Issue 13

Beyond

4TH QUARTER 2011/12 ISSUE 13 R29.95

sustainability quarterly

current affairs finance & business development & education travel & TOURISM TRADE & INVESTMENT

LEAVING A GREEN LEGACY ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH AFRICA

www.beyondpublishing.co.za

DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY HOME WITH CONCRETE

International Transport Investors’ Conference a success The Department of Transport hosted a very successful International Investors’ Conference from the 13th to 14th June 2011 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre under the sterling stewardship of Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele.

Under the theme Creating winning partnerships through investment in transport infrastructure the conference focused on creating opportunities for investment in transport infrastructure.

The conference was aimed at attracting local and international investors to major transport infrastructure projects in order to establish local industries, and contribute to economic growth.

Approximately more than 900 delegates from across the globe, representing a cross-section of interests from governments, state-owned entities and regulatory bodies to research bodies, funding and investment institutions and many others attend the Conference, far exceeded the initially anticipated 500 investors and participants.

Among some of the key role players, investor and stake holders represented, were the World Bank, African Development Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, the IDC, NEF, ADB ETC, IDC, DBSA, Asset Managers such as the Old Mutual, Metropolitan, Sanlam, ABSA, Vunani Capital, PIC, Harith Investment, Investment banks such as RMB, STD Bank, Citi Bank, JP Morgan, Deutche Bank, International investors such as KFW, Natixix, JICA and Transport engineer firms to mention but a few.

The conference focused among others, on: • identifying and packaging potential projects desirous of investments in the transport sector; • showcasing different transport projects critical to the delivery of transport

infrastructure objectives; • identifying and attracting investors for identified projects; • enabling interaction between investors and government on proposed projects, providing an opportunity to demonstrate interest by investors; and • testing eagerness to invest in transport projects.

Delegate at the conference explored and deliberated on present and future funding requirements in the improvement of transport infrastructure in the Republic, which would lead to much needed socio-economic stimulation.

Addressing the delegates in his opening address during the conference, Minister Ndebele said “Long-term development planning and effective resource allocation are critical for the realisation of the economic and social goals of our Transport Sector.

The introduction of ‘Life Cycle Design and Costing,” combined with effective routine and preventative maintenance will ensure that we optimise transport sector infrastructure in providing cost effective service delivery. We gather at this conference therefore to explore the various financing innovations which, when implemented shall address the needs of our country and its economy.

Transport and its related services is a catalyst for economic growth as well as direct and indirect job-creation in South Africa. The provision of affordable, safe and reliable transportation of goods and people within our economy are critical to the development of our country.”

It has been noted in recent years that investors have shown a greater interest in investing in projects that combine a commercial and a social return. Investors consider and evaluate the social and environmental impact of a project in relation to their commercial

return, an approach that clearly fits in with our government objective of creating a better life for all”.

The Department of Transport is tasked with the responsibility to provide safe, affordable, reliable, efficient, and fully integrated transport systems and infrastructure that best meets the needs of its users. The Department is further tasked with providing transport infrastructure and services that are efficient and affordable to individuals and corporate users, while ensuring the provision of increasing levels of safety and security across all transport modes.

The challenges facing the South African transport system have been documented over the years and can be categorised into three main categories namely: • demand outstripping supply with regards to infrastructure; • lack of appropriate investment in the transport sector over the past decades, resulting in poorly maintained infrastructure; and • limited or absence of investment into the various modes.

The country’s fiscus is not in a position to fund all the needs of the transport sector.

For this reason, Government’s ambitions need significant support from the private sector, notably in terms of sustainable investments.

Investors and the private sector need to be considered as financial partners in the implementation of the overall turn-around strategy for the transport sector. Research indicates that a large part of private sector investment, in developing countries, is made up of foreign investment into the various sectors.

The challenges facing the South African transport sector in the various Government spheres range from budget constraints,

Sibusiso Ndebele Minister of Transport

Jeremy Cronin Deputy Minister of Transport

Strategic transportation projects New Commuter Coaches Shosholoza Meyl new coaches / Locomotives N1/N2 Winelands R 72 / N2 Toll Road R 200 Ring Road N2 Wild Coast Project Sandal’s Domestic Medium Term Note Wild Coast Meander Mahatma Airport Development project West Rand Logistics Hub Cape Town Rail Link

Tendering authority

Gautrain

PRASA PRASA

Status feasibility study June 2011 June 2011

Estimate Capital Cost ( ZAR Billions) 86 11

SANRAL SANRAL SANRAL SANRAL SANRAL

Complete Complete Complete Complete Not Applicable

8 - 10 5.35 4.16 8 - 10 55 by 2016

Eastern Cape Dept R&T Dot and Eastern Cape R&T Blue IQ PRASA

Complete Work in progress

1.35 0.5

May 2011 Complete

3.19 3.5

ageing transport infrastructure and lack of modal integration. However, government continues to aggressively address these sector needs, notwithstanding.

Some of the key transport sector projects highlighted by the Minister in his opening address at the conference, contextualizing the investment environment and framework in the Republic related to: • The completion of the ultramodern, stateof-the-art Gautrain rapid rail network, Link 1 between Sandton and O R Tambo International Airport which was opened in June 2010 and Link 2 from Johannesburg / Rosebank to Pretoria opened in August 2011. This ushers in a new era in public transportation matching world standards for rapid rail transport.

• The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, valued at R22 billion, is an initiative that aims to encourage people to use public transport, in an effort to alleviate traffic congestion on Gauteng’s freeways.

SANRAL, together with its Partners, the Provincial Government of Gauteng, and the Metro authorities in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni developed a project to upgrade or construct approximately 500 kms of road around the three Metros.

• The successful implementation of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System, transporting some 30 000 people per day, has been awarded the “Encouragement Award” by the International Association of Public Transport (UIPT) in Dubai in May 2011.

• The taxi industry in Johannesburg became

a 66% shareholder of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System Company, marking one of the most significant Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment [BBBEE] transactions South Africa has seen in the transport sector.

A number of key strategic areas for investment including rail, roads, public transport and maritime were identified, as indicated on the table above.

The conference has established a platform for investors to come into the transport space in South Africa; it has raised the investment profile of the region and of the whole continent.

IDC, German Development Bank launch Green Energy Efficiency Fund

The Industrial Development Corporate (IDC) and the German Development Bank (Kfw) have launched a R500 million Green Energy Efficiency Fund (GEEF). During the launch of GEEF IDC Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Qhena said the intention was to encourage and promote investments in both energy efficiency and renewable energy in South Africa.

Energy efficiency should be a strategic priority for companies, particularly given the fact that South Africa was moving to higher, cost-reflective electricity pricing.

“We want to provide increased access to energy efficiency and renewable energy financing across all industry sectors. Setting up this fund with KfW is crucial for the country and a key addition to our portfolio of ring-fenced funds directed at a specific goal” said Qhena.

GEEF focuses on private sector companies registered and operating in South Africa and provides loans ranging from R1 million to R50 million at a concessionary rate of prime less 2%.

GEEF allows for loan repayments of up to 15 years, depending on the energy efficiency or renewable energy technology. Standard IDC fees, credit policies and procedures apply.

Added Rentia van Tonder, Head of Green Industries SBU: “Funding is available to companies who plan to implement financially viable projects in South Africa. In other words, projects that will provide significant energy savings and/or emissions reductions, or will offset grid-connected electricity through renewable energy generation for self-use.”

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“Financing of projects is based on global climate mitigation principles combined with specific IDC funding criteria, which will form the basis on which funding can be accessed,” said van Tonder.

Van Tonder said technical support will be provided, in conjunction with KfW, to applicants if required. “We have access to both local and international technical experts who will develop eligible enterprises by performing energy assessments, calculating financial benefits and supporting the selection of eligible equipment and enhanced performance technologies.”

Investing in energy efficiency ensures business competitiveness through the modernisation of industrial equipment and the use of energy efficient technologies, resulting in reduced energy and other costs while increasing profitability. Additional benefits include improved product quality, enhanced production capacity and improved company image due to carbon footprint reduction.

GEEF will present opportunities to lower energy costs, improve profitability and invest in new technologies that facilitate South Africa’s transition towards a low carbon economy. This in turn contributes to global climate protection, while supporting South Africa’s economic development and growth. Ultimately, greening South Africa’s industrial base will lead to long-term industrial competitiveness and job creation.

The fund supports the IDC’s alignment to government’s key initiatives: Industrial Policy Action Plan and the New Growth Path with a specific focus on growing the green economy.

CONTENTS 20

26

32

62

10

Editors note Charlene Heyburgh

14

WORLD NEWS

16

SOUTH AFRICA NEWS

18

BY THE NUMBERS

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INFRASTRUCTURE Driving sustainability home...

24

SUSTAINABILITY Reporting for industry

26

ECO Population growth affecting climate change

28

ECO Shift in policies needed in South Africa

32

JOB CREATION New growth path

36

FINANCE Euro-trash?

38

ECONOMY Global market

40

ECO Know your water footprint

42

ECO Brew beer without water

44

University of Johannesburg ITLS Africa

46

ECO Water the number one priority for EWS

50

Woman of Substance Lindiwe Mazibuko

54

FINANCE Financial planning, outlook for 2012

56

FINANCE Investing offshore, what you need to know

58

DEBT REVIEW Lets talk about debt

60

B-BBEE It’s time to grow up!

62

ECO Leaving a green legacy

66

CSI The Fetola story

68

HEALTH A world first anti-HIV gel

70

HEALTH Living with HIV/AIDS

72

EDUCATION Have we failed our children?

74

PRIVATE EDUCATION Hampered by misconceptions

78

DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN Niel Van Wyk

80

CLOUD COMPUTING The next big trend

CONTENTS 84

94

96

100

84

TECHNOLOGY The convergence of business and IT

90

Skills & Training An integrated approach...

92

Cash management issues that can cripple...

94

Skills & Training Improving skills levels

96

CAR REVIEW Renault GT Line

97

CAR REVIEW Nissan Pathfinder

98

CAR REVIEW Chevrolet Captiva

100

ECO Black Rhino Range expansion project

106

TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Cape Town

110

TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Durban

112

TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Johannesburg

114

Responsible tourism at Tau Game Lodge

116

Book reviews

118

Technology Gadget reviews

120

RESTAURANT REVIEW Reuben’s

SFA016/11

EDITORS NOTE CREDITS Managing Director TB Mabecha Editor Charlene Heyburgh PROJECT MANAGER Jerome Dyson

T

he world’s population recently passed the 7 billion mark.

Can you imagine that? 7 billion people sharing this planet, the keyword being “sharing.” At the same time, South Africa has been given the opportunity to host the COP 17 Conference in Durban where the nations of the world will come together to discuss ways of addressing climate change. Even if no agreements are reached, we need to realise that central to all of the climate change issues is “adaptation”. It is up to each one of us to ensure that we adapt our actions, attitudes and practices in order to develop a sustainable future. The future of over 7 billion people, mostly in the poorest countries, depends on this “adaptation”. In this edition of Beyond, we take a look at how population growth is affecting climate change as well as the shift in policies needed in South Africa to combat this global issue. We also take a look at water recycling and knowing your water footprint. An interesting article on page 40/41 shows us how to brew beer without water. South Africa is listed as No. 25 on the list of countries who consume the most beer! Let’s hope that breweries will start adopting the process of brewing beer without water in order to preserve this precious resource needed to sustain life that is also in diminishing supply globally. We also have our regulars, look out for our book reviews page for an awesome giveaway and in our travel feature- Out & About in Cape Town, we have corporate hospitality tickets to giveaway to the South Africa vs Sri Lanka test as well as tickets to the hottest horseracing event of 2012, the J&B Met. The year 2011 has come to an end and after everything that we have been through, it would be gratifying to reach the end of the year, and to start the new year, with all of our people happy and united, celebrating who we are and how far we have come and working together as one to build a sustainable nation.

On a different note, I would like to extend my thanks to our editorial and production team for the work (and lack of sleep) that has gone into the refreshed version of the publication. Our readers can expect even more changes regarding content and presentation in the editions to come. Enjoy the read.

Sales ExecutiveS Shaun Davids Khayalethu Jacobs Anthony Botha Emile Polman Ntsikie Kasana Linda Schady Traffic Controller Laurenda Hagglund Accounts ExecutiveS Laurenda Hagglund, Kelly Cupido Office Administrator Carmen Puma

PRINTING

DISTRIBUTION

Beyond Publishing CK 2008/187319/23 25 Voortrekker Road, Unit 29 Goodwood, 7460 Tel: 021 592 5725, Fax: 021 592 5714 Email: beyondpublishing@telkomsa.net The opinions in Beyond are not necessarily those of the publisher.

COPYRIGHT MABECHA PUBLICATIONS. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the publisher.

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WORLD NEWS World’s population passes 7 billion The world’s population passed 7 billion on the 31st of October 2011 and is expected to top 10 billion people by the end of the century according to the U.N. Population Fund. In Western Europe, Japan and Russia, it will be an ironic milestone amid worries about low birthrates and ageing populations. In China and India, the two most populous nations, it’s an occasion to reassess policies that have already slowed once-rapid growth. But in Burundi, Uganda and the rest of subSaharan Africa, the demographic news is mostly sobering as the region staggers under the double burden of the world’s highest birthrates and deepest poverty.

The regional population of nearly 900 million could reach 2 billion in 40 years at current rates, accounting for about half of the projected global population growth over that span. Most of that growth will be in Africa’s cities, and in those cities it will almost all be in slums where living conditions are horrible. Is catastrophe inevitable?

Slowdown in global money to fight HIV/AIDS

gold & DIAMOND ATM The world’s first ATM to dispense diamonds as well as gold and silver coins has been launched in Mumbai.

Sanjeev Agarwal, the chief executive of Gitanjali Group, the company behind the machine, said it planned to set up 75 of them in shopping centres, airports and at Hindu temples. The machine offers a range of 36 products from 10-gram gold coins etched with an image of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, to diamond studded pendants in the shape of a swastika which is an ancient religious symbol of unity in India. With prices ranging from 100 rupees (about R160) to 30 000 rupees, customers can pay in cash or with a credit card.

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Silvio Berlusconi steps down Thousands of Italians celebrated the end of an era when Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, stepped down in the midst of sex scandals, tax fraud and widespread corruption. His resignation leaves the country with 1.9 trillion in euro debt. He has been replaced by Mario Monti who will try to weather the storm by avoiding the collapse of the third-largest economy in the eurozone. Monti and the Italian government will face political issues in a very challenging political situation.

Civil society organisations have sounded the alarm about the slowdown in global financial commitments to fighting HIV/ AIDS. The future is very uncertain for countries who rely on international monetary funding to combat HIV/AIDS. The Global Fund, which redistributes money from donor countries such as Italy, the US and Germany to countries with a high HIV, TB and Malaria incidence, announced that it had to put all country funding applications for this year on hold because of “current resource constraints”

A fa ntastic coasta l, camp i ng holid ay

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi steps OUT

Thousands of Italians celebrated the end of an era when Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, stepped down in the midst of sex scandals, tax fraud and widespread corruption. His resignation leaves the country with 1.9 trillion in euro debt. He has been replaced by Mario Monti who will try to weather the storm by avoiding the collapse of the third-largest economy in the eurozone. Monti and the Italian government will face political issues in a very challenging political situation.

Th e pe rfect geta wa y Dra ma tic coastli n e

Bthereatseahtaandki ngl uvishe wsi ndiogfenous forests Th e Wi ld Coast at i t ’s most specta cula r and *Prices stated are off-peak season rates

contact reservations Tel. +27 (0) 43 701 9600 I Tel. +27 (0) 86 111 3320 Fax. +27 (0) 86 611 1623/4 I Email. reservations@ecpta.co.za

valid from 1 April 2011

SOUTH AFRICA NEWS ANC Centenary Celebration The African National Congress (ANC) centenary celebrations will be the biggest in the movement’s history. The ANC estimates that the cost of its centenary celebrations will be close to R100 million. The ANC is the only surviving liberation movement on the continent which is turning a hundred years old.

The party chairperson, Baleka Mbete said that while the celebrations will not come cheap, they will be worth every cent. The celebrations will culminate in President Jacob Zuma’s January 8 statement which will reflect on the history and future of Africa’s oldest liberation movement. Up to 150 000 people are expected to attend. The party was founded in Mangaung which is where the party will hold its elective conference.

Table Mountain 7TH Wonder of Nature Table Mountain has been announced as one of the New7Wonders of Nature, along with the Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo and Puerto Princesa Underground River. In 2008, Table Mountain was identified as one of 440 magnificent natural sites selected by the New7Wonders Foundation to enter the three-phase New7Wonders of Nature contest. In the second phase, Table Mountain made the 77 site shortlist before being publicly voted onto a final shortlist of 28 sites in July 2009. Table Mountain was selected as one of the final seven. With this accolade, Table Mountain, Cape Town and South Africa can anticipate global attention and it is predicted that a R1.4 billion annual tourism return can be expected for South Africa. Table Mountain is one of the oldest mountains on the planet, estimated to be around 360 million years old. It supports natural forest and indigenous fynbos along with a variety of animals and birds. Table Mountain is the only terrestrial feature on our planet to have a constellation named after it. Table Mountain is recognised as a global icon, visited by millions of people each year and attracting the attention of royalty, sports stars and Hollywood celebrities. It is one of the most photographed sites in Africa.

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World Design Capital Cape Town was named ‘World Design Capital for 2014’ ahead of fellow shortlisted cities, Dublin and Bilbao. The sort after accolade was awarded to the Mother City at the International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taipei.

The Cape Town Partnership started the World Design Capital bidding process over a year ago. A Bid Committee was tasked to frame the theme of the bid and to source content and case studies for the bid book. It included design case studies in the Stellenbosch area. On 31 March 2011 the 465-page bid book was formally submitted to the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) in Canada, with the theme, “Live Design. Transform Life”. The accolade will also enhance Cape Town’s reputation globally as being a place that is known for more than just its natural beauty.

The World Design Capital 2014 title results in a year-long programme of design-focused events that will see creative communities across the globe turning to Cape Town for social, economic and cultural solutions.

11 million jobs by 2030 South Africa can create 11 million new jobs by 2030, according to the National Planning Commission (NPC). However, the country faces a quandary. “The things that drive growth are not always the things that drive job creation - and the things that are good for job creation are not always good for growth,” according to an overview and vision statement for the national development plan developed by the NPC. According to the plan, the economy needs both growth and jobs if it can successfully increase total employment from 13 million people to 24 million people in 2 decades. This would reduce the unemployment rate from 27% now to 6% in 2030. The NPC said it had built on the approach of the New Growth Path, which aims to create 5 million new jobs by 2020.

YIZANI TOURZ www.yizani.com Yizani Tourz is an inbound tour operation based in Cape Town, South Africa. We’ve been in operation since 1994 and have been providing the tour and corporate industry with a full spectrum of tourism and travel related services, from flights, car hire & accommodation at competitive prices. Call us on +27 (0)21 424 3520

BY THE NUMBERS 600

Eskom reports a 600MW electricity shortage. Workers who deviated from the rules earlier this year knocked unit four at Eskom’s Duvha power station, and thus 600MW of critical generation capacity, causing power cuts across the country

229

voted in favour of the Information Bill out of the 400 member house

226 MILLION $398.62

the amount in Euros needed to bail out Italy

5

40000

52.4 BILLION

troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012

total amount in dollars spent in America on Black Friday

Cancer, Heart Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, Osteoporosis are listed as the top 5 diseases affecting mankind worldwide

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The doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson has been sentenced to 4 years in prison

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 took in $42m domestically over the three-day weekend and $62.3m in the five-day Thanksgiving holiday boom time from Wednesday to Sunday

Pakistani soldiers killed in a NATO air assault

46% 20

shoppers visited stores and websites over “Black Friday” weekend, up from 212 million last year

On October 25 2011 the UN was set to announce that the population of the planet has now reached seven billion people

42 MILLION 24

voted against the Information Bill out of the 400 member house

the average spending for every American during Thanksgiving weekend

600 BILLION 7 BILLION

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20000

Gauteng citizens signed a petition to stop highway tolling, the petition is to be sent to Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele

Africa’s largest media company, said first-half profit fell 46 percent as development spending almost doubled while it made fewer acquisitions

30.2%

The HIV-prevalence among pregnant women in South Africa

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Driving sustainability home with concrete Writer Adéle de Lange

T

he global focus towards green building design has seen a rapid increase in the number of sophisticated and expensive alternative construction technologies aimed at improving the thermal performance of buildings.

Much less attention has been given, however, to the affordable benefits of incorporating current building materials and construction technologies that inherently possess natural or passive thermal control properties.

For more than 2000 years, mankind has reaped the social, economic and environmental benefits of using concrete to build human settlements. As a result, concrete is the most commonly used building material in the world today. As humanity faces the global challenge to achieve ‘One Planet Living’, the inherent sustainable benefits of using concrete in human settlements needs to be harnessed to its full potential in order to create truly sustainable communities.

