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/ 6 September 2005
The delay in the release of the second set of the black economic empowerment codes of good practice is causing "a marked confusion" in the market, an industry source told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>. The drafting of the empowerment codes has been under way since December last year, when the first set of codes was released for public comment.
No image available
/ 6 September 2005
A savvy investment banker and businesswoman is about as close as one can get to choosing an ideal candidate to run the investment arm for South Africa’s economic engine room, Gauteng. Nomhle Canca slipped quietly into her job as CEO of Blue IQ Investments Holdings last September.
A "private" belly dancer, an aspiring Kilimanjaro climber and, if it tickles her fancy, a corporate environmental activist, if one does not deem that to be an oxymoron. These are the current and future projects of Mpho Nkeli, the executive director for human resources and black economic empowerment (BEE) at Alexander Forbes.
One of the quietest revolutions to have taken place in post-apartheid South Africa occured at a nondescript, isolated building in Gauteng’s Midrand. The Development Bank of Southern Africa, under the stewardship of CEO Mandla Gantsho, has done more than just change the way it does business.
Telkom looked outside its own structures for new leadership when it named United States-educated, charismatic former youth leader Papi Molotsane as its CEO. A senior Transnet staffer described Molotsane as a "people’s person" who can be firm. Molotsane is a director of Arivia.kom, South Africa’s America’s Cup Challenge and Fike Investment.
Old Mutual Healthcare’s deal with Kwacha announced recently is about improving their equity standings before they bid on the government’s civil service medical aid scheme, say analysts. The spokesperson for the Medical Schemes Council, described the deal as ”part of the mad scrambling to get BEE administration companies in place” to tender for the government medical aid scheme.
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni kept the repo rate unchanged as oil prices touched record highs and wage settlements remained firmly under the spotlight. The move to keep rates on hold was seen by the Nedbank economic unit as creating room for a cut in October. A lot depends on the behaviour of oil prices and the rand between now and then.
Recently President Thabo Mbeki announced the appointment of a task force to push South Africa’s growth to 6%. He said he is considering importing skills, renewing focus on the labour market as a key constraint to achieving higher growth. However, it appears that the government has an inadequate grasp of exactly what skills it requires and where.
Recently, Nedbank took time off to ask black customers to accompany it on a rather interesting journey. The bank launched its client empowerment share scheme, Eyethu (Zulu for ”ours”). Starting in August, the scheme will see the bank sell 2,17%, or 9,5-million shares, of its issued share capital to black -clients.
South Africa’s R165-billion infrastructural programme, much of which will have to be funded offshore, is unlikely to cause a capital constraint crunch. The total borrowing requirement is likely to be about half of the R165-billion figure and the offshore requirement could be half as much — R40-billion.