Monday, 7 March 2016
BUSINESS DAY NEWS
Kagiso Capital’s R1.5bn initiative
Picture: THINKSTOCK
KAGISO Capital, a newly created investment company fully owned by the charitable Kagiso Trust, plans to raise between R1bn and R1.5bn in debt this year to make investments and build up the business.
Kagiso Capital CEO Kgotso Schoeman said the company was working on making an investment in one of the companies in the education sector, but could not disclose which one.
Kagiso Capital also wants to invest in private healthcare and the food sector. Well-known companies in the education sector include Advtech, Eduloan and Curro. The PSG-owned Curro already has a black economic empowerment (BEE) partnership. This leaves Advtech and Eduloan as potential partners.
On its website Advtech notes that it has not undertaken a specific ownership empowerment initiative but has facilitated the creation of an empowered recruitment enterprise. Eduloan could also do with a BEE partner.
The PIC, which invests largely on behalf of the Government Employees Pension, has taken a 40% stake in the education financier. Mr Schoeman said the Kagiso Trust is transferring its balance sheet with an asset value of more than R7bn to Kagiso Capital.
Mr Schoeman said Kagiso Capital’s investments comprised of KTH, FirstRand and Onelogix. He said there was no intention to exit KTH as the investment generated dividends used to pursue developmental initiatives in education.
Kagiso Capital is the second investment company that Kagiso Trust has created.
In 1993 it created Kagiso Trust Investments but this merged with Tiso Group in 2011 to create Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH), one of the largest black-controlled companies in SA. "We are hoping to leverage about R1bn. We definitely want to go to DFIs (development finance institutions).
"They may be keen to help us looking at the work that we do," Mr Schoeman said.
Kagiso Trust chairman Reverend Frank Chikane said the vision was for Kagiso Capital to extend the work done by the Kagiso Trust. The dividends of about R50m that Kagiso Capital generates from KTH will go straight to Kagiso Trust, Mr Schoeman said.
SOURCE: BUSINESS DAY
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SOURCE: BUSINESS DAY
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NEWS24
Zuma considers opening land-claims dating back to the 1800s
By News24WireMarch 3, 2016
Should the 1913 cut-off date for land claims be changed to the 1800s?
President Jacob Zuma raised the question as he opened the National House of Traditional Leaders in Cape Town on Thursday.
“The very law that we have today to claim is lopsided against the black people. It is very difficult to prove that the land belonged to the ancestors and very easy to say we can’t have the land. That’s how the law is.”
“Was the decision to make 1913 the cut-off date correct? Perhaps yes. But was the land taken in 1913?
Most of the land was taken in the 1800s. Very little land was taken after 1913. This was when the colonialisation of South Africa was consolidated, he said.
He added later that he did not care if people called him names over his statements.
Zuma said that the 1913 Native Land Act, which banned blacks from buying or renting land, was merely about white colonialists shoring up whatever fertile land they had not yet claimed for themselves.
“I could forgive the period before [the 1800s]. It would be reasonable,” he said to murmurs of approval from the royalty and high chiefs assembled before him. “The dispossession of land is the source of the poverty and inequality which have become the ugly hallmark of our nation and an impediment to the future of shared prosperity.”
He quoted former ANC secretary general Sol Plaatje, who wrote that when the Land Act came into force, black men went to sleep owning land, and woke up being worse off than slaves.
Zuma said: “I believe as a son of a black man, and a black man… that we need to shift that cut-off date. But we need to find a reasonable way of addressing the issue. Within the Constitution, within the law. But look at the facts. Where do these people in informal settlements come from? Where is their land? Is it a lie that their land was taken?”
Souh Africa reopened its land claims process in 2014. It would run until June 2019. Every week, new claims were gazetted. On February 23, the National Assembly passed amendments to the Land Expropriation Act. They make matters clearer, including the administrative processes involved and the land owner’s rights.
Zuma’s comments come at the same time as some student organisations tear down symbols of colonial era lawmakers and soldiers and tell white people that their forefathers stole land in South Africa.
The EFF has also made land redistribution one of its top priorities.