Infrastructure Planning for sustainable human settlements begins with the provision of durable and low-maintenance infrastructure. Concrete is one of the most durable materials on earth. As a road and pavement solution – whether in-situ or precast – its responsible use could result in a decreased demand for raw materials required for maintenance purposes. Concrete also lends itself to labour-intensive construction methods, creating sustainable low-skilled job opportunities. Concrete therefore makes economic, social and environmental sense for infrastructure provision.

Light and heat reflectance As a result of its light colour, concrete has a natural ability to reflect light and solar radiation. Energy savings can be achieved by building roads and pavements in concrete, resulting in a reduced demand for artificial lighting at night. Urbanized areas are generally hotter than the surrounding rural areas, leading to increased demand for artificial cooling.

Used in large areas, such as parking areas,

roads and roof surfaces, the use of concrete could lead to a reduced demand for artificial cooling.

A sustainable response to urbanization The continuous growth in urbanization has led to an increase in the number of hard surfaces in urban areas which in turn have resulted in increased pressure on storm water management systems – leading to potentially increased flooding conditions and subsequent damage to surrounding properties.

Innovation in action The permeable concrete block paving system has been developed in response to this environmental challenge. The system is essentially a sustainable drainage technology which aims at replicating the natural drainage from a site as closely as possible by managing surface water by attenuation and filtration. The resulting overall objective is to minimize the water runoff quantity, to improve the water quality and to provide amenity and biodiversity, with the added benefit of providing pollution source control.

Economies of scale The increased density of multi-storey housing optimizes and economizes the use of suitably located land and it reduces the amount of infrastructure required per housing unit – reducing cost and demand for un-renewable resources.

Concrete is the logical multi-storey solution.

Whether pre-cast or in-situ, suspended concrete floors provide structural integrity, acoustic insulation, and fire and earthquake resistance. Used in conjunction with structural concrete masonry, concrete provides affordable and reliable mediumand high-density accommodation.

Recycling makes concrete sense The demand for non-renewable resources can be reduced by specifying materials containing recycled content. Concrete is 100% recyclable. Demolished structures can be crushed into aggregate, which can be reused to make concrete blocks. Other second generation materials can also be recycled for use as aggregate in concrete. This practice

also reduces the increasing burden on land fill sites and transport costs related to waste removal. Concrete has the ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere – through a process called carbonation. When a concrete product is crushed at the end of its life, this process is accelerated.

In South Africa, many redundant inner city office blocks are currently being transformed into affordable, conveniently located housing. Re-using, instead of demolishing, existing concrete structures, is an economically sensible way of enhancing the sustainability of the city, while saving costs on infrastructure. At the same time, it conveniently provides people with suitably located housing opportunities within close proximity to social and economic amenities, such as schools, clinics and job opportunities.

Creating Sustainable Communities Building concrete homes makes sustainable sense. Empowering local communities with the basic skills of concrete technology has the following long-term benefits:sense of ownership and pride, sustainable skills transfer, promotion of entrepreneurship.

Historically, basic cement and concrete construction techniques are familiar technologies even in the remotest rural parts of our country. The skills transferred during the construction process has the potential to empower community members to use these newly acquired skills as a means to enter and remain in the formal employment sector – thereby investing in the future economic sustainability of the newly established human settlement.

From the cradle to the grave, the use of concrete can contribute to both the shortand long-term sustainability of human settlements by harnessing concrete’s natural qualities in conjunction with best practices and quality construction techniques. As a result, the quality of human settlements delivered throughout the entire spectrum of the property market can be improved; resulting in enhanced quality of life for all.

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SOUTH AFRICAN READY MIX

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SUSTAINABILITY

Reporting for industry Writer Timothy Siebert, Environmental Scientist at Talbot & Talbot

S

ustainable development means many different things to different people, but the most common definition is from the Brundtland Report: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Our Common Future, 1987).

Sustainable development focuses on improving the quality of life for all people on earth, without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the capacity of the environment to supply them indefinitely.

It requires an understanding that in-action has consequences and that, as a global community, we must find innovative ways to change institutional structures and influence individual behaviour.

Nature, society and business are interconnected in complex ways and around the world we see signs of severe stress on our economic, environmental and social systems- exploitation of resources, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and climate

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change, diminishing freshwater supplies, increasing waste generation and destruction of ecosystems. It’s time to take actionchange policies and practices at all levels, from the individual to the international.

The arena of sustainability is developing fast. Companies are being increasingly tasked to integrate sustainability principles into core business. Annual reporting solely on financial performance is no longer considered to be good corporate practice.

But how should individual businesses, as corporate citizens of the world, respond to the challenges of operating sustainably?

By understanding the importance of sustainability and how it relates to the organisations performance, you can develop a solid platform from which to launch a sound sustainability strategy.

Talbot & Talbot specialises in offering consulting and/or advice regarding approaches to sustainability management and/or reporting. Through our extensive experience across a broad range of industries we can provide both technical and strategic insight into the sustainability of your company

and can assist you with the following: Assess key sustainability issues, Interpret local and international best practices, Provide company-specific gap analyses of current performance, Sustainability performance benchmarking, Offer advisory services with respect to sustainability reporting.

We can help with the collection of performance data, core company information and identify, monitor and assist with reporting on governance, economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities.

Our focus is on the development of sustainability reports that is meaningful to stakeholders and meets the highest standards of quantitative and qualitative reporting.

Talbot & Talbot is a leading water and wastewater management company working with industries throughout Africa to secure sustainable water sources for production.

The company has over 20 years of experience and consists of four divisions vertically integrated to deliver a full turnkey service in the domain of water and wastewater management.

T +27 (0)33 3461 444, www.talbot.co.za

ARE YOU ACTIVE IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY? ARE ARE YOU YOU COMPLIANT COMPLIANT WITH WITH THE THE CONDITIONS CONDITIONS OF OF THE THE BIBC? BIBC?

As As an an employer employer in in the the building building industry industry you you are are required required by by law law to to pay pay your your employees employees a a minimum minimum wage wage with with social social benefits. benefits. The The BIBC BIBC regulates regulates and and administers administers these these employment employment conditions. conditions.

If If you you do do not not comply comply you you will will be be liable liable for for penalties penalties of of up up to to 25% 25% of of the the amounts amounts not not paid paid and and interest interest thereon. thereon.

Did Did you you know know that that if if a a worker worker passes passes away away whilst whilst in in your your employ employ and and you you are are not not up up to to date date with with that that employee’s employee’s retirement retirement benefits, benefits, you you will will be be liable liable for for his his death death benbenefit efit of of 44 times times his his annual annual salary? salary?

Registration Registration is is easy; easy; contact contact our our offices offices for for details details on on how how to to become become compliant compliant with with the the Building Building Industry Industry Collective Collective Agreement.

Agreement.

FIND US AT: 133 Voortrekker Road, Bellville, 7530 • Private Bag X29, Bellville, 7535 • Tel.: 021-950 7400 • Fax: 021-950 7405 Email: bibc@bibc.co.za • Website: www.bibc.co.za Registered under the Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995

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ECO

Population growth affecting climate change Writer Sara Booley-Davids

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scope and scale of climate change impacts which already put pressure on the existing population of Africans today. It becomes a sad situation of criminal neglect to blame Africa as a continent that is home to people who are least responsible for carbon emissions, and who are likely to suffer the most compared to their developed counterparts.

Theoretically, it would thus make sense to think that densely-populated Africa contributes a large amount of emissions due to its ever-increasing population. However, the latter is an oversimplification of reality, research shows that the amount of emission produced by each African is too little to account for over-consumption. Thus, taking into account the consumption patterns of Africans based on Research shows that the amount the limited development of the of emission produced by each continent, it is more realistic African is too little to account that developed countries leave for over-consumption. behind a larger carbon footprint.

Although developed countries may have lower population growth rates, process of climate change. Urbanisation they have much larger per capita emissions contributes to increasing a country’s carbon on the basis that they rely hugely on burning footprint due to the likelihood that they are fossil fuels for energy as a result of their more inclined to make use of energy sources economic and socio-economic demands. that are not environmentally sustainable.

Climate change is therefore not dependent Though population growth in Africa is evermerely on the amount of people that inhabit increasing, the rate at which urbanisation the world, but more on the carbon-intensive occurs is thus more likely to account for development path that countries are likely to climate change than the population numbers follow. on its own given that numbers alone are not The challenges of climate change and solely responsible for the change in climate. development in Africa are closely linked Urbanisation in Africa is predicted to rise whereby the challenges posed by climate by 54% by 2030, which will inevitably change limits not only the economic lead to extensive land use whereby land sustainability of the entire continent, but cover changes, especially within largely also the sustainability of the continent itself uncontrolled urban, semi-urban and rural and all of its natural resources. Africa is settlements are likely to alter existing thus the most vulnerable region to climate surface microclimate and hydrology. Such change, due to the extreme poverty facing a rapid increase in population, particularly Africans, as well as the frequent occurrence in urban areas, may thus exacerbate the ith the world population increasing in size exponentially, it is not hard to imagine the devastating environmental impact thereof especially since consumption rises as the population grows.

Different population groups and their patterns of living have different impacts on the environment, age structure, household size and spatial distribution influence per capita emissions, which threaten the earth’s ability to engage in its natural processes resulting in phenomena such as climate change.

Urbanisation is another aspect that we cannot fail to take into account as a catalyst in the

of droughts and floods on a continent that is highly dependent on agricultural exports as a form of income. Though climate change endangers the economic aspect of Africa’s development, its people are threatened the most. Climate change will impact infrastructure and settlements in Africa through rising sea levels, shortage of water resources, food security, health risks and temperature related morbidity in urban centres, all of which endanger people’s lives.

Desertification is likely to increase around the Sahara, causing populations to move. It is also likely that the onset of unpredictable disasters like storm surges, flash floods and tropical cyclones will adversely affect the population.

In Southern Africa, it is likely that we will be susceptible to increasing temperatures by the year 2080, of which temperatures are predicted to increase by 7˚C, whilst rainfall is expected to decrease and change significantly across Southern Africa. As South Africans, we are thus also affected by the phenomenon, more so because of the fact that we are one of the most developed countries on the continent. We need to realise the detrimental effects that we are contributing to, and act responsibly so as to prevent us, as Africans, from suffering the most as a result of climate change. Although slowing down population growth will make a contribution in the long-run, we need to focus on building African leadership on population and climate change – creating a cadre of African practitioners, researchers and policymakers who are empowered to discuss the role of social adaptation strategies including family planning in national action plans that address climate change.

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ECO

Climate Change Shift in policies needed in South Africa Writer Farah Abdurahman

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limate change has become the “hot” topic of our time. Vast amounts of money are being put into research and finding solutions to this seemingly unmanageable problem.

South Africa faces many challenges in the face of this recently developed threat.

As many developing countries, South Africa has the dual challenge of pursuing economic development as well as protecting the environment in the most sustainable way. South Africa’s economic growth and development is being held in the balance by climate change. Unfortunately, the economy is high-energy intensive and relies heavily on coal-based electricity. It is also rated the 14th largest carbon dioxide emitter and contributes less than 2% of the greenhouse gases emitted every year.

The country has developed a national adaptation strategy in which it clearly outlines how it will react to climate change and other sustainable development changes in the future. The strategy makes use of the country’s resources and capacities – external dependence is very minimal. This allows for policymakers to draft policies that are well-suited to the South African context and also, allow for them to own the various 28 30

climate change policies and processes. With strong and influential scientific and academic tradition, the country has played an important role in the development of climate change models that are integrated into policy.

However, South Africa has not been able to convert strong policies and scientific research capacity into practical projects and solutions. There is a lack of coordination and social capacity that deters the country from it reaching the objectives set in the adaptation strategy. The climate programmes fail to address basic human development needs such as employment, health care and housing. The government has also not been able to communicate with civil society in a clear manner in which they state and define the climate change objectives and policies.

While South Africa might suffer from a lack of support from the public due to inadequate awareness, the Cities for Climate Change Research Programme has seen cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, make the extra effort to tackle climate change challenges.

Johannesburg has installed Solar Water Heaters (SWH) in homes which are partially subsidised by the Gauteng government and also, installed solar street lighting which saw a decrease in the crime levels in certain

areas in the city. Johannesburg has also started projects where trees are planted in various areas to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Cape Town has been working on the Water Leaks Project in which repairs are done for households in Khayelitsha to reduce water and financial wastage. It also introduced water restrictions during times of water shortages. This allowed for proper water management.

The city of Durban is looking into maize (as a staple food) replacement projects in places such as Empangeni and Makhatini and this will then feed into food security policy development. The city also intends on starting projects which looks at the rehabilitation of degraded forest ecosystems and developing ways of managing the catchment which would assist in protecting water supplies. With the addition of such projects, it will allow for more community involvement and upliftment.

South Africa’s policies are constantly being updated and reviewed. However, we are at the point where these policies and strategies need to become practical and manageable projects in which the ordinary citizen is informed and is able to become a part of becoming an economically sound country on the basis of sustainable development.

THE AGENCY P16056

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“Like crossing a river by feeling for the stones underneath” Deng Xiaoping

JOB CREATION New Growth Path Writer Natasha Braaf

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he quotation beside seems to have become a mantra regularly employed by Ebrahim Patel, minister of Economic Development when asked about the New Growth Path (NGP).

In June 2009, President Jacob Zuma, in his State of the Nation Address said: “It is my pleasure and honour to highlight the key elements of our programme of action. The creation of decent work will be at the centre of our attraction and job creation initiatives.

In line with our undertakings, we have to forge ahead to promote a more inclusive economy”.

In this vein, Mr Patel presented the NGP to cabinet on 23 November 2010. This encompasses an action plan gearing towards the creation of decent work, the reduction of inequality and the defeat of poverty. The

inequality, but also includes measures such as skills – and small business development as well as wage and productivity gain-sharing policies. In addition, it aims to address the excessive pay-gap between top and bottom ranks within companies, progressive taxation and support public services targeted primarily at low-income households.

Furthermore, investment into services such as education and health are identified as critical success factors of the NGP. With the above in mind, the path identifies 5 opportunities for employment creation and calls it “Jobs Drivers”: • Infrastructure, 250 000 jobs a year in energy, transport, water and communications infrastructure and in housing, through to 2015. • Main economic sectors, Agriculture: opportunities for 300 000 households in agricultural schemes and 145 000 jobs in agro-processing by 2020;

COSATU criticises the lack of mention of the Freedom Charter and the RDP document in the NGP

principal target of the NGP is to create 5 million jobs by the year 2020.

A mammoth task indeed - one that can only be achieved by the reshaping of our priorities and the making of critical choices. The NGP highlights the following as possible tradeoffs: • Current consumption vs. future growth • Deciding between the needs of different industries • Policies with high benefits and substantial risk vs. policies that are less transformative or dynamic • A competitive currency that supports growth vs. a stronger rand with cheaper imports • A Green economy – Presents costs vs. future benefits.

The main thrust of the NGP is to address the income inequalities in society. It places decent work at the centre of the fight against

Mining: 140 000 jobs by 2020, and 200 000 by 2030; Manufacturing: 350 000 jobs by 2020; High-level services: 275 000 jobs directly in tourism and business services by 2020. • Seizing the potential of new economies, Green economy: 300,000 direct jobs by 2020 (80 000 in manufacturing and the rest in construction, operations and maintenance of new environmentallyfriendly infrastructure), 400 000 by 2030. Knowledge-intensive sectors (eg. computing): 100 000 new jobs by 2020. • Investing in social capital and public services Social economy (eg. NGOs and stokvels): 260 000 jobs, 100 000 jobs in health, education and policing by 2020. • Spatial development, Rural development: Improvement in livelihoods for 500,000

households. 60 000 jobs in exports to SADC alone, by 2015 and around 150 000 by 2020.

The NGP identifies a developmental package of policies to address the huge challenges within the economy. This includes a range of policies geared towards balancing competing policy concerns while mitigating unintended consequences.

Others, however, are not quite as optimistic about the NGP: Dennis Dykes, chief economist of Nedbank: “It is very interventionist and based on the premise that government knows what is best. But when you look at what government is doing, there are a lot of difficulties with things like labour policies. Subsequent to the NGP being announced we had new pieces of legislation tabled (the four labour law amendment bills of December) which are anti-job growth.”

Mike Schüssler, economist at Economists. co.za said attempts to stop Walmart, one of the world’s biggest private sector employers, entering the country, did not point to a will to increase jobs.

COSATU criticises the lack of mention of the Freedom Charter and the RDP document in the NGP. Labour Analyst Loane Sharp says the NGP is a fantasy document, rather than a proper attempt at addressing the jobs crisis. Bureau of Market Researchers professors Carel van Aardt, André Ligthelm and Johan van Tonder found a major shift away from workers to capital in all but one of the economic sectors. This shows that economic growth of 6% to 7% per year will not be sufficient to reach our target of 5 million jobs by 2020.

Mr Patel acknowledges: “We have many challenges….One of China’s key lessons can be summed up in Deng Xiaoping’s famous statement that China’s development was ‘Like crossing a river by feeling for the stones underneath.’ In other words, stepby-step we implement. As it works, we strengthen it. When it fails, we drop it.”

All eyes are on you, minister Patel!

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No matter what business problems you face, our programme will come to your rescue.

Turnaround Solutions offers you a subsidised recovery programme to improve your profitability and save jobs.

If your company employs approximately 50 or more people and needs assistance, Turnaround Solutions can provide: • Expert help to rescue your business and its employees • Subsidized by 65% or more • Highly experienced people to analyse the state of your business and make it profitable again Since its inception in 2000, Turnaround Solutions has saved over 350 companies and over 160 000 jobs in many facets of commerce and industry.

For more information call: 011 848 5300 www.productivitysa.co.za 36

PRODUCTIVITY SA

The key to competitiveness Productivity is the key to competitiveness, and Productivity SA’s new CEO is bringing this message home.

B

ongani Coka is not new to Productivity SA or the values the organisation is built on. Having joined as a financial manager in 2000, Coka has steadily moved up the ranks, assuming the position of CEO in 2008 after the previous CEO resigned and the board asked him to act in the position until his official appointment in 2011.

Building South African business; productivity and sustainability levels is close to his heart, as his participation in the 2012 team that crafted the ‘Productivity for Africa 5-year Plan’ attests to.

“There are broad issues cited in the World Economic Forum that impact South Africa’s productivity, he says. “These include poor labour– employer relations, the health of the workforce, low ranking in terms of labour market efficiency, low university enrolment and a high crime rate.

“To improve our position in the rankings, we have recommended – among other things - that SA should establish a ‘Productivity and Competitiveness Council,’ which will perform the role of a ‘think tank’ to advise regulatory reform, public sector innovations, investment promotions and legal as well as institutional advancements.”

Turning business around Part of this drive includes the Turnaround Solutions Program, which as-

Productivity SA CEO Bongani Coka

sists in tackling unemployment. “This is a government recovery programme designed to assist companies to improve the profitability and save jobs,” explains Coka. “For a company to qualify for the Turnaround Solutions Programme, it should employ 50 or more people. The UIF will subsidise the turnaround by 65% or more, depending on the state of the company and the industry sector.”

As of March 2011, R34 million was spent in 130 companies and 15 000 jobs were saved through Turnaround Strategies in Agricultural, Steel, Manufacturing, Construction, and Printing industry sectors. During 2011/12 Turnaround Solutions intends on saving over 20 000 jobs to help reduce unemployment figures.

Exponential growth “Ultimately, our interventions are about productivity improvement, and since productivity is measurable, we determine our impact through productivity improvement that has occurred within the industries or companies we have worked with in implementing our programmes. For instance, increased turnover or company growth as a result of the implementation of productivity principles and methodologies serve as a yardstick to the success achieved. The increase in the number of companies that implemented the programme exponentially results in an increase in growth.”

Other programmes Over and above the Turnaround Solutions programme, Productivity SA also spearheads: •

•

Work Place Challenge, which assists companies in becoming ‘world class’ by adopting world class practices. Productivity SA charges 25% while the remaining 75% is absorbed by funding received from the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti).

SMEE Capacity Programme, which is funded out of the Government grant received from the Department of Labour. The grant is also utilised by Productivity SA to fund the productivity awareness programs and various productivity related research and statistics.

Support PUTTING SA INDUSTRIES FIRST During the recession, Productivity SA conducted studies within sectors that were shedding the most jobs to determine what companies could do to protect their employees. Based on this research, they intervened at company level and saved over 15 000 jobs.

Euro-trash?

Writer Zak King

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hey say “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. That might be true, but what happens in Europe does not necessarily stay in Europe. This is particularly true of the current turmoil in the Eurozone or EU. Basically, the European community is trying to contain the crisis of having too much debt in some countries (like Greece), and related fears that a country might default and cripple banks who hold its bonds. This is serious stuff! Not so long ago in the US, the collapse of Lehman Brothers sent consumers and investors into total panic mode which affected global markets including South Africa. The financial world is still reeling and people are still losing jobs and homes because of it.

