sunningdale continue to attract good houses 

for residential property. Several schools have been built in the area. 

A developer has put forward a plan to build a city near Melkbosstrand. 

The ambitious plan is called Wescape. The MyCiti bus service with its 

own dedicated lane is making it easier to live in suburbs along the West 

Coast. MyCiti also serves the Century City development. 

George on the Southern Cape coast has seen some substantial new 

developments, including a private hospital built for MediClinic, some 

new malls and a number of estates being completed. The famous 

Fancourt facility, which incorporates residential holiday accommodation 

and a hotel, also has three golf courses (but one has a very 

exclusive membership). Kingswood is another premier golf estate in 

George. Pam Golding was selling a three-bedroomed townhouse at 

Kingswood in November 2016 for R2.35m. 

Newer estates have been built on the eastern edge of George, 

near to the recently constructed mall, the Eden Meander Lifestyle 

Centre. Kraaibosch estate will have four options for potential buyers, 

including a retirement village. The Blue Mountain Lifestyle Estate has 

similar options. 


Construction Industry Development Board: www.cidb.org.za 

Greater Tygerberg Partnership: http://gtp.org.za/ 

Master Builders and Allied Trades Association, Western Cape: 

www.mbawc.org.za 

SA Estate Agency Affairs Board: www.eaab.org.za 

SA Institute of Architects: www.saia.org.za 

SA Institute of Valuers: www.saiv.org.za 

SA Property Owners Association: www.sapoa.org.za. 


OVERVIEW 

Tourism 

New flights are bringing greater numbers of tourists to the Western Cape. 

The Western Cape attracts huge numbers of tourists every year and 

this is a sector where positive growth has already created many job 

opportunities. Every kind of tourism is doing well, from leisure and 

adventure tourism to meetings and conferences. 

Tourism grew at 6.6% for the five years to 2014 and generated jobs 

growth in the same time period of 7.7%. The sector employs 204 000 people 

in formal jobs and is worth about R17-billion to the regional economy. 

A project to increase the number of seats available on aeroplanes 

flying into Cape Town International Airport has reaped remarkable 

success. Between July 2015 and December 2016 the Cape Town Air 

Access programme secured an increase in 408 400 direct two-way 

seats to Cape Town from destinations such as Dubai (140 000), Turkey 

(110 000), Ethiopia (80 000) and the Netherlands (30 000). A total of 

162 000 tourists travelled to the Western Cape from the USA; arrivals 

at the Cape Town International Airport increased 16% year-on-year 

in 2015. 

The airport regularly wins accolades such as Best Airport in Africa 

and the total number of passengers passing through the airport has 

been above eight-million every year since the FIFA football World Cup 

in 2010, with the figure approaching 10-million in 2015/16. 


The Cape Town International 

Convention Centre will be 

twice as large in 2017. 

• Scheduled flights are 

available to Plettenberg 

Bay. 

• Hilton Hotels and Resorts 

runs a resort in Knysna. 

• Cape Town’s Foreshore 

is alive with new tourism 

developments. 

George Airport had a total of 

about 720 000 passengers last 

year. Airlink, SA Express and kulula 

are the airlines that fly into George. 

It serves as a tourism hub for the 

Southern Cape region, includ- 


108

OVERVIEW 

ing destinations such as Knysna, 

Oudtshoorn and Plettenberg Bay. 

CemAir offers scheduled flights to 

Plettenberg Bay. 

Several strategies are being 

adopted to further improve the 

province’s tourist offering and 

increase numbers. These include 

a service excellence programme 

where a town’s residents are encouraged 

to act as tourism ambassadors. 

A pilot project was successfully 

launched in Clanwilliam, 

where everyone in the town, 

including shop clerks and petrol 

station attendants, joined in. 

Work is being done on improving 

the system of visa approvals 

and on linking various sites associated 

with the late President 

Nelson Mandela. Halaal tourism 

also holds tremendous potential. 

One of the reasons that tourists 

visit the Western Cape is the 

quality of its beaches. The province 

has 29 Blue Flag-accredited 

beaches, an international quality 

standard that covers 33 different 

measures. Ten beaches in greater 

Cape Town together with the likes 

of Santos (Mossel Bay), Grotto 

(Hermanus), Witsand (Hessequa) 

and Wilderness (Eden) have made 

the grade. A further five marinas 

have qualified for the programme, 

the local version of which is run 

by the Wildlife and Environment 

Society of South Africa. 

Hotels and conferences 

The capacity of the Cape Town 

International Conference Centre 

(CTICC) is being doubled. The 

R832-million expansion will add 

31 000m², including 10 000m² of 

conference and exhibition space. CTICC East (the new section) will 

connect to CTICC West via a tunnel (for services) and a skybridge 

over the Heerengraght. The new section is expected to open in 2017, 

and will line up along other new Foreshore buildings such as KPMG 

Place and the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital. The 

South African Green Building Council has given the CTICC expansion 

a Four-Star Green Building rating. 

The Foreshore is at the heart of a series of new developments 

that are set to have a major impact on the tourism industry. These 

include the new Cruise Terminal and the adjacent Yacht Club, a hotel, 

residential and commercial complex being developed by the Amdec 

Group. This precinct is very close to the entrance to the CTICC and 

will be linked to the Waterfront by the extension of the existing canal. 

On the other (eastern) edge of the Foreshore, an a major development 

is in the works which will include two Marriott hotels. In 

the Cape Town CBD there are going to be 500 new rooms, courtesy 

of two Tsogo Sun hotels, plus a smaller hotel in the De Waterkant 

(Capital Mirage). Tsogo Sun already operates several hotels in greater 

Cape Town, including three full-service hotels in the city centre, the 

Cullinan, Southern Sun Waterfront and Southern Sun Cape Sun. The 

other seven hotels cover five brands in the Tsogo Sun stable. 

Elsewhere in the Western Cape, Tsogo Sun has hotels in Caledon, 

Beaufort West, Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay. 


OVERVIEW 

Outside of the Cape Town CBD, a revamp of the Ritz in Sea 

Point will add another 220 rooms to the city’s capacity while in 

Franschhoek, the last word in luxury has opened as Leeu House 

(part of the Leeu Collection). Analjit Singh has also acquired Le 

Quartier Français restaurant, one of best known in a town where 

outstanding restaurants are plentiful, and a wine label, Mullineux 

& Leeu Family Wines. 

Protea Hotels, now part of the Marriott Group, has 10 hotels in 

Cape Town and a further one each in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. 

There are two hotels in George. 

Three of the brands of City Lodge Hotel Group are represented 

by seven hotels in the Western Cape, with all but one of the hotels 

(the George Town Lodge) being located in Cape Town. 

Hilton Hotels and Resorts has three Western Cape properties, 

two hotels in Cape Town and the Conrad Pezula Resort & Spa on 

the eastern head of the Knysna Heads. 