In the National Assembly on Tuesday, FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said Zuma’s comments about land, which he made at the ANC’s birthday celebration in Rustenburg in January, were against nation building, and racist.
Groenewald reacted when ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani stood up to say that the land was taken at the barrel of a gun.
Zuma said last year he urged traditional leaders to join efforts in claiming land, rather than lodging competing claims. He said he looked forward to debating his address in Tshwane on March 22.
Friday, 4 March 2016
DAILY SUN NEWS
President Jacob Zuma. Photo by Reuters ~
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has told traditional leaders that dispossession of community land is the source of poverty and inequality.
The president was speaking at the opening of the House of Traditional Leaders in Cape Town yesterday.
Zuma has urged traditional leaders to intensify their joint efforts to claim back community land, instead of lodging competing claims on behalf of communities.
Said Zuma: “I strongly believe that access to land and security of possession of land are key to development, especially agricultural development.
“Land reform lies at the centre of government’s efforts to bring about inclusive economic development. It is at the centre of the National Development Plan.”
The president went on to urge the leaders to actively and thoughtfully take part in the issue of land reform for their communities.
“We can talk about agriculture and food security but without access to land, our people cannot plough and feed themselves, nor contribute to economic growth,” said
Zuma.
Zuma.
The president said he had noted with concern that some of the productive communal land under traditional councils was not being used properly.
He promised that the government will work hard to remove the obstacles to investment.
“Our people need jobs. And it is important for us to do everything we can to create the right environment for job creation,” he said.
The president has urged traditional leaders to join the campaign against racism in their areas.
He called on them to take part in the national day against racism on 21 March in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
SOURCE: Daily Sun
AFRICA BIZ NEWS
Africa Day of School Feeding Born
Thandisizwe Mgudlwa
This week March 1, marked the first edition of the Africa Day of School Feeding.
The Day was observed jointly by the African Union Commission, AU Member States and development partners.
Being one of the launchpads for attaining the Agenda 2063, school feeding has been identified as an opportunity to prevent the high rate of school drop-outs, an idea well espoused in the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA).
The Africa Day of School Feeding is further expected to stimulate information and experience sharing among stakeholders; support and promote local economy, whilst encouraging and inviting partners and political organizations to promote the initiative.
Fundamentally, The Day, is centered on the theme “Home Grown School Feeding: a Conduit for Africa’s Sustainable Development”, is celebrated with continent-wide activities and highlighted by series of official events in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.
Instituted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government during the 26th AU Summit, Africa Day for School Feeding is in recognition of the immense value of home grown school feeding to enhancing retention and performance of children in school.
And also, in boosting income generation and entrepreneurship in local communities.
According to the AU a number of African countries are already implementing school feeding programmes, but due to inadequate financing and heavy dependence of the programmes on foreign donors, poor logistical arrangements and provision of dry food lacking in dietary diversity, the programmes often fall short of meeting the required impact.
This is one reason why the emphasis has shifted to Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF), due to its integrated, multi-sector approach.
Africa Day of School Feeding is the culmination of several initiatives and efforts aimed at assuring quality universal school enrolment in Africa, and putting school feeding at the centre of solutions to help African children from the poorest households, and who live in difficult areas, to have access to quality education in a safe and conducive environment.
The Cost of Hunger in Africa Study (COHA) was conceived close to a decade of the launch of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which aims to among other things, transform agriculture and catalyze it to achieve sustainable annual economic growth, food and nutrition security and humanitarian goals.
Commissioned through a partnership of the Africa Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency, the United Nations World Food Programme and United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa, the COHA study specifically demonstrates that child nutrition can be a determining factor in achieving Africa's transformation agenda and illustrates the additional barriers limiting undernourished children to gain full health, school performance and compete in labour markets.
Moreover, the AU Commission’s drive to ingrain home grown school feeding on the continent was also inspired by the highly successful Brazilian Home Grown School Feeding programme, which has been instrumental in promoting universal access to basic education and preventive health services, while creating new income generating activities for extremely poor families.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working with 65 nations worldwide on implementing school feeding programmes which are an effective safety net, helping to ensure that over 18 million children have access to education and food.
In Africa alone, WFP works with some 39 nations. In the fight against hunger, school meals are a sound investment in the future of the next generation.
