OVERVIEW Banking and
OVERVIEW Banking and financial services The Port of Durban will expand with a loan from the new Brics bank. The Brics New Development Bank has made a 0-million loan for the expansion of the container terminal in Durban. The busy port is currently stretched beyond capacity and waiting time for trucks can be extremely long. Activist groups in Durban’s southern suburbs are opposing the loan and the expansion, saying that further development will increase pollution in the area and lead to even more dangerous traffic congestion. Up the coast at Richards Bay, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has committed -million to a feasibility study on the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and regasification terminal. The study’s costs are shared with Transnet and a private investor will be sought if the feasibility study is positive. Durban Container Terminal. Image: Transnet In 2017 Tyme Digital received a licence to run a bank. By early 2019, TymeBank was available in 500 Pick n Pay and Boxer stores and more than 50 000 customers had an account. Tyme stands for Take Your Money Everywhere; the bank does not have a branch network. African Rainbow Capital began as the venture’s BEE partner but in 2018 bought out the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Second to market among the country’s new banks was Discovery Bank, which officially launched in March 2019. Discovery Bank will apply the behavioural model it uses in its health business to reward good financial behaviour. The Discovery group is already a giant on the JSE with a market value of R83-billion and access to millions of customers. Online Resources Association for Savings & Investment South Africa: www.asisa.org.za Financial Sector Conduct Authority: www.fsca.co.za Insurance Institute of South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal): www.iikzn.co.za South African Institute for Chartered Accountants: www.saica.co.za Sector Insight The International Finance Corporation is investigating energy options. Three state entities are merging to create the new Human Settlements Development Bank: the National Housing Finance Corporation, the Housing Loan Fund and the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency. The focus will be on financing housing for poorer households and for large state-funded housing projects. Part of the drive is to integrate cities better and to combat the legacy of the spatial divide that apartheid left behind. Private sector investment will be required. The Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit and Risk Officers (Cigfaro) advises institutions, trains its members in public finance and promotes the interests of professionals in the public sector. It also develops and assesses qualifications and advises tertiary institutions on the requirements for courses. The South African Institute for Chartered Accountants International provides training in financial reporting standards for SMMEs while the Insurance Institute of KwaZulu-Natal (IISA) holds regular education workshops. The institute’s mentorship programme is run in association with the Musifunde Training Centre. ■ KWAZULU-NATAL BUSINESS 2020/21 44
Education and training Maths and science is in focus. AMaths and Science School of Excellence is due to open in 2020 at La Mercy, north of Durban. The long-planned project (pictured) on the site of a closed primary school is back on track and is part of a wider provincial programme that includes a Special School for Autism (2020) and two Schools of Excellence scheduled to be started in 2021; for Agriculture in Umgungundlovu and Maritime studies in Umlazi. KwaZulu-Natal has 2.8-million school pupils, many of whom are in rural areas. Transport is provided to 350 schools, covering 59 000 pupils, and 2 400 bicycles have been made available under the Shovakalula programme. There are two universities and two universities of technology in KwaZulu-Natal, and the national distance university, the University of South Africa (Unisa), has a presence in five locations. USB Executive Development offers business courses for executives. The University of KwaZulu-Natal has opened a new Chemistry Postgraduate Research Facility at the School of Chemistry and Physics in Pietermaritzburg. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) has six faculties operating in seven campuses in Durban and in the Midlands. DUT is well known for its outstanding graphic-design school and offers one of only two chiropractic programmes in South Africa. The University of Zululand offers diploma and degree courses on two campuses at Empangeni and Richards Bay. The unbundling from the successful Curro group of a separate tertiary entity which listed on the JSE as Stadio Holdings is a good indicator of the growth of the private sector in education. Stadio currently has three institutions: Southern Business School, AFDA (the School for the Creative Economy) and the Embury Institute for Higher Education which has a campus in Musgrave, Durban. There are seven schools in KwaZulu-Natal operating under Curro brands. Advtech, the other big private company in the sector, already has 27 tertiary campuses nationally, in addition to its 78 schools operating under a variety of labels. Advtech operates 10 educational sites in KwaZulu-Natal. Online Resources KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education: www.kzneducation.gov.za National Department of Higher Education and Training: www.dhet.gov.za National Research Foundation: www.nrf.ac.za Training OVERVIEW Sector Insight Majuba TVET College is a new Centre of Specialisation for boiler-making. Image: KZN Dept of Education KwaZulu-Natal has nine Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges with a total enrolment around 80 000. Coastal KZN TVET College gives students practical experience through facilities such as the Nongalo Industrial Park. The college hosts the Samsung Engineering Academy, a Tooling Centre of Excellence and a manufacturing plant for sanitary towels. The college has several sites on the South Coast and caters for 15 400 students. Majuba TVET College has recently been appointed as a Centre of Specialisation for boiler-making. The Mnambithi TVFET College is located in the Battlefields Route tourism area and offers National Diploma courses in tourism and other qualifications. A satellite campus operates at Estcourt. ■ 45 KWAZULU-NATAL BUSINESS 2020/21