When Europe formed a common currency, they called it the Euro. It has been jokingly said that one of the key factors holding the African Union from coming up with a common currency is how silly it would be to have to trade in “Afros”. Imagine if you will: Consumer: “ I will give you 20 Afros for a hair cut.” Hairdresser: “ huh?” However (more realistically) the burden placed on richer member states by poorer states has been highlighted in the difficulties facing a union that carries a common currency. For instance, while Finland needs to put only 48% of its GDP toward it’s debt and Slovakia 41%, some states like Italy and Greece actually need to allocate 119% and 142% of their GDP toward their debt... this is impossible, of course. However it does give you an idea of how serious their situation is. Will it all come crashing down? For many, Greece is

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the lynch pin in determining whether the Euro and indeed the EU will survive. That may sound dramatic but remember Unions can fall. Remember the Soviet Union? They had a unified currency as well and that whole situation did not turn out so well. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been quoted as saying: “if the Euro fails, then Europe fails.” However there have been huge plans involving trillions of Euros made to rectify the situation. Thus Merkel has said: “we will not let that happen.”

The plans to rescue the situation include measures to boost the impact of a bail-out for weaker states, a recapitalization of a large part of the banking sector, and a plan to get banks to take a bigger hit on their Greek debt holdings which could range from 20 to 50% loss on bond holdings. This has obviously made investors in the US nervous - which is never good. More is involved however than just Greece’s debt. Also of huge concern are Ireland, Italy, Spain (where one out of every five people are unemployed) as well as Portugal.

That is not to say that people in these countries have no money. No, rather like most countries, there are some who have a lot while the majority has a little. It is thought that some Greek citizens have deposited around €200 billion in Swiss bank accounts, with much of that sum thought to be unreported and thus untaxed. This has only exacerbated the current crises in that country as an estimated €120 billion has flowed out of Greece since the beginning of 2010. The problem is banking elsewhere significantly reduces the lending capacity of

local Greek banks. However plans are now in place to curb this. Horst Reichenbach (head of the EU taskforce on Greece) has said that Athens is now pursuing an agreement with Switzerland that would significantly increase Greece’s ability to pursue tax evaders who have deposited money in Swiss bank accounts.

This is not unprecedented either. There is currently a similar agreement between Germany and Switzerland which requires Swiss banks to enforce taxes on deposits from Germany and resulting investment income. In return, Berlin promises not to pursue legal action against the investors or against Swiss banks. Such an arrangement could really help with regard to the Greek situation. The question is: is it too little, too late? Will the planned bailouts actually work?

Currencies do “crash”. It can happen, but with so many parties involved, there is huge motivation to rescue the situation. This is no small third world country with no one looking out for it. No this is a huge sector of the business world. Even with these measures in place it is clear that the Euro and indeed the whole of Europe are headed for tough times. However, if the predicted next wave of global recession does grow into what is called a full blown ‘depression’ it will be a global phenomenon meaning that the Euro will probably still be valued at 10 times the value of the Rand. Unlike the Afro it looks like the Euro is here to stay, at least for now.

SIYENZA HOLDINGS COMPANY INTEGRATED SECURITY SYSTEMS PROVIDER

Two business professionals (Lucky Mahlangu/CEO and Brian Gerber/ Operations Director) founded Siyenza Holdings four years ago; both these individuals have acquired strong managerial skills and apply strict work ethics within the company. These skills, as well our focus on customer relations and satisfaction, ensure that each project is professionally managed to completion. We’re good at what we do hence our motto, “Watch Us Do It”.

The company, being a holdings group, has a number of small to medium enterprises in its stable that are used and called upon, as their various skills and areas of expertise are required for a particular project.

Siyenza Holdings has handled large projects that include installations of more than 180 plus cameras. One such installation is at one of the national key points, SANDF. The cameras are linked to the control room using a variety of communications media, such as microwave radio links, fibre optic networks and structured cabling infrastructures.

The company has completed several other projects and each of these has presented the organisation with unique challenges. Siyenza Holdings has completed major projects and amongst our clientele we boast the SA Air Force

the SANDF, Army Head Quarters and the Department of Tourism head office, just to mention a few. The network infrastructure created for certain projects involved the use of various media types.

Microwave radio links were used where it was not possible to trench due to terrain and buildings. Fibre optics is our main communications media for long-distance communications. The local area networks that we design and utilise, for our IP cameras and data points all comply with the structured cabling design as required by ANSI and BICSI standards.

Siyenza Holdings is capable of building complete data networks for IP cameras and data, which may stretch for many kilometres from the central control room site to the remote sites. We have our own electrical division for all our electrical work. We have handled large installation along fence lines where we installed cameras to guard the perimeter fence.

The planning and installation of projects is done in-house and then allocated to a project manager to manage until completion. Siyenza Holdings have to date always delivered projects within time and financial parameters Social Corporate Investment and Responsibility is key to our success

and we further invest heavily on our technicians. In this industry, you are as good as your technicians, hence training is critical for success.

We offer complete integrated security solutions. We are good at what we do, Africa watch this space!

For more information visit our website at www.siyenzaholdings.co.za or call our office at +27861 001095.

Mr Lucky Mahlangu, co-owner and CEO of Siyenza Holdings(Pty)Ltd who believes that ‘the formula for success is working hard and smart’

ECONOMY

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South Africa becoming more competitive within the Global market

Writer Reagan C Adams

A country’s level of competitiveness to the global economy is assessed according to its ability to provide high levels of prosperity to its citizens, depending on how productively it uses available resources. Conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), in partnership with leading academics and a global network of research institutes, competiveness is reported in what is called the Global Competitiveness Index.

First published in 1979, this report has evolved into the chief authority on relative competitiveness among most of the world’s nations.

The World Economic Forum or WEF is an independent international organisation committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Hosting WEF Africa 2011-2012, it is evident that South Africa is indeed responding to the new reality.

Naturally the index evaluates according to very specific criteria. It is based on the 12 pillars of competitiveness: institutions; infrastructure; macroeconomic stability; health and primary education; higher education and training; goods market efficiency; labour market efficiency; financial market sophistication; technological readiness; market size; business sophistication; and innovation.

With the 2011-2012 report covering 142 countries and some 14 000 respondents, SA ranks 50th, moving up from last year’s 54th position - thanks mainly to impressive gains in accountability of private institutions, strength of investor protection and technological readiness. Still ranking highest in sub-Saharan Africa, SA also ranks second to China in the BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The country that only got accepted into the global economy in 1994 after years

of exclusion under apartheid ranked first and second in the strength of auditing and reporting standards and efficacy of corporate boards respectively.

Looking at how we have improved our global stance, according to the WEF, SA has continued to benefit from the large size of its economy, particularly by regional standards and is ranked 25th in the market size pillar. SA also ranks strongly on measures of the quality of institutions and factor allocation, such as intellectual property protection (30th), property rights (30th), the accountability of its private institutions (3rd), and its goods market efficiency (32nd).

Found to be particularly impressive is the country’s financial market development (4th). It is indicative of the high confidence in SA’s financial markets during this difficult economic period, when trust is returning only slowly in many other parts of the world.

SA also does fairly well in more complex areas such as business sophistication (38th) and innovation (41st), benefiting from good scientific research institutions (30th) and strong collaboration between universities and the business sector in innovation (26th).

South Africa has been rated as one of the continent’s top innovators, according to the Africa Competitiveness Report, which reviews the degree of competitiveness of Africa’s economies. Rated on par with innovators like Brazil and India, SA is the most competitive economy in the subSaharan region.

It is also valuable to mention that three SA companies have been recognised as the best in the world in a survey of the world’s top 40 firms. These companies are MTN, the mobile telecommunications company, Sasol, the energy and chemicals specialist, and Bidvest, the global services, trading and distribution group.

However, in order to further enhance its competitiveness SA will need to address

some of its enduring weaknesses. SA ranks 95th in labour market efficiency, with rigid hiring and firing practices (139th), a lack of flexibility in wage determination by companies (138th), and significant tensions in labour-employer relations (138th).

Perhaps the biggest barriers to SA’s competitiveness are views around its business costs of crime and violence (136th) and the sense that the police are unable to provide protection from crime (95th). Another major concern remains the health of the workforce, which is ranked 129th out of 142 economies.

The high rates of communicable diseases and poor health indicators do not contribute to an environment that fosters competitiveness.

Efforts must also be made to increase the university enrolment rate of only 15 percent, which places the country 97th overall, in order to better develop its innovation potential.

In addition, the ongoing improvements to the country’s transport infrastructure for the 2010 World Cup should help improve its infrastructure ranking from 45th. Although described as good by regional standards, upgrading will reinforce South Africa’s competitiveness. And the one thing that remains constant in the perception of locals and foreigners alike, the poor security situation, which remains another important obstacle to doing business in SA. Echoing some endearing words from Minister Gordhan, on WEF it is evident that SA is ideally placed in the shifting poles of power and economic growth, as an emerging market, and also as a leading economy on a continent that has become an indispensible partner in the global economy. Assuming an increasingly important position in the international arena, we are one of the nonpermanent members on the United Nations Security Council, the only African country to be a member of the G20, and now most recently, we have taken seat at the table of the BRICS forum.

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ECO

Know your water footprint

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he growing scarcity of water in several parts of Africa is creating an imperative for businesses to better understand their operational water footprints. Climate change and population growth are expected to combine to exert critical barriers to commercial production as more regions become classified as water-scarce and waterstressed. Globally, water demand is expected to outstrip availability by a staggering 40% by 2030, and this situation will be far

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worse in Africa where urbanisation and an improving standard of living will add to the pressure on this finite resource.

In fact, the future is already here for many hotspots throughout the continent where, for example, many large cities that have relied on dwindling groundwater supplies now find themselves with critical shortages. By 2025 as many as 230 million people will be living in African countries facing water scarcity and a further 460 million will be in waterstressed countries.

The 2010 global report of the Carbon Disclosure Project on water clearly shows “that water is a significant and pressing issue for the world’s largest companies, many of which report both detrimental business impacts from water and significant waterrelated business opportunities.”

Scientific developments over the last ten years have highlighted the shortcomings of the more traditional approaches to the management of water resources. Driven by the worsening water crises, innovations have led to the more comprehensive and sophisticated Water Footprinting Methodology developed by the Water Footprint Network (WFN). This approach advocates a broader understanding of the impacts of consumption and leads to a more holistic water strategy for industries, factoring

in supply chain demands and recognising three different types of water use: blue, green and grey. These three categories distinguish between consumption of water from surface waters and aquifers (blue), evaporative flows or rainwater that is stored in the soil as moisture (green) and volumes of water impacted by pollution (grey). By considering these various categories, together with both direct (operational) and indirect (supply chain) water use, water footprinting provides a means of accurately dimensioning the true water use of an activity.

Through water footprinting, companies are able to better understand their current and future risks and construct a holistic water strategy to manage for and mitigate against these risks. The Global Water Footprint Standard, developed by the WFN and its partners of scientists, NGOs and large international companies, is rapidly gaining acceptance as the definitive methodology for defining, measuring and interpreting water use by industry. In many parts of Africa, including South Africa, water footprinting can be expected to offer the licence for industries to operate by providing a means to understand their usage pattern and solve water conflicts that may be anticipated to occur in the future.

ECO

Brew beer without water Written Dr Bernard Talbot

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ffluent should be recycled back into brewery operations with less reticence than is currently the case.

Throughout Africa and many other parts of the world we encounter areas or entire regions where water is scarce and water quality highly suspect. In these situations beer quality is often compromised and production schedule disrupted. The use of properly treated effluent presents the brewer with a safer option and greater security of supply.

There is little doubt that today technology exists to cost effectively and sustainably remove all pollutants from brewery effluent streams. And, thereby, we can produce a water quality that is chemically safe for human consumption as well as a chemistry entirely compliant with even the most stringent of compliance schedules.

The biggest argument for reusing treated effluent is that its chemical quality far exceeds that encountered in most borehole abstraction schemes. It is not uncommon on the eastern seaboard of the African continent and elsewhere to find borehole water high in the BTEX complex (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene residual mix) ingressed into the groundwater from leaching diesel pollution, in addition to the frequent presence of elevated nitrate and faecal coliforms that betrays the ingress of percolated domestic sewage. After all, many large cities in the developing world,

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with populations in the several millions, do not have even basic sewage treatment and disposal systems or landfill facilities.

A large portion of this waste load ends up in the groundwater, making the shallow coastal freshwater aquifers along the African eastern seaboard, for example, very prone to being heavily polluted, chemically and pathogenically. In urban and periurban coastal environments, excessive groundwater abstraction results in coning, a process whereby salt water upwells from the underlying denser saline aquifer to dramatically increase sodium and chloride concentrations in the groundwater.

Rampant urbanisation often negates any advances made in bulk water supply and distribution. Very commonly, the microbiology can be far from safe and introduces an unknown human health risk to the brewer through the presence of pathogens.

The treatment train required to achieve the necessary water quality for reuse in brewery operations has developed rapidly over the last 20 years. While there are still reasonable variations in the field, the industry benchmark currently has settled on the following format.

The first step is undeniably biological and over the last 5 to 10 years this has been a dual step of anaerobic and aerobic treatment arranged in series. The anaerobic treatment is classically of the UASB (Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Bed) configuration and the aerobic phase is preferably of the MBR (Membrane Biological Reactor) type where clarification is achieved using ultra-filtration membranes to produce a high-quality intermediate water.

Typically, this ultra-filtration water needs further treatment. Elevated concentrations of various inorganic species in the effluent make it necessary to follow the biological steps with reverse osmosis (RO). RO membranes are used to split the effluent into two streams; a permeate and a brine. The permeate stream is largely made up of water molecules with only trace levels of ions such as sodium, low levels of ammonia and practically no organic residuals. The membranes act as an absolute biological barrier to any living organisms in whatever form, removing them with 100% efficiency. The brine contains the rest of the chemical and biological components and needs to be discharged to the environment.

This permeate water is not yet usable and requires a few post treatment steps. We usually recommend the use of activated carbon as a precautionary measure. Activated carbon filters will mop up any small traces of ammonia, colour, odour or taste that may end up in the permeate stream. Cooling is often required in tropical environments where

the treated effluent could still be in excess of 35 deg C. This water is now suitable for user points that require very soft water such as boiler feed. The rest of the water requires disinfection to prevent downstream microbiological contamination and/or conditioning to ensure appropriate hardness and conductivity.

An advantage of the beer industry is that brewery effluent lacks troublesome pollutants such as mercury, harmful pathogens or hormonal and pesticide residues.

So, if the consensus among water scientists is that existing technology can produce a demonstrably safe water supply, why the visceral opposition still clearly in evidence throughout the industry? The worsening water crisis in many parts of the world is expected to increasingly challenge these traditional and often archaic sentiments against recycled effluent.

It’s also accepted as “normal” that a Londoner will open his tap to water that could have been used and cleaned several times. Much work is needed to unravel the actual perceptions of the general public that taps into this irrational fear. There are sporadic reports of studies that have strived to explain the “yuk” factor that fuels the consumer’s dread of one recycled water supply but leaves the same encountered in arid towns in Australia where formidable resistance to treated sewage has hampered critical development of wastewater reuse.

There are many up sides to the practice of water recycling in breweries besides improving security of supply, reducing water ratios and the resultant reduction in its environmental footprint. Part of the treatment train, anaerobic digestion, reduces about 85% of the organic content of the effluent by converting it first to volatile fatty acids and then to methane. This not only affords the opportunity to replace around 10% of the fossil fuel use in the boilers, but also reduces the need to consume electricity in downstream municipal or collective treatment plants. A 1 Mhl/yr brewery can produce as much as 0.46 MW of power from the anaerobic digestion of its effluent, and in addition save a further 0.11 MW of power utilisation at downstream municipal sewage treatment plant, giving a net advantage of 0.57 MW. Treatment also removes nuisance nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate and prevents them from entering the receiving environment.

Furthermore, recycled water is typically produced on the brewery site itself and operated and maintained by staff that is either employed, or at least sanctioned, by the brewery. This provides an element

of control that could be a tangible relief in environments where the operational and maintenance control of the water utility companies are poor or non-existent.

Many breweries today are setting their sights audaciously on ever diminishing water ratios, some as low as 2.2 hl:hl. This cannot be achieved solely by shutting taps, fixing leaks and internal recycling. In fact such targets are not achievable without aggressive recycling of treated effluent. A 20 year old brewery with old equipment but a reasonable water management programme may achieve a water ratio of 4.2 hl:hl. Recycling 65% of the brewery’s effluent leads to an approximate 50% reduction in the volume of water that needs to be brought on site and has the prospects of reducing the water ratio to 2.2 hl:hl.

A further advantage of this recycling programme is that it leads to reductions in specific water usage at certain user points.

The softness of the recycled water or low TDS of the RO water at around 15 mg/l tolerates more concentration cycles in the boiler feed, condensers and cooling towers before requiring blow down.

This reduction in water usage takes on extreme significance in breweries that are embedded in water scarce communities. A typical 1.5 Mhl/yr brewery at a water ratio of 7 hl:hl will consume the equivalent water of 35 700 people and can be conceived as an irresponsible guzzler. Put another way, that same brewery will consume in one day what a developing world family will consume in 14 years. In these circumstances it is difficult for the brewery management to claim good environmental performance without demonstrable evidence of water recovery.

There is little doubt that returning treated effluent back into the brewery operations should be practised with great care. Besides ensuring stringent operating procedures and rigorous quality assurance programmes, there are numerous qualifiers that need to accompany the reuse programme. Possibly chief among them is the strict need to prevent ingress of domestic sewage into the effluent reticulation. Exhaustive testing needs to be done using a variety of techniques including dye tracer studies to verify that streams emanating from ablutions facilities are kept segregated and discharged separately from the effluent.

Experience in several breweries suggests that, as a rule of thumb, recycling should be limited to 60-65% of the effluent volume generated. As water flows through the brewery, it picks up substantial quantities of sodium, chlorides, sulphates as well as other species. Many of these are conservative,

i.e. they flow right through the biological treatment steps unaltered and end up in the RO membranes where they are separated from the water and end up in the brine for discharge. The balance of the effluent that is not reused, or 35% - 40% has to be the carrier for practically all the inorganic component of the full effluent stream. In this way, the lower this discharged volume, the higher the concentration of the inorganic species such as sodium and chloride. All of this works its way through the anaerobic and aerobic treatment steps and ends up going through the membranes. Almost all of it is retained in the membrane and discharged with the brine. Here its concentration increases to 1400 mg/l to 1800 mg/l. At this point, the discharged stream has the potential to become problematic. If the river water is used for irrigation, for example, sodicity problems can be become apparent. It could be counter argued that the water recovery programme does not increase the amount (load) of sodium released to river, but only the concentration. However, sodium will have an impact due to concentration alone.

Where the brewer is assured of a secured supply of good water quality the drivers for water recovery largely disappear due to the higher capital and operating costs associated with the required treatment steps.

These added costs, combined with added operating and maintenance complexities will otherwise limit treatment to anaerobic and aerobic treatment.

The resultant increase in process complexity with components such as ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis is very real. These are engineering processes and equipment that are often foreign to the brewer. It is not surprising that we find such treatment trains are best operated and maintained on an outsourced basis by a specialist utility company. Operational experience is key not only in treatment area, but also in managing events within the brewery so as to ensure appropriate quality of the brewery effluent.

A properly crafted wastewater management plan can anticipate and successfully mitigate all these difficulties so as to safeguard the realisation of a water recycling programme.

Maybe we will yet produce beer without water – at least without freshwater – whatever that might be.

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ITLS (Africa) is responsible for a range of research and related activities within the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management

University of Johannesburg ITLS Africa

T

he Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (Africa) or ITLS (Africa) was created in 2007 in response to an overwhelming need for independent, unbiased, relevant and up-to-date research in the fields of transport, logistics and supply chain management. As industry and users started to recognize that world-class transport and supply chain research is imperative in a developing economy, the researchers in the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management at the University of Johannesburg acknowledged the need for an inclusive and comprehensive research unit and ITLS (Africa) was established. ITLS (Africa) is set up as a specific and separate research entity within the Department to provide specialist high-level research services for both the private and public sectors, focusing on the most urgent research priorities in the country.

ITLS (Africa) has partnered with the Institute for Transport and Logistics Studies at the University of Sydney, as part of a commitment to maximize the research potential of both institutes and ensure a high level of collaboration and the “best of both worlds” in terms of cutting edge research.

ITLS (Africa) has, at its core, the skills, experience and network as well as a long and sound history of providing research excellence to both the public and private

46

sectors, in topics ranging from policy and government strategy to various customized transport solutions in all modes of transport.

In order to maximize the impact of transport and supply chain research on the South African society and economy, ITLS (Africa) has adopted a vision “to conduct world-class research in support of new and innovative knowledge creation and information dissemination for the domestic and international transport and supply chain community”.