The Waterfront will soon be getting two more hotels (Radisson 

Red) and the Silo Hotel attached to the Zeitz Museum of 

Contemporary Art Africa. 

In addition to all of these beds available in Cape Town, there are 

15 000 properties on Airbnb. A Western Cape tourism delegation 

met with Airbnb in the USA in 2016. 

Country Hotels has upgraded the 42-room Clanwilliam Hotel as 

part of its plan to roll out good accommodation in smaller towns. 

What used to be known as the Hantam Hotel in Calvinia is now 

the refurbished Calvinia Hotel and Tankwa Lodge offering 25 airconditioned 

rooms and easy access to flower-spotting and 

the Tankwa Karoo National 

Park. Plett Lagoon Villa on 

the Keurbooms Lagoon is 

rather different to the rest 

of the Country Hotels suite 

of hotels in that it is a fivebedroomed 

house to rent. 

Country Hotels has other hotels 

in the Northern Cape Province. 

Events 

The international HSBC Rugby 

Sevens tournament was held for 

the first time in Cape Town in 

2015 and was a huge success. The 

City of Cape Town says that the 

tournament attracted more than 

100 000 fans, at least 25 000 of 

whom were international visitors. 

The local economy benefited to 

the tune of R539-million. A contract 

has been signed to keep the 

tournament in the city to 2018. 

The Cape2Rio yacht race returns 

to the Cape in January 2017. 


110

OVERVIEW 

In the last race in 2014, a total of 

eleven of the fleet of 37 boats had 

to retire in stormy weather, testament 

to the tough nature of the 

event. The event first took place in 

1971 and since then it has become 

a byword for the glamour and 

gruelling nature of long-distance 

yacht racing. Royal Cape Yacht 

Club will host the event, which is 

sure to boost the coffers of Cape 

Town’s tourism industry. 

The Klein Karoo National Arts 

Festival (KKNK) is held every year 

in Oudtshoorn in April. It attracts 

hundreds of artistic productions of 

every sort, mostly in Afrikaans, with 

attendances normally topping 

90 000 festival-goers 


CapeNature: www.capenature.co.za 

Cape Town Tourism: www.capetown.travel 

Destinations Expo: www.cadek.co.za 

Garden Route and Klein Karoo: 

www.visitgardenrouteandkleinkaroo.com 

South African Golf Tourism Association: www.sagta.co.za 

South African National Parks: www.sanparks.co.za 

South African Tourism: www.southafrica.net 

Tourism Business Council of South Africa: www.tbcsa.travel 

Tourism Grading Council: www.tourismgrading.co.za 


Cape to Rio: www.cape2rio2017.com 

Plettenberg Bay: www.plett-tourism.co.za 

Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa: 

www.wessa.org.za 


OVERVIEW 

Banking and financial services 

The JSE has opened an Exchange Hub in Cape Town. 


A Stellenbosch bank has expanded 

the Big Four to Five. 

• International banks are 

setting up app development 

hubs in Cape Town. 

The finance and insurance sector contributes 10.9% to provincial 

GDP and grew at a rate of 6.4% between 2000 and 2013. 

Research done by banking group First National Bank notes 

how successful the Western Cape has been in attracting financial 

services companies of every sort. These range from asset managers to 

hedge funds, venture capitalists and insurers. The sector outperformed 

most other sectors according to the report, and further growth is 

anticipated (FNB Chartbook). 

The decision by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to open 

a JSE Exchange Hub in Cape Town confirms the city’s importance 

in the financial world. There are eight Cape Town-based companies 

in the Top 40 Index of the JSE: Capitec Bank, Mediclinic, Naspers, 

Woolworths, British American Tobacco, Remgro, Shoprite Holdings 

and Sanlam. 

The head offices of financial firms are dotted all over Cape Town. 

These include Old Mutual (a huge complex in Pinelands), Foord (also 

in Pinelands), Coronation (Newlands), Prudential (Claremont), Sygnia 

(Green Point), Sanlam (Bellville) and Allan Gray (Waterfront). PSG has 

its headquarters in Stellenbosch and is well represented in rural 

towns in the province. Even the small rural town of Greyton is home 

to Overberg Asset Management. 

Insurers such as Santam and 

Metropolitan Life are based 

in Bellville. 

Most of the banking groups 

also offer a range of services 

such as asset management or 

investment advice. 

Financial services group Old 

Mutual (which has a 54% stakeholder 

in Nedbank) is set to create 

four stand-alone businesses 

out of the Old Mutual Group. This 

will allow the UK-based wealth 

management business and the 

New York-based asset managers 

to be free of linkages to the 

rand, while the South African 

businesses, Nedbank and Old 

Mutual Emerging Markets, can 

focus on their specialities. 

Fintech is the new buzz word 

in the world of banking. Barclays 

has established a worldwide organisation 

to promote the latest 

thinking in app development. 

Rise has seven outlets around 

the world, including one in 

Woodstock in Cape Town. A 


112

OVERVIEW 

French-funded fintech operation 

was launched at Century City in 

November 2016. 

In 2015, the Western Cape 

Provincial Government, the 

University of Cape Town, Barclays 

Africa Group, FirstRand and 

Liberty launched the African 

Institute of Financial Markets 

and Risk Management (AIFMRM). 

One of its aims is to meet the 

demand for skills by developing 

local talent. 

Banking 

For many decades South Africa 

had a retail banking Big Four – 

Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa/ 

Barclays and First National Bank. 

All of them have a strong presence 

in the Western Cape, but 

the big news in the sector since 

2001 has been the emergence 

of Stellenbosch-based Capitec 

Bank. Based on Capitec’s results 

for 2015/16, BusinessTech published 

a chart giving Capitec the 

fourth-most customers, at 7.3-million, 

just less than Nedbank and 

slightly more than FNB. Standard 

Bank (about 11-million) and Absa 

(about nine-million) are top of 

the list. 

With the renewable energy 

sector being actively pursued 

in South Africa, a whole new 

industry in need of funding has 

opened up for banks. 

Competition among banks 

in reaching out to South Africa’s 

emerging economy is stiff. 

Finscope’s 2014 survey of 

South African banking and financial 

surveys shows that between 

2004 and 2014 a remarkable 

eight-million people were connected to the financial system in 

some way. Overall, the “financially included” reached 31.4-million (up 

from 17.7-million in 2004). In a category called “formally served” which 

includes services other than formal banks with branch networks, the 

percentage of South Africans so served grew from 50% to 80%; in 

the “banked” category (more traditional but including new devices), 

the percentage grew from 46% to 75%. This is partly because South 

Africa’s formal banking sector has such excellent – and widely spread 

– infrastructure. 