According to the AU report, "The Republic of Niger has offered to host the first edition of the celebrations considering its strong advocacy for home grown school feeding, with emphasis on the impacts such a programme could have within the framework of Education by 2030, notably the improvement of access to and completion of primary education in relation to the fight against early marriages and street children."
"The official celebrations in Niamey attracted the participation of top level officials of AU Member States, Nigerien government officials, the AUC, school children and development partners such as the WFP, UNICEF, FAO, among others."
It also included thematic discussions, brainstorming, as well as idea and experience sharing involving a wide range of stakeholders.
DAILY SUN NEWS
There was chaos when a flying, naked woman allegedly tried to hijack a cop van in KwaMashu, north of Durban yesterday. She veered off the road and hit a water meter. Photos by Abraham Kortjaas ~
THE naked woman flying through the air scared not only the residents – but also the cops!
Residents from L section in KwaMashu, north of Durban said they heard loud footsteps on their roofs.
They claim they saw an unknown naked woman flying from rooftop to rooftop on a broom!
When the residents tried to stop her apparently she just laughed at them and they called the cops – but police didn’t do so well either.
One of the residents, Nosipho Ngcongo (35) said they had never seen anything like this before.
Nosipho said when the cops arrived, the woman allegedly pulled a woman cop out of the van and sat down on the seat.
“She shouted at the driver to get out. The male cop became scared and jumped out of the van.
“The woman moved into the driver’s seat. The next thing we saw her driving away,” said Nosipho.
But the attempted escape in the cop van didn’t go well.
“She drove into a water meter and the van stopped.
“It was a struggle but residents helped the cops and eventually they got the woman into the back of the van,” she said. Major Thulani Zwane confirmed that cops attended the scene. No case has been opened yet.
SOURCE: Daily Sun
DAILY SUN NEWS
MADLANDUNA, the powerful inyanga, went into the bush to fight the zombie and save the woman from evil.
But the nyanga had to give up the battle and admit defeat.
MADLANDUNA ADMITTED THE ZOMBIE WAS TOO STRONG FOR HIM.
Brenda Zono (28) died when she was run over by a bakkie in Chatty in Port Elizabeth on 18 January and was buried in Adelaide shortly afterwards.
But even before the funeral, it was claimed she had appeared to the family and neighbours.
Her aunt, Zoleka Zono (41), told Daily Sun: “I dreamt I saw her crying. She said she felt as if she had wires in her mouth. She said I must ask a person who is not a relative to remove them because if I came closer, I would be hurt.”
Zoleka said kids from the neighbourhood claimed they saw Brenda sitting in a drain while they were mourning.
“Other neighbours claimed they saw her standing outside a house singing and dancing, because she was a church member.”
Bulelwa Zono (44) claims her niece calls on a teenage relative at night and moves around the house.
“I’ve left food in the teenager’s room and the food disappears,” she claimed.
She alleged they even chased her but she covered her face and ran away.
But what happened on Sunday left the family shocked and scared.
They had called a powerful inyanga, Delani “Madlanduna” Luthuli (39) to help them get rid of what they believed was a zombie.
“With the help of Madlanduna we found her in the bush,” claimed Zoleka.
“She was wearing her red top and brown dress as well as a straw hat we had never seen. I told her we had come to fetch her as she had asked in our dreams, and her three-year-old daughter needed her.”
Madlanduna said he crawled towards Brenda because she moved backwards if he walked upright.
“I dived on top of her with my bag containing my snake, Bathathe, on my shoulder,” he said.
But then his helpers let him down.
“I told them to open the bag and let Bathathe out to wrap himself around her but they ran away. I let Brenda go because she wanted my bag with the snake,” he said.
“She could not have defeated me if my bag was open.”
Zoleka said after Brenda ran away, Madlanduna fell to the ground.
“He asked us to open his bag and he spat on his snake and recovered. But when he stood up he looked dizzy,” she said.
She said they found pap and a bottle of dirty water at the scene.
Mandlanduna said he will get some assistants from KZN because he needs people who won’t run away.
SOURCE: Daily Sun
SOURCE: Daily Sun
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