ITLS (Africa) is responsible for a range of research and related activities within the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management. In addition to commissioned research, it also conducts non-commissioned research, has its own publication, offers customized courses to sector role players and coordinates lunchtime and other information sessions.

To date, ITLS (Africa) has created customized courses for a number of key South African role players, amongst which are the Post Office, the South African Police Services and a collaboration with Liege University in Belgium to provide logistics management courses to selected students through TETA. Currently a three tiered course is being presented at Transnet Freight Rail to introduce all levels of management to the various aspects of logistics management. Over one thousand students

have been trained on this programme to date. An additional programme for TFR is currently being developed with the Glasgow Caledonian University. This course will focus on addressing the training gaps in rail operations in the organization.

ITLS (Africa) conducts internal research as well as commissioned research for private and public sector industry role-players.

Internally, major studies have been conducted on the state of logistics outsourcing in the manufacturing sector, transport scenario planning for the next 20 years, has been done with renowned scenario planners, an industry survey has been done on the skills gap in the sector. Other planned studies include the development of a databank and extension of the logistics outsourcing survey to other economic sectors. Commissioned research ranges from projects for users such as Eskom to providers such as ACSA, ATNS, AASA, RFA and to financiers such as DBSA. ITLS (Africa) has also partnered with the Transport Forum to offer regular information sessions to interested parties from industry.

Four sessions are offered each year covering topics ranging from bus rapid transport issues in South Africa to the sustainability of the aviation sector and international logistics trends to the proposed carbon tax. This partnership will continue far into the future, aiming at bringing relevant and topical information and discussions to the industry.

ITLS (Africa) has also started its own publication, the Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management, and is the first of its kind in South Africa. The journal, which is an electronic or e-journal, was first published in November 2007. Following its huge success the journal is now published annually. The Journal was accredited by the Department of Education in 2009 and can be viewed on http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ ejour_jtscm.html ITLS (Africa), with its excellence, integrity, independence and dynamism in research is already changing the way transport, logistics and supply chain research is viewed in the country and will continue to break new ground for years to come.

TRANSPORT AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES

On track to your skills destination The University of Johannesburg’s Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management offers a variety of specialized training programmes in Transport and Supply Chain Management to enable industry role players to reach their full potential.

These programmes include: • Degree and Post Graduate programmes in Transport and Logistics Management • Diploma in Road Transport Management (including the Certificate in Road Transport Management) • The Transportation Management Diploma • National Diploma in Transportation Management • Certificate Programme in Logistics Management • Diploma in Logistics Management • National Diploma in Logistics Management • Road Transport Management Bridging • Transport Management Bridging These qualifications offer you the following benefits: • Industry related focus areas • Enhanced professionalism • Flexible study options Enquiries: Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management Auckland Park Kingsway Campus (cnr Kingsway and University Road) University of Johannesburg Telephone: 011 559 2464 Fax: 011 559 2029 Email: fdangor@uj.ac.za

www.uj.ac.za/transport

ECO

Water the number one priority for EWS Submitted by eThekwini Municipality Water and Sanitation Unit Availability of water is key to sustainable urban development in South Africa. That is why the eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation (EWS) Unit’s number one priority is to deliver water to people efficiently, economically, reliably and equitably.

Currently, the city distributes an average of 900 million litres of water to 3,5 million people each day. Speaking ahead of World Habitat Day, EWS Head, Neil Macleod, 48

warned that, without critical interventions within the next five years, water restrictions and increased interruptions are a distinct possibility. The worst case scenario would be for water shortages to restrict or derail both industrial and residential developments in key areas, reducing the prospect of much needed employment and housing. “This would impact on projects such as the Dube Tradeport, proposed large housing projects

for poor families such as Cornubia and new developments to the north and west of Durban. No municipality would like to see that, so we are trying to make sure that this doesn’t happen,” he said. According to the United Nations, 14 African countries already face water scarcity (when less than 1 000 cubic metres of water is available per person per year). At least five more – Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Morocco and South Africa - are

expected to face water scarcity within the next 10 years. (Source: www.waterindustry. org <http://www.waterindustry.org> ). This is likely to be exacerbated by population growth, urbanisation and climate change.

“Population growth and economic development are the two major drivers of Durban’s water problem – and there is a direct correlation between the two. With the democratization of South Africa, the operational area of eThekwini Municipality increased 10 fold, providing massive engineering challenges when it came to delivering safe water and sanitation. The eThekwini region is still seeing increased migration from rural areas, so the population growth rate is above the national average.

2010 saw the highest growth in five years with an additional 30 000 families in the city needing services,” said Macleod.

Already, the threat of water restrictions is very real. “We are at a point where our dams are unable to sustain the current demand over an extended period and the risk of failure is

building of the Spring Grove Dam which was due by 2008. Construction begins this year and completion is scheduled for 2014.

“The Spring Grove Dam is inadequate for our needs the day it is completed. It is not a long term solution as it doesn’t provide additional capacity going forward.”

In addition, these much needed bigger dams are becoming economically unviable. The proposed Mkomazi scheme – which includes damming the Mkomazi River – is not only likely to run into considerable opposition, but comes with an estimated price tag of R20 billion. “If it goes ahead, it will not be ready before 2030 – and that is our most optimistic estimate,” said Macleod.

Because traditional dam building is becoming unaffordable from both economic and environmental perspectives, he said more innovative measures were needed. These include recycling plants and desalination of seawater. He confirmed that EWS was looking at ways to reuse waste water and to recover nutrients such as phosphates for

The worst case scenario would be for water shortages to restrict or derail both industrial and residential developments in key areas

one in 15 years – that means severe water rationing every 15 years as opposed to every 50 years in the past. Durban’s last water restrictions were in 1997 and they are now overdue. A Water Restrictions Committee was set up last year. The only reason we have not introduced restrictions or rationing is because we have enjoyed above average rainfall for a number of years.”

Macleod explained that, ordinarily, seven years of wet weather is followed by seven years of drier weather. 2010 was an anomaly.

“As the fourth driest year in the history of this part of the country, it has been a blip in the sequence of wet years. The situation can turn around very fast.

It could flip back to a dry cycle. The impact will be felt the moment we have a drier year.”

For Macleod, the greatest concern is that without dams that meet the city’s needs, the risks associated with water shortages are higher. “You get into trouble far quicker. At present, we are seeing that storms are less frequent and more intense. This means you needed bigger dams because these dams are not topped up as frequently.”

However, national government has delayed key infrastructural projects such as the

agricultural use. “The reality is that there is no choice – we have to reuse and recycle water and harvest rainwater. The single most important thing is to do this safely as maintaining public health is paramount.”

Recycling is not new to EWS. “We have water reclamation works that convert 35 000kl of domestic sewage into second class industrial water every day. This is almost to drinking water standards. It is then sold for use in industrial processes. The companies benefit from utilising cheaper water. From our perspective, we can then send our precious potable water to consumers that need it most.”

Umgeni Water is also currently exploring the construction of two desalination plants in the Durban area. Each will be capable of purifying 150 million litres of sea water and will have a life cycle of at least 15 years.

For the time being, however, the most effective way of meeting Durban’s growing need for water is to optimise the use to which the city already has access. Macleod said that, for property developers, this meant being far more creative when designing projects. Those designed to use rainwater and recycled water from the outset were

more likely to be approved. He added that, in light of the fact that many developers are banking their water allocations, EWS intended looking more closely at how these are issued. “We need to free up water that has been allocated but is not being used.”

Water saving measures and substantial investments in maintenance and infrastructure are expected to ensure that the quantity of bulk water purchased over the next three years remains steady in spite of an expected two percent annual growth in actual consumption.

Interventions include replacement of aged reticulation piping, the monitoring, management and reduction of non-revenue water and EWS’s R600 million “Sustainable Water and Sanitation Development Programme for Indigent Communities” project which is expected to provide 800,000 people living in informal settlements with safe drinking water and sanitation.

Since 2007, substantial reductions in water leaks and theft of water have cut consumption by 12 percent. This is expected to fall further – from current levels of 33 percent to 20 percent. According to the World Bank, this would place the eThekwini Municipality in the top 35 percent of water supplier organizations in the developed world and in the top 15 percent in the developing world.

Key to this is EWS’s R1,6 billion Asbestos Cement (AC) replacement programme which ended in mid 2010 and is expected to give the city at least 50 years of leak-free service.

EWS is also replacing faulty water mains and meters, reducing illegal water connections and installing pressure controllers to reduce the number and frequency of pipe bursts.

“This equates to a reduction in overall water loss of 105-million litres daily. Every R1m invested on pressure management translates into aR3m saving on water loss,” Macleod explained.

EWS will also continue to invest in much needed infrastructure. The R864 million second phase of the Western Aqueduct project – the single largest bulk water supply pipeline contract ever undertaken

by EWS – is expected to be commissioned by 2014. This will significantly strengthen the capacity of bulk water supply to the western and northern regions of eThekwini by injecting 325 Ml/day with the capacity to potentially peak up to 470Mℓ/day. The Northern Aqueduct Augmentation Scheme, which is expected to go out to tender in February 2012, is expected to inject approximately 150 Ml/day into the northern regions of Durban.

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52

Woman of Substance Lindiwe Mazibuko Writer Lee-Anne Richards Women making impact in the political arena are becoming more common-place in South Africa. More so, if you are young, vibrant and out-spoken about your ideals, vision and future for South Africa. Beyond spoke to the newly elected, 31 year old, Leader of the Democratic Alliance in Parliament, Lindiwe Mazibuko, to find out more about this power-house.

When asked how she would describe herself, she stated that she was idealistic, over confident (when someone says she cannot do something) and shy (in the interaction with new people). She also believes that she is belligerent in that she loves a good debate. She often reads what other people have to say about her and knows that they are writing it from their own perspectives or what they were briefed about. People seem to be more obsessed whether she is “black enough” and whether the masses can identify with her. Some struggle to box her neatly and she becomes angry due to this. She believes that she is still in the throes of life and formulating who she is.

Lindiwe grew up in Swaziland, the daughter of a Banker, in an ordinary middle-class family. Her grandfather was a Bishop of the Anglican Church. She grew up in a mixed Swazi and English culture, speaking Seswati and English. Her family moved to Durban, South Africa, when she was six years old.

She attended the Akiva Primary school and Karma College in her secondary years. She is the 2nd youngest of five siblings and describes her family as happy and big.

Lindiwe’s pet peeves are when people that have access to information, make sweeping statements, based on bad logic. People who say, “It’s natural or normal for people to do it…” without substance and those that don’t question and allow popular wisdom to wash over them – choosing to live in wilful ignorance.

We enquired about what makes Lindiwe get out of bed each morning, she indicated that she is not a morning person and gets out of bed as a necessity. Her motto: “If I don’t do it today, it will pass over me and I will not

be able to do it again.” She however likes to work late into the night and describes her job as amazing –she is doing what she loves.

She wanted to be a musician but couldn’t get funding to continue in this career. For her family, education was a non-negotiable and therefore at the age of 24 years she went back to university, after a short stint abroad. She graduated, and while studying, her political consciousness grew and the day she handed in her thesis, she started her journey in the Democratic Alliance. She became what she loves and can see the difference that it makes on a daily basis. Her notion is that politicians feel the difference and the brush strokes that they can paint are massive in relation to those in another profession.

Lindiwe describes her values as liberal, doing no harm to others and not casting judgement or vilifying others. She believes that you should frame your own set of values within the framework provided. People need to know what is happening in the world around them and one should not cocoon oneself in pretending that nothing is happening outside your door. Defaulting to group thinking should not become the order of the day; there should not be rules of how to act dependent on social norms or hierarchies created within society. People are trained not to trust and that they should identify with a particular group, therefore not upsetting the applecart.

She likes to challenge pre-conceived notions.

On questioning why she particularly chose to join the Democratic Alliance as opposed to other political parties, she stated that ideologically, the DA resonates closely with her views on liberalism. The values of freedom, social responsibility, equality, means something to her and the DA also allows for individualism. She knows that she can help this growing opposition to expand and she is allowed to make a contribution and feels that it is very exciting. The African National Congress or other political parties do not resonate with her as it does not speak to her ideals.

On the South African Economic landscape, she is of the opinion that one should combine

supply and demand of products, services and labour. She believes that there are not enough positions available to accommodate skilled labour in the public and private sectors.

South Africa has too many unskilled labourers. A lack of investment in infrastructure makes it difficult for investors to invest as they have a desire for stability and economic investment. Lindiwe states that the big cheese between the DA and the ANC is the role of the state in all of this.

She believes that role of the state to create the infrastructure and regulatory framework for the private sector to create jobs and that they should facilitate the path between the gaps that exists and ways of closing it and not raise the salaries in the civil sector.

She says that government should create an environment that encourages start- ups and self-sustainability.

Lindiwe does not believe that there should be so much attention raised to her so-called “meteoric” rise in the ranks of the DA as there are many other young people that have risen in different spheres of the party. She states that all of this is an illustration of what the DA is and that it is not always about stalwarts but about what you can contribute to the organisation. Stalwarts are used to mentor and the DA has succession planning in place to allow for a nurturing and growing environment – allowing others to shine. She believes that the only reason that people are focusing on her is because she is “black” and a female.

Lindiwe’s new elected position is that of Parliamentary Leader of the DA. One of her major projects is to see in change in government at the ballot box and to use the platform to give alternatives and project who the DA is.

When asked about the legacies that she wants to leave behind, she states that after her two and a half year term, she would in the same way as Tony Leon, turn the DA into a world-class opposition party in parliament and leave behind details of a future DA.

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FINANCE

Financial planning Outlook for 2012 Writer Richard Mcglee

O

ne of the major indicators in our outlook for 2012, the year on our doorstep, is focused on the performance of major economies in the world and to assess how it impacts on our environment.

It is also important to assess the inherent strategic thinking of major economies and their ability to change, based on the new world financial challenges.

The situation in Greece and Italy is imperative in the way that it will affect developing countries such as South Africa and Africa.

Just recently, the International Monetary

54

fund [IMF] downgraded its outlook for the U.S economy for 2012 for two reasons: The weak growth of the US economy and the concern that Europe will not be able to solve its debt crisis. The IMF also lowered its outlook for seventeen countries that use the Euro. Furthermore the IMF predicts global growth of 4 percent for 2012 with stronger growth in countries like China, India, Brazil and other developing countries.

The IMF appealed to the U.S and European policy makers to act more decisively and to cut budget deficits. European officials must ensure that their banks have enough capital to

withstand the debt crisis. A cause of serious concern is to ascertain that the U.S economy faces longer lasting problems. Currently, the employers are adding fewer jobs with meagre salary increases. Many homeowners are owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Banks are keeping credit tight.

Another fundamental question is to evaluate how attached various leading economies are on their respective historic economic modules. We live in a ever changing global economy. However, various global economic leading countries were forced 56

Local Economic Development is of great importance to the people of South Africa. The government sees it as an important mechanism to decrease poverty and as a means to create and sustain jobs to make the economy grow.

by circumstance to adapt their historic economic models: In the case of Japan, the economy was mainly built on three pillars since World War 2; their model was manufacturing focused, export dependent and government led. Little did they concern themselves about the pace of other growing economies which eventually caught up with them. Consequently, the Japanese economy was throttled with slow growth.

Other leading economies have “homegrown” economic modules that are continually challenged with the global inevitabilities such as the current financial crisis. The most recent example of Greece and Italy is evidence of this. The prime solution of austerity measures in Greece is met with serious social unrest which may lead to further decay. At the same time, the historical welfare state concept in Europe was also given a major blow.

In all of this, we need to learn some imperative messages when planning ahead. How do we characterize the world today? What lessons can we learn to succeed in 2012?

Each country has their own historic economic challenge which may come with baggage

that is not easy to get rid of. Once again, Greece is a typical example thereof. Turning to South Africa, three major areas of concern for any South African comes to mind: With reference to the world economic situation and how it may impact on South Africa, the Governor of the Reserve bank raised a red flag when she referred to the European crisis as lacking meaningful progress towards resolution, with major implications for the region and those exposed to it. Another problem is the fact that the South African government debt is on watch by Moodys for a rating downgrade. The need to deal with the stark reality of inequality and inequities in our society is long overdue.

Notwithstanding the fact that Julius Malema has been suspended for five years, the underlying issues cannot be ignored.

We can have a very conservative approach like many of our senior economic planners and stick to the tried and tested best practice in the world or we can break old moulds, be a bit more creative, and challenge the so-called best practice in the world for better solutions.

Proper solutions are long overdue. We need the correct leadership at home and abroad

to deal with this. We need a restructured economy in the world to take us beyond our current challenges.

To sum it up in the words of Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar when he called for a restructured world economy, in his article “ the coming financial crisis” – “Once again I restate my earlier arguments: we need a new “Bretten Woods” agreement where we can address the existing problems and restructure the world’s economic system. If we don’t do this, and soon, we will face protectionism, low economic growth, and even trade wars.

We have ignored this problem for a long time and are now paying the price. What would the price be if we continue to ignore the existing systemic problems? We have to either make sure that the United States doesn’t catch a cold or vaccinate ourselves against it.”

Dr. Abbas lives in Norway. He is a management consultant and a contributing writer for many online journals

55 57

FINANCE “I will tell you how to become rich.

Close the door.

Be fearful when others are greedy.

Be greedy when others are fearful” Warren Buffet

Investing offshore What you need to know Writer Natasha Braaf

O

ffshore investing refers to a wide range of investment strategies that capitalises on advantages offered outside of an investors’ home country. Whilst the idea of offshore investing is sometimes demonised in the press and conjures images of illicit activities, a vast majority of offshore investing is perfectly legal and in fact, offers many advantages like diversification, rand hedging and high potential earnings, amongst others. The crux is that making the decision to venture offshore with your money, is not one to be made without the necessary knowhow and to NEVER allow your emotions to dictate those decisions. Before taking the plunge to the “murky” waters of offshore investing, make sure to educate yourself well and most importantly - talk to a certified financial planner.

How much can I take out of the country?

The South African Reserve Bank recently upped our offshore allowance to R4 million.

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“Investors are free to invest this money wherever they want – across jurisdictions, markets and financial instruments”, says Leon Campher, CEO of the Association of Savings and Investments South Africa (ASISA).

Tax implications of investing offshore?

There is no tax payable when making an investment offshore. The only requirement from a tax point of view is that you will need a tax clearance certificate in order to make such an investment, which SARS will only issue if your taxes are in order. As a SA resident though, you are taxed on your worldwide income, and if your offshore investment generates any taxable income, you will be liable for tax on such income in South Africa. However, if there has been any tax paid on such income in the foreign country, you can offset this tax against your South African tax liability to the extent that it doesn’t exceed the tax amount that would arise under SA tax law.

The potential risks associated with investing in the different foreign markets: Political risk, This relates to the actual political stability of the country one invests in. A change of government, deaths of heads of state or any major event can have quite an impact on the investment environment.

Economic risk, The country’s inflation rate, economic growth rate and particularly the savings rate, would be an indicator of how sustainable its growth rate is. Volatility risk, Markets outperforming over a specific period and underperforming over another.

Taxation risk, There is a risk of double taxation especially with countries where no taxation agreements exist. Currency risk, If you are invested on a foreign stock exchange, investment return will be the movement in share prices on that market in that currency.

As a SA investor, however, you must convert the value back to rands in order to work out your return. You could find that the increase in the value of those shares has been wiped out by the depreciation of that currency against the rand.” Investment risk, You might choose the right market, but the wrong shares or sectors within that market. Custodian risk, If the custodian of your offshore assets is not a reputable institution, you could lose everything.

While these risks are very real, Mr Johan Louw, general manager in charge of investments at Absa Trust Pointing maintains: “The potential benefits are substantial and including foreign investments in one’s portfolio is a prudent move. The key issues are to be aware of the risks and limit them as much as possible.” Important to remember is that volatility occurs over the short term, be wary and be patient.

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FINANCE

DEBT REVIEW Lets talk about debt Writer Zak King

A

re you ashamed to tell people that you have debt problems?

Most people are. This is a strange phenomena in a country where almost half of all credit users have what is described as an ‘impaired’ debt record. There was a time in the not so distant past when collection agents would call you up and threaten to “blacklist” you if you did not pay up. With the advent of the National Credit Act and the recent changes in how credit information is stored and presented at the various credit bureaus, (yes, there are a few and they compete for business like most other companies out there) there is in fact no such thing as “blacklisting” any more. So, if you receive a threatening call from someone saying: “we will blacklist you”...they are talking rubbish and do not deserve your respect. Don’t get me wrong, a good payment history is not to be sneezed at. Nowadays, when someone draws a credit bureau report on a consumer, it shows their payment record, month by month. This can even show a credit checker whether you pay your bills on time or not. It will show if you have recently missed a months payment, and if so, when. Also shown, are how many other credit agreements you have in place and the estimated value of those accounts.

All this information will help a potential

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creditor decide whether or not to give you access to their money. Another new feature of the Credit Act, is that should you be declined credit, the creditor has to give you the reasons (in writing) why.