Among recent innovations designed to reach the unbanked were 

Teba Bank’s decision to allow customers to deposit at supermarkets, 

Pick n Pay Go Banking (a division of Nedbank), 70% of Absa’s new ATMs 

(400 in one year) in poorer areas and Absa’s launch of two mobile 

banks. FNB created mobile branches and most of Standard Bank’s 

new sites were planned for townships (Finscope). 

Absa’s partnership with Thumbzup allows shops to accept card 

payments with smartphones and tablets. Absa’s Entry Level and 

Inclusive Banking (Elib) branches have proved popular, accounting 

for an increasingly high percentage of the bank’s loan book. 

Nedbank has Approve-it, which allows customers to accept or 

reject an Internet transaction by cellphone. 

FNB offers a range of cellphone-banking options and a Facebook 

application where cellphone vouchers can be posted on the socialnetworking 

site. The eWallet application converts the voucher into 

cash or airtime. 

Standard Bank’s community-banking initiative offers a low-cost 

cellphone-banking service. Retailers can act as agents for the bank, 

even in remote rural areas. Shops such as Shoprite, Pep and Spar are 

connected, as are certain spazas. 

The stokvel (savings clubs) market is estimated at R44-billion and 

developing products for this market could be a lucrative outlet for 

South African financial services companies. 


Alternative Exchange (AltX): www.altx.co.za 

Auditor-General South Africa: www.agsa.co.za 

Banking Association South Africa: www.banking.org.za 

Financial Services Board: www.fsb.co.za 

Insurance Institute of South Africa: www.iisa.co.za 

Insurance South Africa: www.insurance.za.org 

JSE Limited: www.jse.co.za 

Post Bank: www.postbank.co.za 

South African Reserve Bank: www.resbank.co.za 

South African Institute for Chartered Accountants: 

www.saica.co.za 


INTERVIEW 

Renewed focus on 

improved customer 

experience 

Provincial Head Retail and Business Banking Standard 

Bank Western Cape, Eben Klopper, explains what the bank 

is doing to provide the innovation and service that matter 

most to customers. 

Eben Klopper 

What is Standard Bank’s purpose in South Africa? 

As a personal and business bank in South Africa, our purpose is to 

improve lives and fulfil aspirations across the African continent. We 

believe that we can achieve this through our vision, which is to radically 

redefine client experience by understanding and delivering what 

matters to our customers. 

BIOGRAPHY 

Eben Klopper, the newly appointed 

Provincial Head Retail 

and Business Banking for the 

Western Cape, is a seasoned 

banking professional. Having 

started on the bottom rung of 

the ladder at Standard Bank in 

1990, his progress in the organisation 

has seen him fulfi l a 

variety of business and commercial 

banking roles in four 

South African provinces. Prior 

to his promotion to Regional 

Head he was the Executive: 

Head Channel Business Banking, 

Commercial Banking and 

Specialised Sales. 

What is your footprint beyond South Africa? 

Standard Bank Group prides itself on being a global bank with African 

roots. The largest African bank by assets and earnings, it operates in 

20 countries on the African continent, including South Africa, as well 

as in other selected emerging markets. 

The Group’s aim is to grow their presence selectively in high potential 

markets in Africa and in other emerging markets, either organically 

or, where appropriate, by acquisitions. 

In your new role of Provincial Head Retail and Business 

Banking, what is your strategy regarding Standard 

Bank’s business in the region? 

As a team, our priorities include greater emphasis on customer experience. 

We intend to make sure that every customer feels like a VIP; we 

will do this by raising our game and getting to know what matters 

most to them. 

One of the ways in which we will improve customer experience is 

through our digital solutions, as these assist customers by freeing up 

their time. Something else that will directly impact customers is our 

goal of decentralising decision-making so that decisions are made as 

close as possible to the “frontline”. 

We want to increase our market share in all customer segments 

and to build specialist capabilities to serve our small enterprise (SE), 

commercial and business banking clients. 


INTERVIEW 

What will some of the key focus areas be? 

Foreign exchange: In the Western Cape we will be 

driving our foreign exchange (FX) and international 

banking capabilities. Standard Bank is relentless in 

providing support to our businesses with a view to 

improving liquidity and driving growth across the 

African continent. 

Companies active in the international market, 

be it in trade or the provision of services, may find a 

Customer Foreign Currency account a useful mechanism 

for managing the flows of foreign currency 

receipts and payments. It is suitable for businesses 

with a high import and export turnover, including 

large volumes of shipments of relatively small values. 

The Western Cape presents many international 

trade and foreign exchange opportunities, which 

can be offered and facilitated by our FX specialists. 

They are fully integrated in our Business Banking 

Business Centres to support our Standard Bank and 

non-Standard Bank client base. 

“OUR RESEARCH INDICATES 

THAT TWO OUT OF EVERY 10 

BUSINESS CLIENTS ARE KEEN 

TO EXPAND TO THE REST OF 

AFRICA.” 

A game changer, in forex capabilities, is Standard 

Bank’s strategic partnership with the Industrial and 

Commercial Bank of China. While Standard Bank 

already conducts 2.1-million forex trades each 

year, the bank’s partnership with the Industrial and 

Commercial Bank of China provides a unique ability 

to deal Renminbi competitively. 

Resident Africa advisor: Our research indicates that 

two out of every 10 business clients are keen to expand 

to the rest of Africa and we have appointed 

someone with valuable Africa experience to act as 

a resident advisor to businesses in the province. Our 

expert will be able to make recommendations on 

doing business in any of the 20 African countries in 

which Standard Bank has a presence. 

During 2016, in support of our focus on the rest 

of Africa, we led two successful trade delegations – 

one to East Africa and one to West Africa. This was 

a first for us and the initiative was very well received. 

Commercial property finance: Another key focus 

is commercial property finance. I have been actively 

involved in this area over the past few years and 

it has been a successful market for the bank, but 

there are additional opportunities to explore in the 


A business’s premises are integral to their trading 

operation and it is important that businesses secure 

tenure as well as create equity in their investment. 

Standard Bank understands the importance of supporting 

its customers in all aspects of their business 

growth, including where customers are diversifying 

from their main business interests to invest in 

commercial rental properties. 

The Western Cape commercial property finance 

market has continued to show strong growth, outperforming 

many of its peers in the country, which 

further supports the bank’s focus on the industry 

going forward. 

Have the needs of and demands from 

your key business clients changed in the 

past few years or do the challenges they 

experience essentially remain the same? 

Economic growth has been muted and so 

the landscape has definitely changed. For this 


INTERVIEW 

reason, many of our customers are looking outside 

of South Africa’s border. Cross-border financing is 

more complex and so their banking requirements 

have changed in some cases. Volatility and currency 

fluctuations have meant that forex hedging and 

forward-buying have become more important. 

These days, customers also have a greater choice 

when it comes to international products and are not 

compelled to use local banks for each transaction. 

