North West Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW
Economic Growth Agency (PEGA)
is to be founded by the North
West Development Corporation
(NWDC) with the intention of
attracting more than R10-billion
for “strategic investments”. This will
no doubt be in partnership with
banks and other agencies. The
North West University has been
flagged as a strategic partner and
areas of investment suggested are
ICT, energy and solar geysers.
All of the country’s major
banks and financial institutions
are represented in the North West.
Financial services are available
even in small towns, although the
bigger cities like Potchefstroom,
Rustenburg and Klerksdorp have
a greater concentration and
diversity.
Financial services extend
beyond advising rich people on
how to invest their assets, or balance
their portfolio. In a province
where there has been some real
financial distress brought about
by bad times and retrenchments,
something is being done to
address this.
A long strike in 2012 created
tough conditions for some
workers in the platinum sector.
Anglo American Platinum has
teamed up with Summit Financial
Partners to help miners manage
their debt and plan their finances
better through a scheme called
Nkululeko. Garnishee orders went
down among the Nkululeko
group by 80% between 2011
and 2016. In 2016, Summit won a
Constitutional Court judgement
to the effect that the judiciary
must keep an eye on emolument
attachment orders (garnishees)
to make sure they are fair. It had
earlier been found by a High Court that some orders were grossly unfair
and exploitative. Summit has an office in Hartbeespoort.
The Association for Savings and Investment South Africa is behind
another initiative called Project Qaphela, a financial literacy programme
aimed at workers in the mining sector. The curriculum covers budgeting,
saving, borrowing, understanding documents such as payslips
and benefit statements and preparations for retirement. Partners in
the programme include the National Union of Mineworkers, Sanlam
and Coronation.
Ubank is owned by a trust that is managed by the Chamber of Mines
and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). It has several branches
in the North West.
With agriculture being such an important part of the North West
economy, each of the Big Four banks has specialists in the province
and dedicated units such as Nedbank Agribusiness. Focus areas for this
unit are agronomy (grain, oil seeds, sugar and cotton), livestock (including
game farming), horticulture (fruit and vegetables, for example), and
secondary agriculture which covers agricultural processing and storage.
Standard Bank has a R500-million black economic empowerment
agricultural fund designed to connect farmers who have received farms
in land reform projects to agri-businesses that will buy their produce.
Another source of funding for farmers is the Land and Agricultural
Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank), a development-finance
institution that falls under the national Ministry of Finance.
The large agricultural companies all have finance divisions. CertiSure
is a joint venture between NWK and Senwes that offers short-term
insurance, crop insurance, financial planning, medical funds and funeral
policies. Senwes Credit is a registered credit provider which offers
asset financing in collaboration with Wesbank. Temo Agri (a division
of Brits-based Magalies Graan Korporasie) and Noordwes Korporasie
(Lichtenburg) have received the backing of the Industrial Development
Corporation (IDC) to enable them to roll out agricultural credits to
emerging farmers.
The Royal Bafokeng Nation, a community of about 150 000 people
living on platinum-rich land north-west of Rustenburg, is a shareholder
in a large banking group and several of South Africa’s insurance companies
through its investment company, Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH).
ONLINE RESOURCES
Auditor-General of South Africa: www.agsa.co.za
Association for Savings and Investment South Africa:
www.asisa.org.za
Chartered Institute for Government Finance, Audit and Risk
Officers: www.cigfaro.co.za
Financial Services Board: www.fsb.co.za
45 NORTH WEST BUSINESS 2018