What are legitimate reasons for refusing to extend credit? Well, if you are habitually late or often miss months repaying other creditors, this would be of concern to a new creditor. Perhaps you have many other commitments to other creditors and you would not be able to realistically afford more credit. This is very important for creditors to check or they might be liable for granting reckless credit! If a court rules that they should never have granted you the money in the first place, they might have to forfeit all that money.

Approximately half the credit users in SA, regularly have problems paying back their debt. This means that millions are struggling to pay all their debt each month. So why are we so embarrassed to talk about it?

Why do we have the “ostrich mentality” when it comes to dealing with our debt?

Who knows? Personally, I blame everyone other than myself. However the recent stats published by the National Credit Regulator (NCR) reveal that half of us are in trouble and probably don’t know what to do about it.

Strangely, if you are in debt trouble, the

people you should be talking to right now are the people you owe money to. Yes, the inclination is there to duck and dive and not answer calls from unknown numbers, but that will not help in the long run. No, it’s better to make a plan with your creditors as soon as possible. It is probably best to put the plan down in writing. When approaching one creditor, tell them about the debts you have with other creditors too and have a prepared budget of your monthly needs (not luxuries or wants, just your needs). If you do make a proposal to a creditor, then it is best to send it to them via fax and keep the proof that you sent it. If you send it via email ask for a read receipt. If you pop in at a branch, have them sign a copy of your written offer for your records. Why? Well, should things turn nasty- like if someone sends you a summons- then you can take the proof that you did try to make a payment arrangement with the creditor. Many courts will then ask the creditor to accept the proposal you have made rather than grant a Judgment against you. If all of that seems too complicated, seek professional help like that of a Debt Counsellor who can help you make a reasonable plan and proposal to your creditors. At least, you can talk openly and honestly with someone about your debt for a change!

The Sacred Mountain Lodge “Table Mountain is known as the most potent symbol of Africa, representing freedom in every sense of the word, and has been likened to a fortress, a sleeping goddess, a stairway to heaven, a guardian of the city, a warrior and watcher of the south, considered sacred for the living forces at work behind nature” The Area Sacred Mountain is nestled at the end of the Table Mountain National Park mountain range, in the peaceful village of Noordhoek. This historic valley surrounded by lush mountain peaks and pristine beaches edging both the Atlantic and the slightly warmer Indian Oceans, is the perfect point from which to explore the Cape Peninsula The Cottages All of our cottages are equipped with 100% cotton percale linen; DSTV, tea & coffee making facilities and bar fridges, and our self catering cottages also all have fully equipped kitchenettes, and private braai facilities, and some with indoor fireplaces.

The Facilities We have a private pub, safely fenced solar heated swimming pool and wellness spa, and wireless internet for the exclusive use of our valued in-house guests. We have also received the honourable 4 star rating from the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.

Sacred Mountain Experience At Sacred Mountain Lodge we excel in the personal touch and our homely welcome extends to a full menu farmstyle breakfast using only the freshest, free range and organic ingredients, to be savoured beneath the whispering Oaks of our sanctuary garden. Indulge in our chef’s home-cooked meals.

Special diets are catered for with pleasure. Picnic baskets can also be requested. On a hot day follow the garden path, take a dip in the cool freshness of our perfectly solar heated pool set in a shaded fairy dell. A little farther along the path you will find our Wellness Spa and Jacuzzi tucked away in a forest clearing in a private corner of our garden. This space may be booked to ensure full privacy and is available for a variety of treatments, or relish in a romantic candlelit soak.

Sacred Mountain is perfect for an intimate and exclusive wedding or function in our beautiful garden, well protected from the wind. A spit braai can be arranged and a Bedouin tent erected to create some lasting memories in this idyllic setting. Conferences are also arranged with seating indoors and outdoors.

Wireless internet is available on site as are secretarial services as required.

6 Avondrust Lane, Noordhoek Telephone +27 21 789 2713 Facsimile +27 86 691 8492 Email info@sacredmountain.co.za

www.sacredmountain.co.za

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B-BBEE It’s time to grow up!

Writer Dionne Kerr

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t is always interesting to observe people’s reactions to the topic of BEE. Individuals who understand it, have taken the time to absorb the intent and the detail of it, talk about the value that they have derived from it. Those individuals who have not yet taken the time to truly understand and therefore still see it as an outcome of a scorecard calculation still refer to the model as a “cost of doing business” and those individuals who have not yet understood it at all or started to deliver it – still maintain that it is all about visible Black ownership as opposed to a model for transformation.

When I talk to potential investors looking to come into South Africa, many of them refer to their business dealings in global operations from Croatia to Poland to the US, the UK or Australia. Interestingly, the concept of BEE is not foreign to them. For most of them, they have had to, or chosen to comply with similar models for transformation, local development, economic stimulation or sustainability.

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Australia’s policy is called the Indigenous Economic Development Policy – the policy specifically creates incentive for businesses that are owned by Indigenous Australians.

Those that comply may contract with Government without the requirements for tender. The Saudisation policy in Saudia Arabia suggests that at least 30% of the workforce of multinationals must be local Saudi Arabians thereby stimulating local job creation with a specific emphasis on skills development of core and critical skills.

The point is, the model is not unique. The fact that we made our model for change specific to the South African environment to stimulate opportunity for the majority versus the global model which is more geared towards a minority is perhaps unique but the notion of policy guiding business to achieve secondary socio-economic objectives is not unique.

So what does B-BBEE really entail?

Transformation - consideration for how you impact the environment, people and

community. Local Development - targeted development in local markets to stimulate job creation. Supply Chain excellence - supplier diversity, quality management and sustainability of suppliers to achieve long-term success. Human Resources best practise - fair and consistent HR policies that address the needs of our business sector so that we run efficient, effective businesses with local teams.

Ask yourself – is your BEE consultant a business consultant that adds value to your South African operation? Are they interviewing your business to look at how your business is structured, how you operate, how you are geared for growth and how your business model captures the opportunity – or are they simply preparing your scorecard?

The consulting industry needs to step up in driving change and transformation, corporate South Africa needs to wake up and stop trying to run their businesses and then tick boxes in parallel.

South Africa’s longevity is about our children and their children’s children. There are 50,5million people relying on this generation to get this model right – surely it justifies our attention to make sure we are working with competent consultants, committed leadership and executive committees and have established an operating culture within our businesses that sees the long-term benefit of developing a country where all South Africans can benefit.

Some days the fight to be heard is simply exhausting – other days it motivates us to try harder, but the question needs to be asked – when will our commitment to transformation in South African no longer require us to argue and debate?

The reality is, the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice are currently being reviewed. We anticipate that the changes will see more stringent application and the removal of the loop-holes that have existed historically. In parallel to this, we have the Year 6 targets for B-BBEE which come into effect in February 2012. For those businesses that have done nothing yet – this will pose a threat. For those that have engaged, understood and adopted their strategy for South Africa this will be a real opportunity to differentiate.

This means that the original policy has another 5 years. Is it reasonable to hope that within the next 5 years, we could realistically do away with targets and measurement?

Transformation by now should be the way in which we operate. South Africa, 17 years post democracy is a teenager coming out of puberty and hitting the adult years – it is time for us to act that part.

ECO

Leaving a green legacy By kind permission of Simply Green, www.simplygreen.co.za

N The international trend towards ‘natural burials’ has arrived on South African shores with this first privately-owned and operated ecofriendly cemetery on a conservation area in the Western Cape. Legacy Parks is a more natural alternative to traditional cemeteries.

o-one knows what the full eco impact is of the millions of burials and cremations that take place in SA annually. But we do have some numbers from the USA, which give us some insight. Every year, in some 22 500 cemeteries, the following is buried: 376 000 litres of embalming fluid, 90 272 tons of steel (caskets), 2 700 tons of copper and bronze (caskets), 1 636 000 tons of reinforced concrete (vaults), 14 000 tons of steel (vaults) and nine million board metres of (mostly tropical) hardwood used in caskets.

Compare to this the eco cost of cremation: 0.8 – 5.9 grams of mercury, 75% going into the air and the rest settling into the ground and water, plus several million tons of C02 .In short, either way round the block, the truth is that as with our lives, our deaths come at a cost to the environment. So, how do we, as conscious citizens, reduce that impact?

Perhaps the answer lies in the new concept of an ‘eco-cemetery’, the first of which, in this country is Legacy Parks Wiesenhof.

The international trend towards ‘natural burials’ has arrived on SA shores with this first privately-owned and operated ecofriendly cemetery on a conservation area in the Western Cape.’ Legacy Parks is a more natural alternative to traditional cemeteries, burials or cremation and a safer, more tranquil place for family members to remember their loved ones in an environment where preserving legacy is a central concept,’ says Legacy Parks CEO Willie Fouche.

‘People now have the option of leaving this world in an earth-friendly way.’ The beautiful Wiesenhof site outside Stellenbosch will be developed in phases, offering grave sites and memorialisation areas for the scattering of

ashes with seeds to create fields of flowers.

Tall, indigenous trees and plant life create a natural habitat for wildlife, including zebra and springbok, to flourish inside the nature reserve, making it unique in the world. Only 10ha of the 300ha site will be used for burial purposes. ‘While traditional cemeteries have up to 80% of a site covered with graves, our difference is conservation.’ Fouche says. A fulltime maintenance team, led by a horticulturist, is responsible for the upkeep of the site. Bodies will be returned to earth in the least artificial way-caskets are made from biodegradable materials such as wicker, and burial sites will be marked organically with engraved stone markers or a tree planted by relatives. People of all religions may be buried at Legacy Parks.

On-site facilities include a coffee shop and a deck across a picturesque dam where commemoration services can be held.

‘Legacy Parks has secured privately owned sites across the country including Pretoria and Port Elizabeth and intends to develop further eco-cemeteries from 2012,’ adds Fouche.

Funeral policies for Legacy Parks will be underwritten by Sanlam. Burials will work out at a similar price to, if not less than, the equivalent traditional interment, with its ostentatious coffins and costly headstones.

‘South Africans often view death in a negative light and decisions regarding mortality are put on hold until the need arises.

Legacy Parks aim to change this by bringing real dignity and ongoing memorialisation to those we hold dearest,’ says Fouche.

Eco-cemeteries are a more environmentallyfriendly option for final resting places, with new sites gaining traction across USA, UK, Australia and Canada each month.

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A passion for helping others succeed, The Fetola story Writer Anton Ressel A Cape Town based business development consultancy is making an impact nationally in the field of enterprise development and economic empowerment, using proven methods combined with a passion for supporting the success of our future generation of business leaders. Fetola, a Sotho word meaning ‘change’ or ‘changing’, specialises in assisting emerging entrepreneurs, SMME’s, grassroots projects and community based organisations to attain new levels of success. Based in Westlake Business Park and with a national footprint, Fetola was founded in 2006 by enterprise development practitioner and experienced entrepreneur Catherine Wijnberg. “We are acutely aware of the increasingly crucial role that sustainable enterprise development will play in terms of our national economic growth. For this reason, good is not enough for us, both as a business but especially as a country – our programmes simply have to be the best if we are to make a meaningful impact in terms of job creation and the development of a thriving small business sector in SA,” she says.

The Business of Business Fetola teach what they call ‘the Business of Business’, an approach built around offering simple, practical and replicable business solutions that have relevance irrespective of business focus, sector or structure.

“There are certain fundamentals that need to be in place in any organisation for it to be sustainable and successful, and that is what we focus on,” says Wijnberg.

“What we have seen is that most interventions in the SMME arena tend to focus on isolated areas of operation, such as product development, production or sales. This ‘silo’ approach neglects to address other crucial areas needed for sustainable growth. In our programmes, we strive to address all the issues and challenges an organisation may face across the value chain,” she explains.

The organisation runs long-term enterprise 66 68

development programmes as well as working directly with entrepreneurs and SMME’s on a needs-basis. Offerings are diverse and include mentoring, skills development and training, practical e-learning courses, systems development and strategic planning.

“I believe that what sets us apart is that we have ‘walked the walk’, especially when it comes to small business and communitybased business development. I have started, owned and managed businesses across five sectors, while our senior consultant Anton Ressel was co-founder of Streetwires, one of the largest social enterprises in SA. All our consultants and mentors are business people themselves – how can you teach entrepreneurial thinking if you have never been an entrepreneur?” asks Wijnberg.

The Fetola Model According to Wijnberg, the Fetola enterprise development model looks at nine Critical Success Factors that are integral to the sustainable development of an organisation, starting with Strategic Vision and Direction – an essential component of success in any organisation.

Other modules include Sales Tools and Resources, Communications, Accounting and Financial Management, Administration and HR Systems, Marketing, Sales and Fundraising, Marketable Product or Service and Market Access.

A blended offering of skills training workshops, e-learning, brand development and marketing support, together with remote and one-on-one mentoring and access to a shared peer network encourages lasting and sustainable change in the organisations involved in their programmes.

The Legends Programme Fetola’s flagship enterprise development initiative, the Old Mutual-supported Legends Programme, was a Finalist in the coveted Mail & Guardian ‘Investing in the Future’ Awards in the Best Enterprise Development

Programme category in 2010.

Legends currently supports 65 enterprises in all nine provinces, and has become one of the largest virtual incubator programmes in SA. Participants include craft and design organisations, furniture manufacturers, skills training organisations, NGO’s, community projects and a number of up-and-coming young entrepreneurs in the services, agriculture, film and design spheres.

If the figures are anything to go by, Legends is indeed having a significant impact in its aims to reduce poverty, create jobs and develop skills amongst its beneficiary network.

Annual participant sales turnover increased from R690,000 (2007) to R2.385million (2010) - an increase of 290%, while the programme has more than tripled in size from supporting 350 direct beneficiaries in 2008 to over 1400 in 2011.

From a funder perspective, apart from its sales and job growth successes the Legends programme also generated over R1,2 million in PR and media value in 2010, most of which was created by the in-house media team at Fetola.

The ETU SMME Accelerator Programme A recent Fetola initiative aimed at more established businesses is the ETU SMME Accelerator Programme, funded by the Embassy of Finland. ‘ETU’ is a Finnish word meaning ‘benefit’.

This programme works with participants that are primed for growth across several sectors, such as internationally renowned lighting designer Heath Nash, high-end furniture and interiors business Cabinetworks, luxury leather accessories designer Majda Rabin of Chimpel, Vincent Urbain of urban africa and fast-growing ceramics studios Imiso Ceramics and Zizamele.

Beneficiaries of both programmes receive a suite of support including practical business skills training and ongoing access to business mentors.

Both programmes also utilise an innovative

peer-to-peer email network resource, enabling beneficiaries to communicate with each other, share lessons and ask for advice and support simply by sending an email.

This resource is also used by Fetola to distribute weekly e-learning training to Legends beneficiaries on diverse topics such as Sales and Marketing, Finance, Strategic Planning, Administration and Costing and Pricing. The overall intention is to help beneficiaries become more businesslike, competitive and sustainable.

“What we have found over the years is that many entrepreneurially-minded people find the actual business side of things far less interesting than the generation of new ideas or concepts. My response to this - that is why there are so many great business ideas that never get off the ground!” says Fetola consultant Anton Ressel.

“In all seriousness, it is rare to find a combination of entrepreneurial thinking and the discipline required to turn dreams into reality. The harsh truth is that good ideas alone are not enough to sustain a business.

There are a number of fundamentals that must be in place for any business to thrive, and this is what we try and impart through our training and mentoring programmes.”

Turning the Light On One notable success story is the work Fetola have been doing with Heath Nash. A gifted designer with a growing international profile, Heath joined the ETU programme because he recognised that the business side of his company needed attention.

“I have always found the design and creative process much more stimulating than the financial or administrative side of things – obviously!” says Heath with a smile.

“However, I found myself in a situation where I was working harder and harder but not really moving forward in a business

sense. Sure, my profile was growing, but this was not translating into financial success and sustainability for the business, because this side of things was always second fiddle to the creative side. That has changed since I joined ETU and started working with Fetola, and the benefits have been almost immediate,” he says.

The starting point was to empower Heath with information about his business that he could understand and embrace. This meant regular sales reports, management accounts and a clear picture of what his expenses and income were on a monthly basis.

“I started seeing how much money was being wasted on inefficient production processes, unproductive staff and poor management of materials. The knowledge was like switching a light on!” says Heath.

This was followed by a thorough recosting of all his products, resulting in a new and more competitive pricing structure and greater professionalism in the business.

“We are fortunate in that Heath learns very quickly and is determined to strengthen his business knowledge. In fact, I think he actually finds the business side of his company far more interesting and exciting than he ever imagined he would!” says Ressel.

Innovation Equals Success Given its genesis and diverse team of consultants, researchers, interns and business development specialists, it is apparent that Fetola prides itself on innovation. “We are always looking for new ways to increase our impact and do more for less,” says Wijnberg.

One example is the Mentor Hotline©, a 24hour email, sms and telephone hotline that provides fast access to experienced business mentors for beneficiaries in any location, no matter how remote.

Another recent innovation is the Fetola

Volunteer Mentor programme, a national (and hopefully international) matchmaking programme that pairs experienced business people and entrepreneurs with emerging entrepreneurs and organisations in need of business support.

“Our Vision is to change lives for the better, forever. We see the development of the SMME sector as absolutely vital to the growth and prosperity of our country, and feel privileged to be able to partner with corporates like Old Mutual and others who share our Vision. Our entrepreneurial potential in SA is so huge, if this can be coupled with sound business knowledge and skills, watch out World!” concludes Wijnberg. www.fetola.co.za

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HEALTH

A world first anti-HIV gel Writer Reagan C Adams

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ecently a major stride towards a vaginal gel that could prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been reported on, a goal that would be a huge benefit to African women bearing the brunt of the AIDS pandemic.

Receiving international attention, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of Tenofovir 1% gel in reducing the risk of HIV and herpes infection in women.

The research was undertaken by the institute for AIDS research, CAPRISA (Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa), a collaborative venture between the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Columbia University. This institute undertakes globally relevant and locally responsive research that contributes to understanding HIV pathogenesis, prevention and epidemiology.

Despite the growing emphasis on HIV and AIDS education, it is exceptionally worrying that the spread of this disease is as prevalent as yesteryear. Up to 25 million people have died from AIDS and more than 33 million others today are infected by HIV. Truth is, more than two-thirds of these infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa. Here 60% of new infections occur among women and girls. One of the big vectors of transmission 70

is through forceful intercourse by an infected partner who is unwilling to wear a condom.

A greater need therefore exists for women to protect themselves, hence the HIV-gel. The gel that was tested contains a 1% formulation of Tenofovir. Tenofovir is a frontline component in the “cocktail” of antiretroviral drugs that disrupt HIV reproduction in immune cells. Previous creams of this sort that have been tested have not contained an antiretroviral, and have had either a very low level of protection or even boosted the risk of infection.

The research was conducted over nearly three years, during which the gel was tested among 445 HIV-negative women, while 444 counterparts received a harmless lookalike called a placebo. On a monthly basis, they were tested for the HI-virus. At these monthly check-up sessions they were also given counselling in safe sex, access to condoms and treatment for sexuallytransmitted disease. “Each participant was asked to insert, using a vaginal applicator, a first dose of the gel within 12 hours before sex followed by a second dose as soon as possible but within 12 hours afterwards”, said co-leader Quarraisha Abdool Karim, of CAPRISA. Compared to the placebo group, the gel

reduced the risk of HIV infection by 39% overall, but by 54% among women who adhered to the instructions most faithfully.

There was no increase in side effects , neither - among women who became infected with HIV - any sign that they were more resistant to Tenofovir as a result of the gel.

Despite this good news, the scientists said they still had to tackle several important issues. It seems the gel is less effective after about 18 months. It is suggested that this may be due to weakened adherence to the cream. About 40% of the women in the trial used the cream less than one time out of two.

If eventually the gel is approved for use, it will join a small but growing collection of preventative measures against HIV. For as long as we know, the condom was the only method that had a confirmed high degree of protection from HIV in intercourse.

Four years ago, it was joined by male circumcision. The removal of the foreskin, which contains cells that are vulnerable to penetration by HIV, can reduce HIV risk by more than half. Naturally this is true only for men. According to a 2003 mathematical study, the availability of a 60% effective microbicide (such as the HIV-gel) would forestall two and a half million infections over three years.

HEALTH

Living with HIV/AIDS Soon a manageable illness Writer Libby Norton

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ecember 1st marks the 22nd year that World Aids Day has been commemorated in South Africa.

Help to combat the disease has come a long way. The thought that HIV could become a manageable condition is a new concept for many South Africans yet it is already accepted overseas where treatment is readily available.

South Africa still has one of the highest rates of infection in the world. Our HIV prevalence rate over the past three decades has grown to over 15% with approximately 5.6 million people infected with HIV. That’s a lot of 72

suffering. However, we also have the largest rollout of Anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in the world with relatively easy access across the country. This is a remarkable achievement in a country as widespread as ours.