Increasingly, executives are complaining about 

the difficultly they have in recruiting appropriately 

skilled people. 

Has Standard Bank introduced any new 

products or services recently? 

In the last year we introduced a reward programme 

for our small enterprise (SE) clients – UCount: 

Businesses with an annual turnover of up to 

R20-million stand to benefit from these rewards. 

Payment solutions: BluMobi is another innovation 

we’ve introduced; it functions as a fully mobile 

point-of-sale solution. SnapScan and Tap to Pay are 

other payment solutions that are making it far more 

convenient for business clients to collect payment 

and for individuals to make payments. SE clients also 

benefit from Banker Chat 24/7. 

Online banking: We are in the process of enhancing 

our online banking services, particularly for businesses. 

Customers are already able to view balances, 

check statements and make payments on their 

business accounts. 

We have spent time aligning the look and feel 

of our applications across various digital platforms, 

which means that irrespective of whether customers 

choose to use a mobile phone, a tablet or a 

computer, they will have the same online experience. 

Tradesmen and medical professionals: Two new 

areas of focus in the SE segment include specific 

value propositions for tradesmen and the medical 

profession. The Tradesmen offer packages a number 

of banking services at a very affordable rate. The 

Medical proposition provides solutions that will 

assist medical professionals in both their personal 

capacity and business capacity. 

Instant Money: Another product that has been extended 

to our business customers is Instant Money, 

“THE WESTERN CAPE 

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY 

FINANCE MARKET HAS 

CONTINUED TO SHOW STRONG 

GROWTH, OUT- PERFORMING 

MANY OF ITS PEERS IN THE 

COUNTRY.” 

a payment solution that allows you to send money 

to anyone in South Africa by using their cellphone 

number. This solution will allow businesses to make 

payments in a cost-effective and secure manner. 

Always On: As far as our personal customers are concerned, 

they benefit from Always On – 24/7 banking 

anywhere, anytime. Customers can now conduct 

their banking through email, WeChat, Facebook, a 

call to their personal banker or by simply using our 

banking app and new internet banking functionality. 

Shari’ah offering: Many of our Western Cape customers 

will be pleased to hear about an improved 

Shari’ah offering relating to fixed deposits for personal 

and business purposes as well as forward exchange 

contracts. 

Kidz Banking: We have also aunched a Kidz Banking 

app that teaches children how to manage money 

from a young age. 

Having mentioned all of these innovations and 

new products, I still believe, however, that the real 

differentiator will be in the way that we execute 

our intentions. Great thinking and effective marketing 

messaging are important, but we intend to ensure 

that Standard Bank Western Cape implements 

excellent service and that we do what matters most 

to customers. 


FOCUS 

Banking for your business 

Standard Bank understands that as a business owner, you would prefer 

to free up your time and focus on running your business. Its online 

banking solutions allow you to do that. 

We understand that to manage your business you cannot 

be restricted by banking hours. We also understand that 

managing your financial affairs online can be daunting. 

At Standard Bank we have a range of online banking 

solutions that enable you as the business owner to do your everyday 

banking, everywhere you are. Online banking is convenient, cost effective 

and secure. You can have peace of mind when you transact online. 

How does online banking help you manage 

your business? 

• It saves you time, allowing you to focus on running your business 

• It helps you maintain control of all activity on your 

business accounts 

• It allows you to bank everywhere you are 

What can I do on online banking? 

• Pay people and companies, that is, suppliers or invoices 

• Transfer funds to and from your business accounts 

• View account balances and download statement’s history 

• Top-up on prepaid services 

Is it secure? 

• Yes. As the business owner, you will maintain complete oversight 

over all activity on the business account 

• You are notified every time your online banking profile is accessed 

• Your confirmation is required (One Time PIN) before beneficiaries 

are added or when you change your profile 

• You are notified when funds leave your account (email or SMS 

notification) and you always know your latest balance 

• You can manage transactions limits (Electronic Account Payment and 

ATM limits), minimising your online exposure while giving you control 

How do I sign up? 

• Register online or download the Standard Bank app form your app store 

• If you already have access to 

the app, you can use the same 

login details to sign in to online 

banking 

What do I need? 

• A smartphone, tablet, laptop 

or desktop computer 

• You must be the director or 

owner of your business 

• You have a card and PIN linked 

to your business account 

What are the costs? 

• Access is free 

• Account management fees, 

transactional fees and subscription 

fees are as per the 

annual Standard Bank pricing 

schedule 

More info 

To find out more about online 

banking, contact us anytime 

via the BizDirect Response 

Centre on 0860 109 075, 

via email bizdirect@standardbank.co.za 

or via WeChat 

(BB_Entrepreneur). 

Visit our website to see our 

security tips and terms and 

conditions for using Standard 

Bank digital channels. 

www.standardbank.co.za 


118

Global Africa Network 

Promoting business, trade and investment in SA’s nine provinces 

www.gan.co.za 

www.southafricanbusiness.co.za 

www.easterncapebusiness.co.za 

www.freestatebusiness.co.za 

www.gautengbusinessguide.co.za 

www.kwazulunatalbusiness.co.za 

www.limpopobusiness.co.za 

www.mpumalangabusiness.co.za 

www.northerncapebusiness.co.za 

www.northwestbusiness.co.za 

www.westerncapebusiness.co.za 

NETWORK MEDIA 

Tel 021 657 6200 

Email sales@gan.co.za 

Web www.gan.co.za

OVERVIEW 

Information and 

communications technology 

Cape Town is attracting ICT investment. 

Providing better and broader access to broadband is a key 

priority for the Western Cape. The provincial government has 

identified the issue as an economic enabler that will act as a 

catalyst for growth across several economic sectors. There are 

2 000 ICT firms in the Western Cape and they have 17 000 employees. 

Private companies Link Africa and Fibrehoods are rolling out highspeed 

connections via fibre-optic cables to residential addresses. As 

part of the contract, Fibrehoods must supply the city with a line for 

the use of public institutions. 

A group of entrepreneurs, investors and developers has created the 

non-profit Silicon Cape Initiative which aims to support the burgeoning 

sector. Just one of its groups, the Startup Group, has 425 members 

and it offers advice and support. 

The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) is another 

support system for the ICT sector. The Bandwidth Barn (shared office 

space in Woodstock) is one of three initiatives run by CiTi. The others 

are VeloCiTi (enterprise and entrepreneur development) and CapaCiti 

(tech skills and job placement). The University of Cape Town claims a 

90% placement rate for CapaCiti and more than 400 graduates. CiTi 

collaborates with two departments of the Western Cape provincial 

government, Oracle and On The Ball College to present the Java 

Schools Programme, which promotes programming. 

Barclays Bank has invested in a fintech incubator in Cape Town, Rise. 