Nevertheless, only 700,000 people are receiving ART. Yet despite the gaps in treatment, experts say the gap is closing significantly and this means HIV has begun to move from being regarded as an acute disease to one that’s a manageable, long-term condition… The NGO ‘Positive Heroes’ quotes one sufferer saying, “It’s such a breeze for me to disclose now because I know that HIV is manageable and that there

is life after HIV.” The general access to ART has had a major influence in shifting the standard patterns of behaviour around HIV in South Africa.

This change denotes a significant alteration of attitude, not only on a personal level of what it means to live with the virus but also for the national health system and funding requirements. But there is still much social stigma to be overcome; our HIV & AIDS stigma is so strong that the fear of discovery of ones own status and disclosing having HIV, has always been identified as a major driver of the HIV & AIDS epidemic although the barriers are slowly eroding.

Given the high mortality rates, the levels of stigma and the continued struggles with accessibility of ART in some areas, Katherine Austin-Evelyn of Consultancy Africa International asks whether this manageability will really be the case in South Africa, “Many HIV & AIDS patients still lack access to treatment as a result of lack of testing, non-disclosure or health system constraints and, without a concerted effort to address these problems and make manageability a reality for all, patients like these may never experience the shift from an acute disease to a chronic, manageable illness.”

But, researchers are well ahead looking for preventative treatment. Trials are underway here and in the United States of America, with an HIV/Aids vaccine designed and developed in South Africa. This has shown good results and if not completely effective yet, will help scientists achieve the goal of creating a vaccine to combat AIDS, bringing accolades from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that South Africa ‘has some of the finest scientists in the world’. Researchers were also optimistic after receiving funding for research from the French government on the eve of World Aids Day last year, saying that they believed

they could stem the tide of the pandemic.

The funding is being used for the first phase of ‘Treatment as Prevention’ at the African Centre for Health and Population Studies, based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

KZN is the province with the highest HIV prevalence in South Africa.

Marie-Louise Newell, professor of health and population studies at the university and director of the centre said, “The study will look at whether by controlling viral load through the proper use of ARVs, we can drastically reduce the risk of, or even prevent transmission from one person to the other. At the moment we do not know this.”

The present economic climate and donor fatigue is causing serious concerns that the health system and international donor community cannot keep up with the financial requirements that ART coverage demands.

Some experts believe that as a result of scaled up ART, the illness is not just lasting longer but is also increasingly ominous and complex, with alternating periods of crisis and stability.

In order to reach universal treatment goals, Austin-Evelyn says “South Africa requires more than three times their current healthcare workforce to be added every year for the

next six years to reach universal coverage by 2017. South Africa provides life-prolonging treatment on a public scale that is unmatched in the rest of the world, largely thanks to the strong tradition of social justice movements in the country. However, as HIV becomes more normalised and the hope for a long, ‘normal’ life increases, it is important to balance optimism with pragmatism for the future of those living with HIV in South Africa.”

However, there is room for hope; in Zimbabwe the New Start voluntary counselling and testing centres begun in 1999 and sponsored by USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development) have become one of the continent’s major success stories.

At the heart of the success of the New Start program lies the implementation of strategic and culturally sensitive national multimedia communication campaigns that educate and persuade.

South Africa’s resources far outstrip Zimbabwe’s so there’s plenty of reason to hope that an HIV positive diagnosis could change from a ‘death sentence’ to being regarded as a controllable condition much like diabetes or high blood pressure. That is very heartening.

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order to have a total of 25 000 teachers each year. This situation is of a particular cause for concern where mathematics and physical science are concerned. Improvement of the situation is thought to come with an increase in and better teachers who come from drastically improved teacher management and training systems; as the current situation involve poorly managed teachers, some of whom arrive late and leave early; barely teach on Fridays and do not teach effectively.

And although, due to the financial assistance

Recent research has shown that our underperforming education system is in part due to the shortage of teachers and teachers who neglect their jobs.

Education Have we failed our children?

Writer Rishqah Roberts

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veryone is to be afforded Human Rights, as per our Supreme Constitution, which due its supremacy anything inconsistent with it is rendered unconstitutional and will therefore be invalid. Our right to education finds itself among these Human Rights; guaranteed by our Constitution under Section 29. This right is specifically to be targeted towards the youth as they are the ones who are to meant to gain the best of what education has to offer.

Bearing all this in mind government has spent a massive R 130 billion rand on education, which accounts for approximately 20% of total government expenditure, but still the huge financial input is not reflected in the results and the system is largely underperforming.

Section 29 (1) (b) of the Constitution binds the State to take reasonable measures to

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make education progressively available and accessible. This obligation may be the reason for the extensive financial resources being drilled into education, but it is not being backed by corresponding results.

Various reasons may be attributed to the massive decline in the education system; since it was last viewed as most successful, under the apartheid era for the white population, as is shown by the 65% of educated whites in the Republic (this is our most educated race group). These reasons include the shortage of teachers; the textbook saga and the chaos of the Eastern Cape public system, to name a few.

Recent research has shown that our underperforming education system is in part due to the shortage of teachers and teachers who neglect their jobs. Generally, we are producing too few teachers to keep up with the annual demand of 15 000 new teachers; in

offered towards a degree in education, recent years have shown an increase in the number of teachers graduating; there has been concern that up to a quarter of them are immigrating. Thus, incentives have been suggested to the education department; as a means of retaining and attracting better teachers.

Another reason for the decline in our public education system may be afforded to the textbook saga, of which all traces have been removed in the media. The saga is that in the beginning of the 2011 school year the Eastern Cape schools had applied for textbooks, to use as teaching aids, as per normal. Up until two months ago however, these textbooks were still not received by the schools who had applied for them. Which begs the question: what have these schools been teaching our students from all this time?

The Eastern Cape, one of the poorest regions in the country, is a particular example of just how badly our education system is doing, with many of the stories of the terrible conditions learners are forced to endure originate from. Derek Lydt from the Public Service Accountability Monitor, which keeps an eye on the Eastern Cape’s educational system notes that another major problem is the quality of their teachers. “Those who teach the teachers are not well qualified and the teachers themselves are not qualified and all of that obviously leads to poor education in the classroom,” said Lydt.

The point is that we seem to have failed our children in a vital way concerning their education and sadly no one, especially not government wants to be held accountable and take responsibility (apart from their financial contribution) to fix the problem.

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Private Education Hampered by misconceptions and irrational legislation Writer Libby Norton

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outh Africans appear to have a misconception about private schools. The profile of private or independent schools has changed dramatically in the last 18 years yet most of us retain a totally obsolete picture in our minds.

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The most recent government figures show that 73% of learners in the private-school sector are black children, attending low-fee schools serving disadvantaged communities in townships, informal settlements and rural areas. Surprised to hear that? You, like me, may have assumed that private schools were

‘white, affluent and exclusive’. This has never actually been the case – but certainly isn’t now. And the number of black learners in formerly “white” private schools has increased. For example, in ISASA schools in 2010, the average enrolment of black learners was 33 percent.

This web of legislation imposes considerable compliance costs on schools,” says Dr Hofmeyr, “and a growing administrative burden that low-fee schools, in particular, do not have the resources to meet.

Within the education department, attitudes to independent schools are mixed: supportive at the national level and in many provinces but misunderstandings complicate government relations. Because of misperceptions it is also widely thought that subsidies given to private, or independent schools could be better spent on public schools.

In fact, independent schools form only 5% of all schools and only a tiny amount of state money is allocated to them through subsidies anyway – and these are often unilaterally cut by provinces or not paid on time which can result in severe financial problems for the affected schools.

No high-fee independent school receives a state subsidy at all. They are self-funding and therefore actually save the state money.

If private schools were closed, all their pupils would have to be educated by the state, which in the case of KwaZulu-Natal would mean an additional R1.5bn.

Since the end of apartheid, despite obstacles, the greatest growth has been in independent schools serving disadvantaged black communities in townships, informal settlements and rural areas, (which clearly indicates a grassroots demand for independent education.)

Major obstacles are presented by the regulations which inhibit the growth of new independent schools particularly in poorer communities. For instance, both a non-profit or for-profit company, as an employer involved in an independent school, is affected by all the legislation pertaining to companies, as well as the education specific

legislation and policies.

This year alone, ISASA has analysed over 50 pieces of legislation and government policies that have a direct impact on independent schools.

“This web of legislation imposes considerable compliance costs on schools,” says Dr Hofmeyr, “and a growing administrative burden that low-fee schools, in particular, do not have the resources to meet. Often these are gazetted without consideration being given to the impact on independent schools. For instance, the Medicines and Related Substance Control Act of 1997, as amended, stipulates that anyone who dispenses medication must be properly licensed to do so. This means that schools have to employ personnel who are licensed to dispense medication, which in the case of some learners, is essential for their health, for example, insulin injections.” Such qualified personnel are hard to come by and costly.

To obtain government subsidies, the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (2006) stipulated that mid and low-fee independent schools had to achieve a 50% matric pass rate to qualify for government subsidies. However, in 2008 this was amended to the achievement of the average matric pass rate in each province.

In other words, if the Western Cape had a 76.8% matric pass rate in 2010, then independent schools there would have to meet that pass rate or they would lose their subsidies. However, in the Eastern Cape, independent schools only had to meet the

much lower 58.3% average matric pass rate to qualify for a subsidy. Dr Hofmeyr points out that the purpose of the change to raise the quality is unlikely to be achieved. A school that loses its subsidy would lose teachers and would be unable to afford more materials, making the situation worse.

In 2008, Government recognised the need to revise the Norms and Standards but despite many submissions from the sector, this has not happened.

Another problem is the registration conditions for such schools where some provinces don’t have any registration conditions at all and those of others are out-of-date, unreasonable or actually unlawful.

Looking ahead, there is likely to be another muddle in the overlapping of quality assurance roles concerning private schools by two government quality assurance entities, NEEDU and Umalusi which will both have the mandate to quality assure independent schools.

Considering the number of world class schools in the country, Umalusi has not yet given a single independent school ‘full accreditation’; all schools pay each year for evaluation, yet in a full decade Umalusi hasn’t managed to evaluate even half of them.

The misperceptions appear to have led to a web of ‘solutions’ creating headaches. In the words of ACDP’s Cheryllyn Dudley, “holding private schools to standards of excellence is a good thing but discouraging them altogether is insane.”

Graduate School

T

he Graduate School of Public & Development Management was set up as a School in 1993 to develop a post-apartheid public service.

As the transition to a legitimate government became imminent in the early 90s, it was recognised that a new public service ethos, with radically transformed norms and values would have to be built to restructure the apartheid machine into a legitimate public service. P&DM was built to train the new cadres of developmental public servants, directed at serving all South Africans equally.

In 2011 the School runs Masters degrees in: Public and Development Management, Public Policy, Security, Social Security.

It also has a vibrant PhD programme with more than 50 students actively engaged in the construction of new knowledge of African

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development and public management issues.

Annually, approximately 100 students graduate, having engaged in applied research at a Masters level that showcases the development, service delivery and policy challenges of Africa.

The School hosts the Centre for Defence & Security Management, which has managed a network across the SADC region which focuses on the issues of peace building and post conflict state development in Africa, as well as the World Bank sponsored Southern African Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR), which coordinates research and practice in monitoring and evaluation with sites in Kenya, Ghana as well as South Africa.

P&DM is located on Wits University’s Management campus in Parktown, and has state of the art facilities which include seven

50 – seat classrooms, computer laboratories, a 300 seat auditorium and a management library, which allows students access to the resources of the University’s 16 other libraries.

Apart from the degrees offered by P&DM, the School also offers a range of short courses which are aimed at fast-tracking capacity development for specific outcomes. It is in these offerings that the school is able to tailor interventions for specific sectors and skills sets. Some of these include: Humanitarian Policy and Practice, Hospital Management, Primary Health Care service Management, Housing Management, Defence & Security Management, Crime and Security, Social Security Pensions Management, Local Government Development and Delivery. www.wits.ac.za/academic/clm/pdm

WITS P&DM OFFERS A RANGE OF FOCUSED TRAINING INTERVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WORKING IN ALL SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT. The Graduate School of Public and Development Management, originally opened by Honourable public policy and development management. policy and development fields in Southern African and beyond. The graduate school is involved in research and development support.

OUR DEGREES INCLUDE: • Masters in Management in the field of Public and Development Management • Masters in Management in the field of Public Policy • Masters in Management in the field of Social Security • Masters in Management in Security Studies

• • •

• Public Policy and Management • Social and Economic Scenario Planning and Modelling

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• Local Economic Development • Governance, Leadership and Management • Development and Management of Local Government • Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

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The Graduate School of Public and Development Management

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DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN Niel Van Wyk Writer Charlene Heyburgh

f you want to help prevent global warming, then you should become aware of where your paper comes from.

Think about the paper towels in your kitchen, the Kleenex on your table and the toilet paper in your bathroom. Many of the everyday toilet tissue products that we use come from 100-150 year old virgin forests overseas and when these forests are cut down to supply our paper needs, they can no longer help process the gases which are warming our planet. If every household in the States alone, replaced just one roll of virgin toilet paper with one recycled postconsumer waste roll, 424 000 trees would still be standing. There are no statistics available yet for South Africa but we are definitely on par in terms of consumption of virgin toilet tissue.

Going green in business has become a huge movement and Beyond had the pleasure of talking to Niel Van Wyk, the man behind South Africa’s first 2-ply, recyclable, compact toilet tissue dispenser- Looloo.

How did you come up with the concept?

I travelled to Namibia a few times a year to go camping and fishing in Hentiesbay and I noticed that most of the restrooms never had any toilet paper. I found walking around with a big toilet roll under my arm extremely frustrating! My camping and fishing trips paved the way for my idea as I often wished that I had a smaller, compact toilet roll, without the core, which I could fit into my tackle box and pocket. That was 7 years ago On my return from one of these trips, I started consulting with various people in the paper industry and educated myself on the different types of toilet tissue paper. Only after doing some research on the industry did I realise the massive carbon footprint left by toilet tissue paper usage. I knew that my product had to be sustainable. It was around this time that I started making my own rough sketches of my compact toilet tissue design. A colleague referred me to Adams & Adams attorneys who instructed their design team to put everything into perspective and eventually the whole idea came together and looked exactly like I had pictured it. I immediately arranged for my product to be patented.

How did you choose the name ‘Looloo’ and how did you source materials for your product?

At first I made my own, no name label and approached one of the buyers at Shoprite. He thought it was a brilliant idea but obviously saw all the mistakes in the labelling of my product and referred me to a company called ‘Firefly’, who did all the printing of Shoprite’s labels. I approached

Firefly and they advised me to find a name for my product first. After several weeks, Marguerite, the owner, contacted me and told me that her team had come up with some brilliant suggestions on names and I had to decide on which one I preferred. There were so many to choose from but one name kept on standing out. ‘Looloo’, it seemed to fit the concept perfectly!

After the name was chosen, the perfect colours had to be found and once again, Marguerite and her team came to my rescue and created the orange colour scheme and the label. Next on my list was to source paper, materials and machines. I hadn’t even thought about how I was going to fund my product yet, I was far too excited to worry about money. I managed to find a South African company that could produce the recyclable plastic casing to hold the Looloo (making it waterproof) but no South African company could assist me with supplying recyclable paper or the machines needed to produce a smaller roll without the inner core.

After countless telephone calls and e-mails to Germany, Italy, Australia and New Zealand and many empty promises from these international manufacturers, a gentleman from China contacted me and offered to assist in supplying the recyclable paper as well as the machines designed to produce smaller rolls. The next step was to get funding to buy the machines and materials needed.

How did you secure funding?

I approached several banks and private organisations but each attempt seemed useless as none of these organisations would take me or my product seriously. After 3 and a half years and still unable to secure any finance, I decided to sell my beloved boat. It was then that I met Johan Van Ludwig, an attorney who came to see the boat on behalf of his client. I sold my boat to his client and Johan offered me a position in his law firm as I had a lot of experience in the debt collecting field. The money received from the sale of the boat was hardly enough and this job offer seemed like a good idea. My project would have to be delayed until I could secure more funding.

In early April 2010, a client, Leslie De Beer, visited me at my office and I showed him my idea. He was extremely interested in my product and after a few more meetings of discussing my product and funding needed in detail, he decided to fund the product in full and thanks to Leslie, the machines, paper and even a factory was bought in cash. I also finally patented my product. After several months, I introduced the product to another client, Pieter Janse Van Rensburg who also decided to come on board and is presently

one of the directors. Another member of our organisation is Brent Stanfield who heads up our marketing team.

We officially launched ‘Looloo’ in June 2011 and the response so far has been amazing. We have gone one step further in making the product even more unique by giving businesses an opportunity to brand the product with their company logo and details. Our next step is to attract all the giant chain stores and have ‘Looloo’ sold in stores nationwide.

For more information on Looloo and for branding opportunities contact: Brent Stanfield on (021) 987 4549/ 076 664 7233 or e-mail looloo.sales@gmail.com www.chardantissue.com

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TECHNOLOGY

CLOUD COMPUTING The next big trend Writer Louis van Zyl

C

loud computing does not have its origin from recent computing era. We started sharing data on computers from way back which could then be called cloud computing. Why do we go this way and how could it benefit us? More importantly, what exactly is it and where is it heading?

What is cloud computing?

Many definitions for cloud computing have been heard but let’s put it in simple language.

It is a computer network environment where running programs, storage, processing, calculating and many more services don’t take place locally (on your own computer) but remotely from “far away” servers.

In other words we “plug into” computer services and applications over the Internet.

Why not compare this scenario with our electricity and water system services?

How safe is it?

What do we need to consider involving the security aspect? Well, data is not stored locally so you do not have control over your confidential info which raises great concern.

Who can access the data and how readily available will it be? Even though there’s a long way to go to ensure good security in clouding, ongoing growth in security development is taking place. Third party security support and the implementation of VPNs into cloud computing is one of the 80

biggest hopes in future which may ease our minds on this issue.

What is the next big trend?

One major field in growing cloud computing is aimed at Telecom companies. Why only avail telephone services if the same company can also provide services like TV, movie, video on demand and many more? Another area of utilising clouding is already in place in countries like Korea where concentrated work centres are created. Companies rent these centres where their employees can work closer to home and operate more collaboratively with customers and suppliers. We can only imagine how this will cut on traffic congestion and carbon emission if implemented globally. No more time-wasting and costly travelling to work and back. Although cloud computing is still very much in a beginning stage, one should always look at what holds the process back and concentrate on that. This exciting new concept is currently the most talked about computer subject in South African business yet many companies are still reluctant to enter the cloud. For this reason, the risk of privacy and security in cloud computing needs to be concentrated on in the immediate future. Once this issue has been resolved to an acceptable and minimum risk level, the next big trend in cloud computing will involve into major savings and ease of operation in the computer industry. In South Africa we need to concentrate on major challenges

like providing more available and affordable access to Internet for all. Secondary schools also need to be put on path in utilising cloud computing since many don’t have internet services.

So what is lined up in the future in cloud computing that we can look forward to?

With any new exploding concept comes hard work. This can be looked at with smiles since it creates more employment opportunities.

We can also look forward to cheaper costs concerning reduced software packages and software licences to be purchased. Other economical advantages in future can also evolve from entering the cloud as well as the speed of solution. Software package installation and implementation locally can be much more time consuming than identifying a service provider in the cloud. By sourcing information and utilising services in a massive global cloud of available data, one can have no doubt that such resources can only be much more efficient than locally stored data. We can also not look past the advantage of less storage space needed and no risk of losing data because of crashes and hardware failures locally.

Many advantages, major challenges and big changes are once again staring us in the face in the IT world in the future. We can only be positive about the exciting developments that cloud computing will be delivering to us in the near future.

ASPASA Contact Nico Pienaar on Tel: +27 11 791 3327 Cell: 083 419 0010 email: office@aspasa.co.za or nico@aspasa.co.za Unit 8 Coram Office Park, Ferero Road, Randpark Ridge, Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa, PO Box 1983, Ruimsig, 1732 www.aspasa.co.za

Rockent Industrial Services cc South Africa’s own superior Hydro-blasting Vacuum Specialists & Construction Reg No. 2005/027476/23 P.O. Box 3740 VANDERBIJLPARK 1900

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Using high-tech equipment supported by technical resources, who is equipped, able and prepared to Successfully complete any industrial hydro-blasting and vacuum operation.

As a company we offer a one-stop solution to maintenance management to any industrial industry by providing services through the application of hydro blasting and vacuum technology.

OBJECTIVES * To obtain the status of being the market leader in industrial hydro blasting & vacuum cleaning. * To offer the best possible value at fair and realistic market related prices. * To provide our customers with the finest workmanship and customer service in a mot responsible and innovative manner.

ACTIVITIES Our services include: Cleaning of power stations*heat exchange and condenser plants*boilers*pipelines and ducts*tanks and confined vessels*surfaces*walls*roofs*work areas*offices*mine pumping*etc.

Removal of bulk material from dams*sumps*ash dams*sewerage dams*spillages*oil sumps*sludge, sludge dams, and drain cleaning. Labour hire of cleaners on contract & none contract base.