The building has an auditorium, meeting and conference rooms but 

the main idea is to create a community of thinkers and developers. 

Banks are keen to stay ahead of the game and there are six other Rise 

incubator locations around the world, including New York and Mumbai. 

It was a banking application (app) that won the IT Challenge presented 

by Standard Bank in 2015. Three students from the University 

of the Western Cape created a voice-activated online banking app, 


Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative: www.citi.org.za 

Independent Communications Authority: www.icasa.org.za 

Silicon Cape: www.siliconcape.com 

State Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.za 


Silicon Cape is a catalyst for 

tech in the Western Cape . 

which they called EasyBank. The 

challenge was to use and adopt 

the Amazon Echo app. 

French Tech Labs was 

launched as a fintech incubator 

at Century City in November 

2016. The same company earlier 

established Methys Labs. The new 

incubator will offer mentoring 

support for innovators, connections 

to possible investors and 

a programme where selected 

candidates will travel to France 

for work opportunities. 

There is no business sector 

less in need of a geographic 

home than ICT but a section of 

Cape Town is developing into 

a Silicon Valley: Marconi Beam/ 

Century City. DVT’s app-testing 

facility is immediately south of 

that location (just off the N1 at 

Northgate Island) so perhaps 

this is the home of Western Cape 

ICT. Wembley Square and nearby 

buildings in Gardens might 

be another candidate, where 

Amazon Development Centre is 

a core tenant. 


120

Business process outsourcing 

Offshoring – foreign BPO contracts – is growing fast. 

OVERVIEW 

The South Africa business process outsourcing sector has 

consistently won international awards for the work it does 

for international companies and 2016 was no exception. The 

Global Sourcing Association (previously National Outsourcing 

Association) capped South Africa as the “Offshoring Destination of 

the Year” for 2016 in London in November. 

BPO involves any internal business function that a company chooses 

to outsource to a specialist in that field, for example accounting or 

call centres (also known as customer service centres). One interesting 

example relates to loading an aeroplane’s freight load – in Frankfurt! 

The loader does this in the Western Cape via remote cameras and 

weighing machines. After work the loader can visit the beach. 

Offshoring refers to BPO that is done across international borders. 

Cape Town is a leader in the field. A City of Cape Town report gave 

the BPO contribution to provincial GDP in 2014 as approximately 

R9-billion. 

The national Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, says that 

the local BPO sector has had compounded growth since 2012 of 25% 

year-on-year. There are approximately 30 000 jobs nationally with the 

top market being the UK. 

Within the Western Cape sector, 63% of companies are involved in 

inbound customer service work; back office accounts for 13.8% and 

debt collection at 9.1%. UK shop Asda and online retailer Amazon 

have large customer service centres in Cape Town. 

The fact that greater Cape Town is home to three well-regarded 

universities, a university of technology and two technical colleges 

is a major advantage in attracting companies with sophisticated 

operations, such as BPO. A director of a British business intelligence 


Business Process enabling South Africa (BPeSA): 

www.bpesa.co.za 

National Department of Trade and Industry: www.dti.gov.za 



Incentives are on offer to 

BPO investors. 

• South Africa’s BPO sector 

won a 2016 global award. 

company that has operations 

in Cape Town, S-RM, says the 

that Cape Town’s position as a 

“knowledge nexus” was a major 

factor in deciding to open an 

office in the city. 

Other factors in favour of 

Cape Town are the relatively neutral 

accents, good infrastructure 

(financial and telecommunications) 

and the time zone being 

the same or close to Europe’s. 

The Department of Trade 

and Industry (dti) offers some 

incentives to BPO investors. A 

base incentive is calculated on 

projected offshore jobs to be 

created and is awarded on actual 

offshore jobs created. The 

incentive has a two-tier structure 

for non-complex and complex 

jobs and is paid over a five-year 

period. A bonus incentive becomes 

payable at the end of the 

five-year period. 


LISTINGS 

South African National Government 

An overview of South Africa’s national government departments. 

www.gov.za 

President 

Address: Union Buildings, Government Avenue, Arcadia, Pretoria 0001 

Postal address: Private Bag X1000, Pretoria 0001 

Tel: +27 12 300 5200 

Fax: +27 12 323 8246 

Website: www.thepresidency.gov.za 

Website: www.economic.gov.za 

Deputy President 

Address: Union Buildings, Government Avenue, East Wing, 

1st Floor, Arcadia, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 300 5200 

Fax: +27 12 323 8246 


Minister in the Presidency 

Address: Union Buildings, Government Avenue, East Wing, 

1st Floor, Arcadia, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 300 5200 

Fax: +27 12 300 5795 


Dept of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 

Address: No 20, Agriculture Place, Block DA, 1st Floor, cnr Beatrix Street 

and Soutpansberg Road, Arcadia, Pretoria 

Postal address: Private Bag X250, Pretoria 

Tel: +27 12 319 7319 

Fax: +27 12 319 6681 

Website: www.daff.gov.za 

Department of Arts and Culture 

Address: 10th Floor, Kingsley Centre, 481 corner Steve Biko & Stanza 

Bopape streets, Arcadia, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 441 3000 | Fax: +27 12 440 4485 

Website: www.dac.gov.za 

Department of Basic Education 

Address: Sol Plaatje House, 222 Struben Street, Pretoria 0001 

Postal address: Private Bag X9034, 8000 

Tel: +27 12 357 3000 

Fax: +27 12 323 5989 

Website: www.education.gov.za 

Department of Communications 

Address: Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Frances Baard (Cnr Festival 

Street), Hatfield, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 473 0000 

Fax: +27 12 462 1646 

Website: www.doc.gov.za 

Department of Cooperative Governance and 

Traditional Affairs 

Address: 87 Hamilton Street, Arcadia, Pretoria 0083 


Tel: +27 12 334 0705 

Fax: +27 12 326 4478 

Website: www.cogta.gov.za 

Department of Correctional Services 

Address: 123 Poyntons Building, West Block, 

cnr Schubart and Church streets, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 307 2934/2884 

Fax: +27 12 323 4111 

Website: www.dcs.gov.za 

Department of Economic Development 

Address: Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 the dti Campus, cnr Meintjies & 

Esselen streets, Sunnyside, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 394 1006 

Fax: +27 12 394 0255 

Website: www.economic.gov.za 


122

LISTINGS 

Department of Defence 

Address: cnr Delmas Avenue & Nossob St, Erasmuskloof, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 355 6101 | F ax: +27 12 347 0118 

Website: www.dod.mil.za 

Department of Energy 

Address: 192 cnr Visagie and Paul Kruger St, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 406 8000 

Fax: +27 12 319 6681 

Website: www.energy.gov.za 

Department of Environmental Affairs 

Address: Environment House, 473 Steve Biko and Soutpansberg Road, 

Arcadia, 0083 


Tel: +27 12 310 3537 | Fax: +27 086 593 6526 

Website: www.environment.gov.za 

Department of Finance (National Treasury) 

Address: 40 WF Nkomo Street, 

Old Reserve Bank Building, 2nd Floor, Pretoria 


Tel: +27 12 323 8911 | Fax: +27 12 323 3262 

Website: www.treasury.gov.za 

Department of Health 

Address: 20th Floor, Civitas Building, cnr Struben and Andries Streets, 

Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 395 8086/80 | Fax: +27 12 395 9165 

Website: www.doh.gov.za 

Department of Higher Education 

and Training 

Address: 123 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 312 5555 

Fax: +27 12 323 5618 

Website: www.dhet.gov.za 

Department of Home Affairs 

Address: 909 Arcadia Street, Hatfield 0083 


Tel: +27 12 432 6648 | Fax: +27 12 432 6675 

Website: www.dha.gov.za 

Department of Human Settlements 

Address: Govan Mbeki House, 240 Justice Mahomed, Sunnyside, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 421 1310 | Fax: +27 12 341 8513 

Website: www.dhs.gov.za 

Department of International Relations and 

Cooperation 

Address: OR Tambo Building, 460 Soutpansberg Road, Rietondale, 

Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 351 1000 | Fax: +27 12 329 1000 

Website: www.dirco.gov.za 

Department of Justice and Constitutional 

Development 

Address: Salu Building, 316 cnr Thabo Sehume and Francis Baard 

Streets, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 406 4669 | Fax: +27 12 406 4680 

Website: www.doj.gov.za 

Department of Labour 

Address: 215 Laboria House, cnr Francis Baard and 

Paul Kruger Streets, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 392 9620 | Fax: +27 12 320 1942 

Website: www.labour.gov.za 

Department of Military Veterans 

Address: 328 Festival Street, Hatfield, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: 080 232 3244 (SA only) 

Website: www.dmv.gov.za 

Department of Mineral Resources 

Address: 70 Meintje Street, Trevenna Campus, Sunnyside 0007 


Tel: +27 12 444 3000 | Fax: +27 86 624 5509 

Website: www.dmr.gov.za 

Department of Police (Civilian Secretariat for 

Police Service) 

Address: Wachthuis Building, 7th Floor, 231 Pretorius Street, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 393 2800 | Fax: +27 12 393 2812 

Website: www.saps.gov.za 


LISTINGS 

Department of Public Enterprises 

Address: Infotech Building, 1090 Arcadia Street, Hatfield, Pretoria 0001 

Postal address: Private Bag X15, Hatfield 0028 

Tel: +27 12 431 1000 

Fax: +27 12 431 1039 

Website: www.dpe.gov.za 

Department of Public Service and 

Administration 

Address: Batho Pele House, 116 Johannes Ramakhoase Street, Pretoria 


Tel: +27 12 336 1700 

Fax: +27 12 336 1809 

Website: www.dpsa.gov.za 

Department of Public Works 

Address: 7th Floor, CGO Building, cnr Bosman and Madiba Streets, 

Pretoria Central 


Tel: +27 12 406 21978 

Fax: +27 086 276 8757 

Website: www.publicworks.gov.za 

Department of Rural Development and 

Land Reform 

Address: 184 Old Building, cnr Jeff Masemola 

and Paul Kruger Streets, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 312 9300 

Fax: +27 12 323 3306 

Website: www.ruraldevelopment.gov.za 

Department of Science and Technology 

Address: DST Building, Building No 53, CSIR South Gate Entrance, 

Meiring Naude Road, Brummeria, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 843 6300 

Fax: +27 12 349 1041/8 

Website: www.dst.gov.za 

Department of Small Business Development 

Address: The dti, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, 

Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 394 1006 

Fax: +27 12 394 1006 

Website: www.dsbd.gov.za 

Department of Social Development 

Address: HSRC Building, North Wing, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 312 7479 | Fax: +27 086 715 0829 

Website: www.dsd.gov.za 

Department of State Security 

Address: Bogare Building, 2 Atterbury Road, Menlyn, Pretoria 0001 

Postal address: PO Box 1037, Menlyn 0077 

Tel: +27 12 367 0700 | Fax: +27 12 367 0749 

Website: www.ssa.gov.za 

Department of Sport and Recreation 

South Africa 

Address: Regent Place, 66 cnr Madiba and Florence Ribeiro Street, 

Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 304 5000 | Fax: +27 12 323 7196 / 086 644 9583 

Website: www.srsa.gov.za 

Department of Tourism 

Address: 17 Trevena Street, Tourism House, Sunnyside, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 444 6780 | Fax: +27 12 444 7027 

Website: www.tourism.gov.za 

Department of Trade and Industry 

Address: The dti, 77 Meintjie Street, Block A, Floor 3, 

Sunnyside, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 394 1568 | Fax: +27 12 394 0337 

Website: www.thedti.gov.za 

Department of Transport 

Address: Forum Building, 159 Struben Street, 

Room 4111, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 309 3131 | Fax: +27 12 328 3194 

Website: www.transport.gov.za 

Telecommunications and Postal Services 

Address: Iparioli Office Park, 399 Jan Shoba Street, 

Hatfield, Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 427 8000 

Fax: +27 12 427 8016 

Website: www.dtps.gov.za 


124

LISTINGS 

Department of Water and Sanitation 

Address: Sedibang Building, 185 Frances Baard Street, 

Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 336 8733 

Fax: +27 12 336 8850 

Website: www.dwa.gov.za 

Department of Women 

Address: 36 Hamilton Street, Arcadia Pretoria 0001 


Tel: +27 12 359 0000 

Fax: 086 765 3365 

Website: www.women.gov.za 

National coat of arms 

The national coat of arms was adopted on 27 April 2000. It is constructed in two circles, which 

are described as the circle of foundation and the circle of ascendance. 

Circle of foundation 

Shield – The two Khoisan figures on the shield are taken from a Bushman rock 

painting known as the Linton stone, and represent the common humanity and 

heritage of South Africans. Depicted in an attitude of greeting, the figures 

symbolise unity. Spear and knobkierie – Together, these objects symbolise 

defence and authority, but the flat angle at which they lie symbolises peace. 

Wheat – The ears of wheat, as emblems of fertility, represent germination, 

growth and the development of potential, as well as nourishment 

and agriculture. Elephant tusks – Elephants symbolise wisdom, strength, 

power, authority, moderation and eternity, and the use of tusks is a tribute 

to the world’s largest land mammal, Loxodonta Africana, which is found in 

South Africa. Motto – Taken from the language of the now extinct /Xam 

Bushmen, the motto translated means ‘people who are different come 

together’ or ‘diverse people unite’. 