Equipment: vacuums (super suckers), high pressure machines, pumps, TLB, Bobcat and skip loaders.

Specialists in: Engineering & Pipelines Systems, Protective Linings & Anti Corrosion * Pvdf * Pvc * Poly*Hdpe Welding * Sandblasting * Painting * Machining * Tanks * Fiberglass * Gaskets * Fans * Fabrication * Fluoropolymer Coatings * Ptfe * Valves * Plumbing * Gearboxes * Electric Motors * General Maintenance.

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We operate nationally.

We specialize in the non-standard environment, especially in confined, hot and no space areas.

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VALUES * CUSTOMER SERVICE – providing quality and value to satisfy the requirements of all our internal and external customers. * CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT – being creative and innovative in all we do to ensure continuous learning and improvements. * RESPECT, DIGNITY AND – treating each other with trust and respect, up holding EQUAL OPPORTUNITY human dignity and enhance fair treatment and equal opportunity * PARTICIPATION AND – employee participation in problem solving and decision EMPOWERMENT making processes through effective individual and team empowerment. * SAFE AND HEALTHY - ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for all WORK ENVIRONMENT employees.

CODE OF CONDUCT * Compliance with OHS Act and regulations * Support for the Safety, Health and Environment programme. (SHEQ) GENERAL INFORMATION Rockent Industrial Services is a Black Economic Empowerment Company and support zero tolerance accident free shifts at all times. Our clients are our most valuable concern.

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its operations. In surveys done on five business and technology leader companies in the midst of the deepest economical downtime in our lifetime by Baseline/ BTM 500, a leading provider of business technology convergence solutions, the results confirmed the utmost value of convergence.

These companies had one major similar approach – to fully integrate technology into their enterprise on an ongoing basis to ensure business velocity. Let’s just imagine the effort a company having to source great amounts of information will have to put in having only their “own Internet” (intranet) instead of the Web. It’s also not difficult to recognise the cost saving factors regarding IT convergence.

One” device” or operation is now replacing several devices or operations with much lower license and software expenses and maintenance support costs. Small businesses now have the ability to grow at a much faster rate because of easier, better and cheaper technology access.

TECHNOLOGY

The convergence of business and IT Writer Louis van Zyl

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hat does this title tell us?

Well, imagine that in one lifetime the extent of change in business processes range from having a document delivered physically involving major cost and time issues to delivering it electronically to global and unlimited locations within seconds.

Scary isn’t it? The old ways worked for business in those days. You think it will be sufficient nowadays?

How dependant are our businesses on technology operations?

Can any of us say that we don’t notice the improving affect of what all the new and continuously changing technology in media and communication has on businesses today? Convergence means faxes, e-mails, 84 86

video conferences, messaging, computerised organising and many more operations are being shared and combined which supports and controls our businesses today. With the continuous and extreme growth in population globally and the associated need for faster and bigger cost saving business operations one cannot see past the dependency of technology changing needs. Not only are our businesses dependent on technology but new business opportunities are also created with technology advancement – especially in the entertainment world. This again compensates for unemployment issues.

How important is business technology convergence?

With convergence, technology becomes the heart of a business, supporting and enabling

How do we control it?

If not utilising IT technology correctly within an enterprise, the opposite of positive results can and will be experienced. There are five important points to remember: Realise the importance of IT as an innovation engine, often opening doors to more and better opportunities within the core business. Ensure the correct management and technology consulting to ensure good financial and operational effectiveness.

Best class communication between IT and business staff are of utmost importance.

Ensure that IT staff know how the company makes (or loses) money. Provide a crystal clear goal to each and every IT and business employee. Also, very important is the interaction between any type of technology department, management and the operational side of a business unit. Good communication and operation between employees in all departments are absolutely essential to ensure ultimate success in convergence.

Will convergence in business always continue to take place in future?

I think we should ask ourselves the question – will and should it ever stop? Can we possibly have the answers to these questions?

So what should we do? Some organisations in Europe and America have suffered great losses and some even being bought out because of not building their networks to be upgradable in future. One such example was AT&T. During the early 90’s they upgraded their networks countrywide by laying new cables. To securely cover the cabling up the

route of concrete layers was followed. Then in 1994 what happened? The Internet age.

AT&T sold more telecoms capacity than South Africans consume beer watching the Bokke over a period of twenty years. This lead to extreme costs of having to dig up the concrete to upgrade the cables to compensate for convergence. This contributed to a giant enterprise having to sell at a ridiculously low amount of $16 billion. What does this tell us?

Always be extendible or upgradeable – no matter what. Over decades we could never predict to what extent technology would change. Convergence in any form or in any industry will always be related to spending money, so be prepared.

Convergence means faxes, e-mails, video conferences, messaging, computerised organising and many more operations are being shared and combined which supports and controls our businesses today.

At the end there is always an ultimate continuous goal to strive for What makes technology and business forever so challenging and exciting? The simple answer – there is always room and a need for “more” and “better”. During these times the challenge we face is to “combine and share operations”. I think to familiarise ourselves with what needs to happen within business convergence is to look at a scenario of a number of separate Intranets within the same media. Why not have these intranets internetworked for more sufficient and accurate utilisation. Yes, the first question that always comes up with suggestions like this is, “what about the security risk”? This tells us what area of current challenges should be concentrated on. Security development and improvement.

T

he Aveng Group is the largest infrastructure development company in South Africa with a proven track record and presence in more than 30 countries. The Aveng Group has a history spanning more than 100 years and listed on the JSE in 1991. With its broad exposure across the infrastructure value-chain, the Aveng Group has the capability to deliver multidisciplinary. Aveng Grinaker-LTA, one of the largest Operating Groups in the Aveng Group stable, has been playing a principal role in the development of Southern Africa’s infrastructure for decades through integrated safety, health and environmental systems.

It continues to be involved in some of the most significant projects today and its distinguished product and service offerings are provided in these sectors; commercial, retail and industrial, infrastructure, oil and gas, mining, and power. There are currently around 16,000 highly-skilled people employed with Aveng Grinaker-LTA which enables the company to respond timeously and efficiently to complex projects.

Outstanding Health and Safety Safety is a core value of the Aveng Group and integral to the way we do business and a priority during every project. These

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important aspects are managed through an integrated ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 system, which has been internationally certified. The Aveng Group’s safety culture is cultivated through the following key factors: Unsurpassed Quality Aveng Grinaker-LTA is committed to a policy of effective quality management and has implemented a Quality Management System in accordance with ISO 9001:2008, to which we are accredited.

Transformation Aveng Grinaker-LTA recognises the importance of transformation as a business and cultural imperative.

Transformation is prioritised within the Aveng Group. The business constantly maintains its commitment to developing, and increasing the representation of black professionals and leaders across its operations. Aveng (Africa) Limited is a value-added level 3 contributor, with a 138% procurement level.The Aveng Group has advanced the financial independence and sustainability of black-owned enterprises with a number of enterprise programs in place. The Aveng Group also continues to contribute towards community development through various social upliftment projects which focus on education and training in particular.

Environmental issues The Aveng Group has been part of the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment Index since its inception in 2004 and has consistently been recognised as a best performer in the high environmental impact category.

Lasting Relationships Ensuring that we understand and exceed our client expectations and objectives is a core value to our business.

We are constantly expanding our knowledge and capabilities, and applying this expertise for the benefit of our clients.

People Aveng Grinaker-LTA recognises importance of skill retention through its recruitment and retention programme by incorporating a BBBEE transformation strategy and addressing gender equality.

The company is committed to providing ongoing training and development to all staff, as it is fundamental to the future success and sustainability of the Group. Various initiatives have been introduced to up-skill both current and future employees and local communities.

Capability Matrix Aveng Grinaker-LTA provides construction and engineering products and services across the value-chain in a broad range of industry sectors.

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OTTC Dewet Britz represented the South African Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Trade at the 41st Worldskills Competition in London

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The 41st International WorldSkills 2011 competition was held from the 5th to the 8th of October 2011 in London. 200 000 visitors from 51 countries came to see this event. 950 participants proved themselves in their trades before 915 jury-experts and thousand’s of official’s who participated in 46 competitions.

Dewet Britz, the South African participant from Penguin Refrigeration, Vryburg, a student from OTTC – Open Trade Training Centre in Springs, qualified at the National Refrigeration competition in the Trade of Air-conditioning and Refrigeration on the 13th to the 17th of June 2011 at OTTC. After this, he went through special training for the international standards and projects.

A special thanks to Merseta for paying for and organising this event, SA Miller (ABI) and Airwell Air Conditioners for the donation of the Model Plants, Danfoss, Multistage Cooling, OTTC and Cubicool for Parts and Support.

OTTC especially booked an additional stand at the Skills Summit Conference at CSIR on the 6th to the 7th of September 2011 so that Dewet Britz could install the Airwell Unit in public at this exhibition stand to gain extra exposure and experience.

All together, it was a once in a lifetime experience for Dewet Britz.

The winner of the International Worldskills Competition was Willian Sousa from Brasilia who took the gold medal and Liam Janetzki from Australia who took the silver medal.

This was a very close competition and the same points were received from 5 candidates therefore 5 Bronze Medal’s had to be given to 5 countries at the same time namely, Korea, Holland, UK, Japan and Taiwan.

The refrigeration & air-conditioning technician had to complete 4 single tasks.

For the installation of the Refrigeration Unit, 12 hours was allocated for the installation which consisted of a Hermetic Condensing Unit With a flat heat exchanger in a cold double door fridge including commissioning according to international authorized practitioner standards. Only 30% of the participants completed the task.

The second task was the installation of an Air-conditioning Split Unit including commissioning and changing a faulty pipe and electrical fault detection with repair. The allocated time was 4 hours.

Dewet Britz achieved 478 points for the total assessment.

The Gold Medal winner achieved 544 points, which gives Dewet Britz 88% of the Gold Medal Winner. We at OTTC congratulate him on his Excellent Achievements.

Cranefield College

Programme Leader: Prof. Pieter Steyn PrEng, BSc(Eng), MBA, DCom

“Registered with the Department of Education as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997, Registration Certificate No. 2000/HE 07/010.”

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What we have seen is that traditional interventions in the SMME arena have tended to focus on isolated areas of operation, such as product development or sales

Skills & Training An integrated approach to small business development Writer Anton Ressel, SMME Development Consultant

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t is no secret that SMME’s and community-based businesses have faced significant challenges in recent times, with ever-rising input costs and soaring food and fuel prices making it more and more difficult to keep the wolves at bay.

To their credit, it seems that government has at last recognized the job creation potential and crucial role that SMME’s play in the development of our economy, and many of their recent initiatives are targeted at supporting this sector. It is also heartening to see that a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSI) programmes are assisting small businesses and communitybased organisations striving to become sustainable and profitable. One such initiative is the Old Mutual Legends project.

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Designed and implemented by Cape-based business development consultancy Fetola (A Sotho word meaning ‘Change’) and funded by the Old Mutual Foundation, the Old Mutual Legends project is a small business development initiative that supports businesses across a range of sectors.

Started in 2007, this medium to long term initiative aims to provide a platform for sustainable small business, non-profit and entrepreneurial development, with a special focus on Black-owned, rural and women-led businesses.

The Business of Business What differentiates Legends from the myriad of other incubator and SMME support programmes out there is their holistic,

integrated and outcomes-based approach to the ‘business’ of business development.

According to Fetola MD and originator of the programme Catherine Wijnberg, Legends seeks to address all the issues and challenges a small business, community based project or non-profit may face across the value chain, based on a development model that covers nine core Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) that need to be in place for any organisation to thrive.

“What we have seen is that traditional interventions in the SMME arena have tended to focus on isolated areas of operation, such as product development or sales. However, this ‘silo’ approach neglects to address other crucial areas needed for successful operations and sustainable growth, frequently making

the whole effort redundant and the cost vs return ratio for funders way below par,” explains Wijnberg.

Critical Success Factors A recent mindset shift amongst government and especially corporate funders has seen the development focus move away from just skills training to a far broader approach, one that has enterprise development as the key driver of success. It is this approach that underpins the work being done by initiatives such as Legends.

The Enterprise Development model employed by Fetola looks at an organisation in a holistic way. “There is no sense in training people to create a product or improve their production efficiency if they have no access to markets, for example.

Similarly, empowering people to grow their sales without also equipping them to understand how the financial side of their business works is like putting the cart before the horse,” says Wijnberg.

“Our approach looks at nine Critical Success Factors that are integral to the sustainable development of an organisation, starting with Strategic Vision and Direction – an essential component of success in any organisation.

Other modules include Sales Tools and Resources, Communications, Accounting and Financial Management, Administration and HR Systems, Marketing, Sales and Fundraising, Marketable Product or Service and Market Access. Our blended offering of skills training workshops, e-learning, brand development and marketing support, together with remote and one-on-one mentoring and access to a shared peer network encourages lasting and sustainable change in the organisations we work with,” she explains.

According to Legends Programme Manager Chantal de Kock, the programme seeks to embed core business principles and fundamentals that are applicable across a range of sectors and have relevance to both for-profit and non-profit organisations.

Rapid Growth and Expansion into New Sectors Legends has grown rapidly since its official launch in 2007, when ten handcraft businesses were involved in the initial pilot. Today, the programme works with 65 businesses in all nine provinces and supports a total of 1500 jobs across a range of sectors, including small scale manufacturing, services, tourism and hospitality, making it a flagship programme within the Old Mutual CSI stable. Plans are currently in place to extend the focus further in 2012 to

increase participation from SMME’s in the construction, mining and agriculture sectors.

“Because of our e-learning and other innovations designed to add value irrespective of where our beneficiary businesses are based, Legends has become a true ‘borderless incubator’. Through technology including sms and other cellphone platforms, we are able to continually expand our reach into any area that people have a cellphone signal. Some of our current beneficiaries are in extremely remote and rural areas, and still they are able to participate in the programme and benefit to the full,” explains Wijnberg.

Successes and Challenges The Legends project works with some of the most marginalized groups in our society, namely rural women, the youth and community-based businesses with a low skills base and limited infrastructure. The challenges are considerable, but in spite of this the project has achieved significant successes. Between 2007 and 2010, sales turnover within the programme increased by 290%, while 2010 saw media and PR exposure for beneficiaries and stakeholders exceed R1,5million in value.

As a result of these achievements, Legends was selected as a Finalist in the Mail & Guardian Investing in the Future Awards last year, in the category of Best Enterprise Development Programme, eventually ending as First Runner Up. “This year, we plan to win!” says Wijnberg with a grin.

Legends Consultant Sourour Nouhou attributes these and other successes to the outcomes-based approach that underpins the work of Legends and its network of consultants and business development specialists. “Our motto is, if it is not broken, don’t fix it. We try and build on existing strengths in the businesses that we work with, rather than reinventing the wheel each time,” she says.

Next Steps Legends is currently working with projects in all nine provinces, although the majority of beneficiaries are based in the Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng. Future plans include greater expansion of the project in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and other regions, as well as developing strategic partnerships with government and other stakeholders. A major retailer has also recently expressed an interest in being a retail partner for the products produced by the Legends groups.

The project vision is to extend the same Legends business development methodologies into new sectors, supporting integrated rural development

for communities who rely on income from agriculture and mining for example. Fetola is also in the process of expanding its mentor and business support offering through a national call for service providers, based on the growing need for mentorship within this rapidly expanding programme.

Arecent innovation has also seen the utilization of the skills of IT graduates into some of the Legends beneficiary organizations. This mutually beneficial programme is providing much-needed workplace experience to the graduates themselves, whilst also assisting participating SMME’s to get their database, email, social media and other IT platforms up to date and current.

A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out A key factor in the success of Legends in terms of creating sustainable and selfreliant beneficiary businesses is the fact that no direct financial support is offered to participants. Where relevant and appropriate, Legends consultants will facilitate access to finance or funding through strategic partnerships with organizations like Seda (Small Enterprise Development Agency) and the Old Mutual Masisizane Fund, but in the main the focus is on equipping participants to create a future where reliance on funding is not necessary.

“True empowerment happens when you equip people with self-belief and the full spectrum of capabilities, knowledge and access to the relevant support structures they need to create their own success. As a nation we need to move beyond the cycle of dependency created by so many past enterprise development initiatives, wellmeaning though these may have been. The time has come for people to step up and take control of their own destinies, and hopefully through Legends we are achieving our own organizational vision of changing lives for the better, forever,” concludes Wijnberg.

Fetola manages several enterprise development programmes for corporate and other clients, including the ETU programme for high-potential entrepreneurs funded by the Embassy of Finland. The organization is also currently engaging with several government agencies and ministries on a range of business support projects in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and elsewhere.

Diane Ritsen, Interim Head of the Old Mutual Foundation sums up to say “For me, this is what economic development is really about; finding ways to ensure that emerging businesses and entrepreneurs within our communities have the skills to make a sustainable living and, importantly, are fully empowered to control their own future”.

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Cash management issues that can cripple your organisation

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echnology is playing a great part in improving cash management. There are cash deposit machines where cashiers can deposit bank notes anytime during the day and collect slips from the machine which they use to balance their daily takings at day end. Off-course, for coins, cheques and other form of payments, they still have to use manual deposit slips, but a major part of the job and the risk of carrying cash would have been taken care of through use of these deposit machines.

Some of these machines also have builtin notes authentication technology to reject fake bank notes and they provide comprehensive audit trail that can be useful for day-end balancing and cash management control. As part of the deal, cash in-Transit (CIT) companies come and remove canisters carrying the cash deposited and take these to the bank. Depending on the sophistication of the machine and your agreement with the bank, your cash deposit in these machines may appear in the bank statement of your organisation the moment the canister is removed from your machine, because at the point of collection by a CIT company (usually contracted by the bank), the risk shifts from your organisation to the bank.

This implies that data gets transmitted to the bank by the cash machine system, showing amount contained by the canister and reference details to be reflected on the bank statement.

Off-course cash must still be verified at the bank and if no discrepancies are found (as is expected) no further adjustment need be made on your bank statement. In other less sophisticated arrangements, your bank statement usually reflects the cash deposit after the teller has counted the money and has captured it the same way as over the counter deposits.

Manual deposits for cheques and coins are also collected by CIT in sealed bags at the time of collecting canisters from the machine and these will reflect on you bank statement

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after they are received, verified and captured by the teller in the same manner as other over the counter deposits.

However, the above does not complete the cycle of cash management in an organisation.

The organisation still has to ensure that: All cash collected by its cashiers has been deposited either in the cash machine or as a manual deposit (for coins and cheques). All amounts tendered through credit/debit cards have been credited to the bank account. The total of machine deposits for each canister removed, appear in the bank statement and it corresponds to totals of individual deposits made by the cashier on that day.

All RD cheques and credit/debit card charge backs are identified and followed up for re-collection or appropriately investigated.

Day-end balancing to determine shortages or surpluses of individual cashiers is done promptly and appropriate action is taken in accordance to organisations policy. The overall reconciliation of the cash book and the bank statement is done to ensure completeness and accuracy of accounting records and to ensure all discrepancies identified are carried forward until they are resolved with the bank.

To try to do this exercise manually (excel spreadsheets included) is like putting a 60year old unfit man on the last 100m lap of the relay in a relay team of young & very fit fast runners.

Think of it: The receipting of cash is automated (through your Financial Management System), The depositing of bank notes is automated (cash machines), The depositing of credit/debit cards is instant (speed point day-end), Although manually done, depositing of cheques and coins is quick as the bulk of the depositing has been automated.

And now. All of a sudden, the balancing and reconciliation process is manual, tedious and time consuming. You now depend on the co-operation and loyalty of many people, who must also be willing to work overtime everyday and be particular enough to spot

the discrepancies and knowledgeable enough to know how to maintain accounting records, reconcile them with the bank statements and keep a cumulative record of discrepancies until rectified.

This becomes the weakest link of your cash management system. Anyone within the chain can knowingly or unknowingly corrupt the system through errors and omissions, falsification of information, failing to timeously submit daily balancing form/s, use of any other creative ways of concealing the actual shortage etc. This usually undermines the system so much that you may find yourself compelled to rely more on externally prepared reports, (such as bank statements) instead of your internal controls and reporting as your own reports take a very long time to prepare and may either be inaccurate or appear less than credible due to poor audit trail.Inevitably, when reports take long to prepare and can be easily discredited or challenged due to poor audit trail, opportunistic crime takes place, usually through cash shortages and/or cash kiting. Millions of Rands can go missing every year as a result of these shortages & by the time they are discovered, little can be recovered from the perpetrators.

In conclusion, for an organization to take full advantage of the available technology on cash management, it needs to go all the way by automating the balancing and reconciliation part of it. Many Financial Management Systems do not cover this part as it involves other subsystems supplied by other organizations. The answer to this is not to replace your entire Financial Management System which may be good in other modules also required by your organization. Instead, it is to supplement your existing Financial Management System with a standalone system that will automate you day-end balancing, reconciliation process and subsidiary account management relating to cash management.