Circle of ascendance 

Protea – Protea cynaroides is the national flower of South Africa and is symbolic of the beauty of 

the country and flowering of the nation’s potential. Secretary bird – Characterised in flight, the 

secretary bird represents growth and speed, and is a symbol of divine majesty and protection. 

Rising sun – The sun is an emblem of energy and rebirth, a source of light and life appropriate for 

a country characterised by sunshine and warmth. 


LISTINGS 


Provincial Government 

An overview of the Western Cape’s provincial government departments. 

Office of the Premier 

Premier: Ms Helen Zille 

Provincial Legislature Building, 1st Floor, 

7 Wale Street, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: 0860 142 142 

Fax: +27 21 483 7216 

Email: service@westerncape.gov.za 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/ 

department-premier 

Department of Agriculture 

MEC: Mr Alan Winde 

Admin Building, Muldersvlei Road, Elsenburg 7607 

Tel: +27 21 808 5111 | Fax: +27 21 808 7605 

Web: www.elsenburg.com 

Department of Community Safety 

MEC: Mr Dan Plato 


Tel: +27 21 483 6949/8588 | Fax: +27 21 483 6591 


community-safety 

Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport 

MEC: Ms Anroux Marais (Minister) 

Protea House Building, 7th Floor, Greenmarket Square, 


Tel: +27 21 483 9503 | Fax: +27 21 483 9504 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/cas 

Department of Economic Development 

and Tourism 

MEC: Mr Alan Winde 

11th Floor, NBS Waldorf Building, 80 St George’s Mall, 


Tel: +27 21 483 5065 | Fax: +27 21 483 7527 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/edat 

Western Cape Education Department 

MEC: Ms Debbie Schäfer 

Grand Central Towers, Lower Parliament Street, 


Tel: +27 21 467 2000 

Fax: +27 21 467 2996 

Web: http://wced.school.za 

Department of Environmental Affairs 

and Development Planning 

MEC: Mr Anton Bredell 

8th Floor, 1 Dorp Street, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 483 4091 

Fax: +27 21 483 3016 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/eadp 

Department of Health 

MEC: Dr Nomafrench Mbombo 

21st Floor, 4 Dorp Street, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 483 3245/5417 

Fax: +27 21 483 6169 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/health 

Department of Human Settlements 

MEC: Mr Bonginkosi Madikizela 


Tel: +27 21 483 9482 

Fax: +27 21 483 2589 


human-settlements 

Department of Local Government 

MEC: Mr Anton Bredell 

8th Floor, Waldorf Building, 80 St George’s Mall, 


Tel: +27 21 483 4049/4997 | Fax: +27 21 483 4493 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/local-government 


126

LISTINGS 

Department of Social Development 

MEC: Mr Albert Fritz 

Union House, 14 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town 8001 

Tel: +27 21 483 5045 | Fax: +27 21 483 4783 


social-development 

Provincial Treasury 

MEC: Dr Ivan Meyer 

3rd Floor, 7 Wale Street, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 483 4237 | Fax: +27 21 483 3855 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/treasury 

Department of Transport and Public Works 

MEC: Mr Donald Grant 

8th Floor, 9 Dorp Street, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 483 4813 

Fax: +27 21 483 5068 

Web: www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/tpw 

Brandvlei 

Britstown 

Garies 

De Aar 

Kliprand 

R 27 

Loeriesfontein 

Carnarvon 

N10 

R 63 

N12 

Hanover 

N7 

R63 

R63 

Nieuwoudtville 

Victoria West 

R 63 

Williston 

N1 

Loxton 

Richmond 

R 27 

R27 

Calvinia 

R27 Vanrhynsdorp 

R63 

Vredendal 


R27 

Fraserburg 

Three 

Sisters 

R 63 

Graaff-Reinet 

Lambert's Bay 

Clanwilliam 

Beaufort West 

Aberdeen 

R27 

Sutherland 

Cederberg 

R 61 

N12 

N9 

St Helena Bay 

Citrusdal 

Prince 

Velddrif 

Leeu-Gamka 

Paternoster 

Albert N1 

Road 


Vredenburg Piketberg 

R44 

R79 

Saldanha 

R45 

N7 

Klipplaat 


Saldanha Bay 

Moorreesburg 

LangebaanR27 

R45 

R 44Tulbagh 

Laingsburg 

Prince Albert 

Willowmore 

Riebeek West 

Matjiesfontein 

R 46 

Darling 

Ceres Touwsrivier 

Dassen Island 

Calitzdorp 

R62 

N1 

Ladismith 

R43 

Malmesbury 

De Rust 

R44 

Uniondale 

R45 Wellington Worcester 

Oudtshoorn 

R 62 

Paarl 

R62 

N12 

Melkbosstrand 

Rawsonville Montagu 

Joubertina 

N9 

R60 

Robben Island (World Heritage Site) 

R43 

Table Bay 

Franschhoek Robertson Ashton R62 

Barrydale 

Kareedouw 

Durbanville 

George SedgefieldKnysna 

N2 

CAPE TOWN 

Villiersdorp Swellendam 

Stormsrivier 

Stellenbosch 

Riversdale 

Somerset 

Genadendal 

Herolds 

Plettenberg 

Bay 

Fish Hoek West Grabouw 

Heidelberg 

Bay 

N2 Riviersonderend 

N2 Mossel Bay 

Cape St Francis 

Gordon's Bay 

Vleesbaai 

Simon's Town 

Caledon 

False R44 

Cape Bay Kleinmond Hermanus 

Stillbaai 

INDIAN OCEAN 

Point 

Bredasdorp Cape St Sebastian 

R 43 

Infanta 

Walker Bay 

Bay 

0 

100 km 

Gansbaai 

Arniston 

Struisbaai 

0 100 miles 

Struisbaai 

Quoin Point 


Agulhas 

WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE 

Groen 


N 

Motorway 

Main Road 

Railway 

Sout 

Tankwa 

Fish 

Breede 

Sak 

Riet 

Touws 

Buffels 

Dwyka 

Groot 

Gourits 

Gamka 

Leeuw 

Olifants 

Groen 

Sout 

Sout 

Kariega 

Ongers 

Kouga 

Groot 

Seekoei 

Sundays 


LISTINGS 

Western Cape Local Government 

A guide to the metropolitan, district and local municipalities in the Western Cape. 

CITY OF CAPE TOWN 

METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY 

Address: Civic Centre, Podium Block, 6th Floor, 12 Hertzog 

Boulevard, Cape Town 8000 

Tel: +27 21 400 1300 | Fax: +27 21 400 1313 

Website: www.capetown.gov.za 

CAPE WINELANDS DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 

Address: 46 Alexander Street, Stellenbosch 7599 

Tel: +27 21 888 5100 | Fax: +27 23 342 8442 

Website: www.capewinelands.gov.za 

Breede Valley Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 348 2600 | Fax: +27 21 883 8871 

Website: www.bvm.gov.za 

Drakenstein Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 21 807 4500 | Fax: +27 21 807 4645 

Website: www.drakenstein.gov.za 

Langeberg Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 615 8000 | Fax: +27 23 615 1563 

Website: www.langeberg.gov.za 

Stellenbosch Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 21 808 8111 | Fax: +27 21 808 8003 

Website: www.stellenbosch.gov.za 

Witzenberg Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 316 1854 | Fax: +27 23 316 1877 

Website: www.witzenberg.gov.za 

CENTRAL KAROO DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 

Address: 63 Donkin Street, Beaufort West 6970 

Tel: +27 23 449 1000 

Fax: +27 23 415 1253 

Website: www.skdm.co.za 

Beaufort West Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 414 8100 

Fax: +27 23 414 8105 

Website: www.beaufortwestmun.co.za 

Laingsburg Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 551 1019 | Fax: +27 23 551 1019 

Website: www.laingsburg.gov.za 

Prince Albert Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 23 541 1320 | Fax: +27 23 541 1321 

Website: www.princealbertmunicipality.com 

EDEN DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 

Address: 54 York Street, George 6530 

Tel: +27 44 803 1300 

Fax: +27 86 555 6303 

Website: www.edendm.co.za 

Bitou Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 44 501 3000 

Fax: +27 44 533 6198 

Website: www.plett.gov.za 

George Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 44 801 9111 | Fax: +27 44 801 9105 

Website: www.george.gov.za 

Hessequa Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 713 8000 | Fax: +27 86 713 3146 

Website: www.hessequa.gov.za 

Kannaland Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 551 1023 | Fax: +27 86 551 1766 

Website: www.kannaland.gov.za 

Knysna Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 44 302 6300 | Fax: +27 44 302 6333 

Website: www.knysna.gov.za 

Mossel Bay Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 44 606 5000 | Fax: +27 44 606 5062 

Website: www.mosselbay.gov.za 

Oudtshoorn Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 44 203 3000 | Fax: +27 44 203 3104 

Website: www.oudtmun.gov.za 


128

LISTINGS 

OVERBERG DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 

Address: 26 Long Street, Bredasdorp 7280 

Tel: +27 28 425 1157 

Fax: +27 28 425 1014 

Website: www.odm.org.za 

Cape Agulhas Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 425 5500 | Fax: +27 28 425 1019 

Website: www.capeagulhas.gov.za 

Overstrand Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 313 8000 | 

Fax: +27 28 312 1894 

Website: www.overstrand.gov.za 

Swellendam Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 514 8500 

Fax: +27 28 514 2694 

Website: www.swellenmun.co.za 

Theewaterskloof Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 28 214 3300 

Fax: +27 28 214 1289 

Website: www.twk.org.za 

WEST COAST DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 

Address: 58 Long Street, Moorreesburg 7310 

Tel: +27 22 433 8400 | Fax: +27 86 692 6113 (SA only) 

Website: www.westcoastdm.co.za 

Bergrivier Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 22 913 6000 | Fax: +27 22 913 1406 

Website: www.bergmun.org.za 

Cederberg Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 27 482 8000 | Fax: +27 27 482 1933 

Website: www.cederbergmunicipality.co.za 

Matzikama Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 27 201 3300 | Fax: +27 27 213 3238 

Website: www.matzikamamun.co.za 

Saldanha Bay Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 22 701 7000 | Fax: +27 22 715 1518 

Website: www.sbm.gov.za 

Swartland Local Municipality 

Tel: +27 22 487 9400 | Fax: +27 22 487 9440 

Website: www.swartland.org.za 

Municipalities in the Western Cape 

WCDMA01 


Metropolitan/District Municipality 

Boundary 

Local Municipality Boundary 

District Municipality 

Local Municipality 

Eden 

Oudtshoorn 

Matzikama 

WCDMA05 

Cederberg 

Beaufort West 

West Coast 

Central Karoo 

Bergrivier 

WCDMA02 

Saldanha 

Bay 

Swartland 

City of 

Cape Town 

Metropolitan 

Municipality 


Witzenberg 

Cape Winelands 

Breede Valley 

Drakenstein 

Langeberg 

Stellenbosch 

Theewaterskloof 

Swellendam 

Overberg 

Cape Agulhas 

WCDMA03 

Overstrand 

Laingsburg 

Kannaland 

Hessequa 

Prince Albert 

Oudtshoorn 

WCDMA04 

Eden 

George Knysna Bitou 

Mossel Bay 

INDIAN OCEAN 



INDEX 

INDEX 

Accelerate Cape Town.......................................................................................................................................................................... 38 - 41 

Air Products........................................................................................................................................................................................................91, IBC 

Atterbury................................................................................................................................................................................................................34 

Beyerskloof........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 

Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency...................................................................................................................... 96 

Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry....................................................................................................................................... 2, 22, 58 

Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) ........................................................................................................................ 32 

College of Cape Town.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5, 64 

Formatube.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 102 

Invest Cape Town............................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 

Masisizane Fund................................................................................................................................................................................................ 26 

Nedbank.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 45 - 49 

Old Mutual.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 - 55 

Petroleum Agency South Africa.................................................................................................................................................................. 89 

Pioneer Fishing...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 84 

Seascape ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 102 

Selfmed ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 66, OBC 

South Africa Table Grape Industry (SATI)....................................................................................................................................... 80 - 82 

Standard Bank Western Cape...............................................................................................................................................................112 - 116 

Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 

Wesgro...................................................................................................................................................................................................................18 - 21 

West Coast District Municipality.................................................................................................................................................................. IFC 

Western Cape Business Opportunities Forum (WECBOF)......................................................................................................... 24 

Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism................................................................................10, 70 


130

Service that 

delivers the 

Difference 

Air Products South Africa (Pty) Limited manufactures, supplies and distributes a diverse 

portfolio of atmospheric gases, specialty gases, performance materials, equipment and services 

to the Southern African region. 

Air Products touches the lives of consumers in positive ways every day, and serves customers 

across a wide range of industries from food and beverage, mining and petrochemicals, primary 

metal and steel manufacturers, chemical applications, welding and cutting applications to 

laboratory applications. 

Founded in 1969, Air Products South Africa has built a reputation for its innovative culture, 

operational excellence and commitment to safety, quality and the environment. In addition the 

company aims to continue its growth and market leadership position in the Southern African 

region. 

www.airproducts.co.za

Breakup 

with your 

medical aid. 

PLEASE STAY. 

We’ll give you more points, 

movie tickets and a gym 

subscription. 

SORRY, 

I just want medical aid. 

I’m changing to Selfmed. 

SMS “business” 

to 45738 today 

and we’ll 

phone you. 

www.selfmed.co.za 

Affordable, reliable, 

medical aid, since 1965 

/ selfmed medical scheme

Western Cape Business 2017 edition

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