Solution To Daily Cash

Management Nightmares

It’s time you invest in our “Integrated Cash Management System” so you can cut the time and resources you spend on balancing cashiers and cut losses you incur on cashier shortages.

Our system automates the process of cashier day – end balancing taking into account.

Machine deposits Cheques, Credit Cards & coin deposits EFT deposits etc.

It also integrates with our bank reconciliation system which enables the performance of a complete bank reconciliation on a daily basis, within minutes. This means that your staff do not have to spend hours/days reconciling takings to bankings and still not be able to timeuosly have credible reports that will enable them to take appropriate action. Instead, they can better spend their time on more productive functions by reviewing reports from the system each morning & take appropriate action to resolve issues reported such as:Following-up on outstanding deposits with your bank Recovering cashier shortages Following-up to ensure recovery of RD cheques, etc.

You can also monitor these activities by viewing directly from the system Summarized reports of daily takings, noting any shortages, Drill down to detailed reports to see which offices/branches are affected, Drill further down on each office to see which cashier/s are affected View uncollected cashier shortages View uncollected RD cheques etc You do not have to change your entire Financial Management System to achieve this, all you have to do is supplement your Financial Management System with our Integrated Cash Management System.

Contact us for a quotation on consulting@nkonki.com

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JSE Accredited to Audit JSE Listed Companies

Skills & Training Improving skills levels Writer Lee-Anne Richards

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mproved skill levels of the workforce are a key element for economic growth in South Africa. The government has identified that Higher Education is one of the key areas that will assist in reducing poverty and will supply the much needed scarce skills at industry level.

Now how do we do this? There are many different theories on how to get South African’s to engage in higher education. The National Plan for Higher Education (NPHE) was devised by government as a mechanism to ensure that more learners access tertiary 96

education, so that we may churn out the requisite skills required in the country. As a consequence of this, more aid needs to be made available for students to successfully complete their courses at tertiary level.

This means that more bursaries, funding, government grants, donations and access to loans, will be seen as the supporting mechanisms for this to be realised. FET colleges will have to play a bigger role in creating space for these learners as the universities will not be in a position to accommodate everyone.

The challenge is however, after these students complete tertiary education, will there be enough jobs available in both the private and civil sectors to absorb these skilled individuals? According to Mr Blade Nzimande, workplaces should become incubators of these students to give further impetus to on-the-job training. He also places much more emphasis on vocational training that will speak directly to scarce skills required by industry. National Skills Accords were signed with labour, business and community constituencies, where they

For decades industry and other sectors were responsible for their own training. The apprenticeship system worked pretty well and they took on people that wanted to do the job

have recommitted themselves to joint efforts in strengthening skills development toward economic growth.

Any country prides itself on the ability of its citizens to influence and contribute towards building its GDP. With the privation of skilled labour and a further lack of learned individuals, make it more difficult for any country to realise its objectives. Currently it is estimated that more than 4 million people are unemployed and has no or little skills.

This is partly due to our unequal society and the access that communities have to education or higher education. Let’s not forget the thousands of matriculant’s, who do not qualify for tertiary education and are jobless and the graduates that don’t make it into their industry after completing their studies.

The Sector Training and Education Authorities (SETA’S) were set up for the purposes to ensure that vocational training takes place and that we improve the skills of the South African workforce to meet international standards. One of the SETA’s roles is to come up with a sector skills plan of how we need to address the scarce and critical skills needed in each sector. This

plan then feeds into the National Skills Development Strategy that should address the skills needed in the country, holistically.

For this purpose, 23 SETA’s were established in major sectors, where they would be concerned with learnerships, internships and skills based programmes. The SETA’s have been reduced to 15 due to ineffectiveness of some and amalgamations of others to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Another role of the SETA’s is to levy employers with a skills levy that is payable to SARS to ensure that money is made available for training and education in the sector concerned.

All of the above have been put in place and we are still struggling to get to grips with high unemployment and unskilled labour. Are we following the correct path?

Government and private injection into creating more job opportunities and pools of skilled labour should be enforced at a faster pace. Establishing more training academies subsidised by the state and business that are closer to where communities live, to upskill potential employees for specific industries, is another mechanism that could be focused to address our goals.

The Co-operative Sector is under-utilised

currently and we are aware that government is in the process of trying to establish cooperatives in all provinces as a means of job creation. This would make sense if people are also given the requisite skills and training to operate and make these ventures sustainable and viable. When community members get together to plan and run ventures for the good of the community, it builds strong structures and makes other services more affordable and accessible.

The other area where we can upskill South African’s are in the entrepreneurial sphere.

The creation of industrial hives where small traders and other services can operate in a communal set-up, makes for good business sense. Common services, such as faxing, internet usage or administration services can be accessed by the traders and training could be done communally. This normally calls for government intervention and funding.

In this way, we also ensure that we facilitate the pre-requisite business and management skills.

Skills development is very important and we need to find a way to create awareness amongst society of its importance for our overall survival.

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CAR REVIEWS Writer Jerome Dyson

Renault GT Line

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he GT Line models replicate the looks of the sportier Renault Megane models with front and rear sports bumpers and 17” alloy wheels. The sports suspension also moves them that bit closer to terra firma but not so close as to make speed humps insurmountable problems. The cabin gains genuine article Renaultsport seats with cloth covering which offer support in spirited driving and look suitably racy.

As well as the 3-door Coupe bodystyle, the five-door hatch, Sport Tourer estate and Coupe-Cabriolet convertible models can also be specified in GT Line guise but these will be less convincing clones of the Renaultsport variants which only come in Coupe form. General build quality inside

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the Megane is impressive, with the extensive use of soft-touch plastics and rubberised switchgear. Space in the back of the Coupe isn’t particularly generous but there’s a 372-litre boot which is competitive for the class. Both the Hatch and the Sport Tourer offer better rear-seat accommodation.

Also included in a Megane GT Line are all of the features of the Dynamique variants.

There’s the TomTom satellite navigation system, front fog lights, cruise control, automatic headlamps, automatic wipers and keyless entry. The GT Line pack is available with all of the Megane bodystyles but includes the same features and is priced at the same level in all of them.

You pay a lot of money to get behind the wheel of a thoroughbred hot hatchback these

days but Renault’s Megane GT Line models set out to offer the looks of a range-topping Renaultsport Megane at a more accessible price.With sports suspension included, the GT Line package isn’t all show and no go.

The more powerful engines offered should also give a spark of dynamism to the driving experience. The main aim however, is looking the part and it does this effectively enough, particularly in the Megane’s sleek Coupe bodystyle. It’s certainly a more sophisticated option than spending the difference on modifying your elderly hatchback.

Being the less powerful engines in the Megane range, the units offered with the GT Line will prove cost-effective to run and insure.

Nissan Pathfinder

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nce a compact five-passenger hauler with nimble feet off-road, the Nissan Pathfinder finds itself in the clutches of middle-age gravity.

It’s now larger, heavier and sturdier than its younger self. In some respects, that’s not a bad thing.

Powered by a V6 or V8, the Pathfinder can still scramble over rocks and tow a decentsize trailer. But for getting you through daily life, the Pathfinder is increasingly out of touch. On the positive side, the 2011 Nissan Pathfinder has a maximum towing capacity of 2000 to 3000 kilograms, depending on the engine selected. This is more than what you’ll be able to do with a typical crossover SUV. And even with its fully independent suspension, the Pathfinder still has decent

off-road capability. We suspect most Pathfinder owners will be favouring the trailer over the trail, and head for the river rather than the Rubicon. Either way, the

Powered by a V6 or V8, the Pathfinder can still scramble over rocks and tow a decent-size trailer.

But for getting you through daily life, the Pathfinder is increasingly out of touch.

Pathfinder’s traditional SUV design brings a number of notable drawbacks. The first is weight, which drags down mileage and

handling ability when compared to other large crossover SUVs. Additionally, that body-on-frame construction robs the cabin of passenger and cargo space; The 2011 Nissan Pathfinder is a midsize seven-seater passenger SUV, standard equipment includes 16-inch alloy wheels, rear privacy glass, roof rails, full power accessories, cruise control, air-conditioning, a tilt steering wheel, an eight-way manually adjustable driver seat and a six-speaker stereo with CD player.

The 2011 Nissan Pathfinder comes standard with antilock disc brakes, stability control, and front-seat side airbags and side curtain airbags, and its automatic gearbox providing perfectly timed and smooth gearshifts.

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Chevrolet Captiva

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or such an affordable SUV, the Chevrolet Captiva strikes a perfect balance between convenience and style, seating up to seven, the Captiva combines design with a wide range of safety features such as roll over protection, hill descent

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control and hydraulic brake assist. All models in the range are also fitted with a 6-CD Front Loader radio/CD, the sound is well delivered through the eight speaker system with RDS functionality. Features include MP3 compatibility, Bluetooth connectivity and an Auxiliary input. The overall sleek appearance of the Captiva is defined by a swept windscreen and roofline that provides a sleek aero profile. The side view is complimented by a tyre-to-body relationship imparting a well-grounded appearance. Where the Captiva scores, is its interior space, the versatility of seven adult sized seats challenge larger vehicles. This is because its total space is not compromised by unnecessary gearbox and suspension mechanisms. The space is instead used to

accommodate people and luggage.

Latest generation engines The new Chevrolet Captiva is powered by either a 2.4 litre ecotec engine with variable valve timing that produces 123 kw and 230 nm of torque or a direct injection 3.0 litre v6 that delivers 190 kw with 288 nm of torque. Both are latest generation engines from Chevrolet that offer exceptional fuel economy. Combined cycle fuel economy is 8,8 l/100km for the front wheel drive 2.4 litre model and 9,2 l/100km for the all-wheel drive model. The 3.0 litre direct injection engine delivers combined cycle economy of 10.6 l/100km.

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ECO

Black Rhino Range expansion project Submitted by Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency

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he seventh black rhino population established by the WWF Black Rhino Range Expansion Project was recently released after an epic 1500 kilometre trip across the country. 19 of the critically endangered animals were moved from the Eastern Cape to a new location in Limpopo province.

“This was possible because of the farsightedness of the Eastern Cape Provincial government who were prepared to become partners in the project for the sake of black rhino conservation in South Africa,” said WWF’s project leader Dr Jacques Flamand.

“The operation was difficult due to the number of animals and the long distances involved. But wildlife vets, conservation managers and capture teams from WWF,

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Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency, SANParks and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife worked cooperatively to ensure the success of the translocation. We all learned from one another and were united in a common cause.”

“We are a young organisation and this is a great opportunity to be giving something back to the national conservation effort”, said Dave Balfour, Executive Director for Conservation at the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency.

“We are excited about getting ourselves integrated into national conservation. A critical element of future conservation success will be the ability of agencies with a common interest to work together. This was a great example of that,” added Balfour.

A relatively new capture technique was used to airlift some of the rhinos out of difficult or inaccessible areas by helicopter. This entails suspending the sleeping rhino by the ankles for a short trip through the air to awaiting vehicles.

“Previously rhinos were either transported by lorry over very difficult tracks, or airlifted in a net. This new procedure is gentler on the darted rhino because it shortens the time it has to be kept asleep with drugs, the respiration is not as compromised as it can be in a net and it obviates the need for travel in a crate over terrible tracks,” explains Dr Flamand, himself a wildlife vet with vast experience of translocating rhinos.

“Another advantage is that rhinos can more easily be removed from dangerous situations,

for example if they have fallen asleep in a donga or other difficult terrain after being darted. The helicopter translocations usually take less than ten minutes, and the animals suffer no ill effect. All of the vets working on the translocation agreed that this was now the method of choice for the well-being of the animals,” he added.

Security of rhinos is a major concern given the current poaching onslaught. Project partners receiving rhinos on their land are only chosen if their security systems are of a high standard, says Dr Flamand.

“Translocating rhinos always involves risk, but we cannot keep all our eggs in one basket. It is essential to manage black rhino populations for maximum growth as it is still a critically endangered species and this is what the project does by creating large new populations which we hope will breed quickly.”

The WWF Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase the range and numbers of black rhino in South Africa and has created seven significant black rhino populations in eight years. To date, close to 120 black rhino have been translocated.

Background There are about 1915 black rhino in South Africa and approximately 4880 altogether across Africa. Black rhino need larger

blocks of land than white rhino because they are not social and space themselves out more. Depending on the type of habitat, a population of 50 black rhino might need anything between 200 to a thousand square kilometres of land. The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase land available for black rhino conservation, thus reducing pressure on existing reserves and providing new territory in which the animals can rapidly increase in number. This is done through partnerships with landowners with suitable habitat able to sustain significant black rhino populations. Founder populations of up to 20 or more black rhino are released on to new sites. There are seven project sites so far, five in KwaZulu-Natal province, and two in Limpopo province. Nearly 120 black rhino have been translocated to these sites. Black rhino range has been increased by about 150 000 hectares. Black rhino are a flagship species that is encouraging land owners to consolidate smaller pieces of habitat into more ecologically viable blocks.

Many other critically endangered species, such as wild dog, vultures and cheetah, also benefit. The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project is a partnership between WWF, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency. Funding comes from WWF-Netherlands and the project is supported by the Mazda Wildlife Fund.

There are about 1915 black rhino in South Africa and approximately 4880 altogether across Africa. Black rhino need larger blocks of land than white rhino because they are not social and space themselves out more. Depending on the type of habitat, a population of 50 black rhino might need anything between 200 to a thousand square kilometres of land.

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Courier Freight Group The Courier Freight Group is a subsidiary of the Post Office and is made up of the following companies: XPS Courier Services XPS reaches 3 200 destinations daily with parcel tracking at every stage ensuring total control of freight. Options include: Collection and delivery of abnormal or incompatible consignments on the same day; Drop-box service for clients in main centres who need regular after-hours collections; After-hours service with 8:00 delivery ; Optional coverage against loss, damage or pilferage; Verbal proof of delivery supplied on request, or the proof-of-delivery/ imaging system. All delivery documents are electronically captured and are available as images on the web site. Clients can receive images of PODs either as hard copy or on CD, as well as on the XPS web site at www. xps.co.za; XPS delivers to all remote areas throughout Southern Africa.

Speed Services Couriers Speed Services Couriers provides the most extensive domestic overnight express courier network in Southern Africa. Their dedicated air carriage network meshes seamlessly 102 104

with the Post Office’s road network. This ensures minimised handling, flexible route and timing management, effective cost management and end-to-end control. In 1997, Speed Services Couriers received SABS ISO 9002 certification, which guarantees consistent quality performance throughout all their services. Service options start with counter-to-counter delivery – the most costeffective option. At the other end of the scale is door-to-door delivery, where the items are collected from the sender’s door for overnight delivery to the receiver’s door by 10:30 the following morning.

Same-day delivery is available at extra cost. Speed Services Couriers also has an international service, consisting of door delivery (only) to over 200 international destinations. Documents and parcels (nondocuments) up to 30 kg per item may be sent. Additional Speed Services Couriers options include Track and Trace.

All items are computer-coded and tracked to their destinations. A unique bar code number is all that is required to trace an item through our system. Insurance and liability cover is available at very low rates. Proof of delivery is available through help line consultants, who will provide telephonic or hard copy confirmation of time, date and receiver’s

details. No proof of delivery is available for PO Box or private bag deliveries.

PX Courier Services PX focuses on moving consolidated loads of up to three tons between larger centres in southern Africa. This unique concept is updated by ongoing innovations focused on client needs and keeping pace with modern freight trends. PX provides a reliable doorto-door standard and guaranteed service for unit loads in tailor-made containers to destinations in South Africa and crossborder countries. The minicontainer is a lightweight, versatile means of transporting consignments. Made from reinforced fibreglass and stainless steel, it can carry loads of 1 400 to 3 000 kg. It is delivered right on your doorstep. Service options include specialised containers for goods of a hazardous nature and insulated containers developed to distribute frozen goods with limited temperature loss during transit. PX also offers priority transit where goods have to be delivered within a specified period, as for perishable and frozen commodities. The ‘low line’ container is half the size of the minicontainer for consolidation of parcels to reduce handling.

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0861 872 333

0861 227 282

TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Cape Town

Sleep on Table Mountain

Paragliding off Lions Head

If you are looking for unusual accommodation in Cape Town, this is it.

Did you know that you can sleep on top of Table Mountain? Imagine the city at your feet and the stars as your canopy.

The beautiful Overseers Cottage gives you the awesome opportunity to spend a night on Table Mountain, one of the New7Wonders of Nature, in comfort and surrounded by jaw-dropping views of the entire peninsula. This cottage is part of the Hoerikwaggo Trail, but you can also rent it separately for a weekend away. You are guaranteed to wake up refreshed; it’s a rare privilege to spend a night at this special place. The cottage costs R1980 per night for six people with an additional charge of R330 for extra adults and R165 for extra children.

To book +27 (0) 21 701 8692 tablemountain@sanparks.org

Pure simplicity & freedom is the true beauty of paragliding. A truly awesome & unique experience. No minimum or maximum age. Fun for the entire family.

Where Lions Head, Cape Town To Book +27 (0) 82 881 4724 stefsa@gmail.com

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SOUTH AFRICA VS SRI LANKA TEST Watch South Africa vs Sri Lanka live at the picturesque Newlands cricket stadium, officially known as Sahara Park, with its spectacular views of Table Mountain. Tickets can be bought at the Campground Road ticket office on each day of the test or contact Computicket on 0861 915 8000 Where Sahara Park, Newlands When 3/4/5/6/7 January 2012

J&B MET One of South Africa’s biggest summer racing, fashion & entertainment occasions and Africa’s hottest horseracing event. Facilities include a 5000 capacity marquee, village and 184 picnic sites. Head on over to see and be seen and perhaps, place a bet or two!

When Saturday, 28 January 2012.

Where Kenilworth Racecourse, Cape Town. Price R175.00 for entry. www.webtickets.co.za

WIN TICKETS

Beyond is giving away 2 entry tickets to the J&B Met as well as 2 hospitality tickets for each day of the South Africa vs Sri Lanka test. How to enter: E-mail your contact details and where you picked up your copy of Beyond to win@beyondpublishing. co.za. Competitions close 1 week before each event.

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Located on Durban’s Golden Mile with the beach on its doorstep The Balmoral hotel is a short walk away from the shopping and business district, the International Convention Centre and the uShaka Marine World which features the largest Dolphinarium in Africa.

The Balmoral Hotel, 125 OR Tambo Parade, Durban, Tel: +27 031 368 8200

We are a group of specialist hotels located in South Africa. We believe that a successful hotel is defined beyond merely its location, its décor or its amenities. A successful hotel is a place where you are treated so well, you can hardly wait to return. At Raya Hotels, we offer a combination of heartfelt service and cutting-edge business facilities. The cornerstone of our Management Philosophy lies in the desire to provide unsurpassed customer service, which rests on the three service-pillars of warmth, responsiveness and professionalism. A service style that is warm in its approach, responsive in its delivery and professional in its execution. The Raya Hotels credo is the desire to understand our customer’s unique needs and create an atmosphere of stylish ambience and service quality. We take pride in exceeding our customers’ expectations and share with them the unique magic of the Raya experience.

We believe that this distinction separates Raya from the rest.

The Capetonian Hotel is situated in the heart of its name sake, the Mother City, Cape Town.

Cape Town is a cosmopolitan Metropolis, at the foot of Table Mountain; The Capetonian Hotel is ideally situated opposite Cape Town’s International Convention Centre, minutes away from the famous V&A Waterfront and all main tourist attractions.

The Capetonian Hotel, Pier Place, Heerengracht, Cape Town, Tel: +27 021 405 5670

RAYA HOTELS HEAD OFFICE PO Box 10, Gatesville, Cape Town, 7766 TELEPHONE +27 21 692 1260 FACSIMILE +27 21 691 7079 CENTRAL RESERVATIONS TELEPHONE +27 21 419 1553 / 405 5670 FACSIMILE +27 21 418 0031 E-MAIL raya-hotels@mweb.co.za WEBSITE www.raya-hotels.com

TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Durban

uShaka Marine World Moses Mabhida Stadium BIG SWING uShaka Sea World is a world of wonder and magic known to scuba divers but usually out of sight for most people.

This outstanding shipwreck-themed aquarium is linked to the dolphinarium where delightful dolphin, seal and penguin shows take place throughout the day. There’s also a snorkeling lagoon and a touch pool. Scuba divers feed fish, giant turtles and stingrays by hand, and the sharks are awe-inspiring. Sea World is run by SAAMBR (The South African Association for Marine Biological Research), a non-government, nonprofit association that also incorporates the Sea World Education Centre and the Oceanographic Research Institute.

1 Bell Street, Durban, South Africa 4001 Tel: +27 31 328 8000 mkt@ushakamarineworld.co.za

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For the ultimate ride of your life, the ‘Big Rush Big Swing’ at the Moses Mabhida stadium is a must. This is the world’s only stadium swing and the largest swing of any kind, anywhere. Jump into the void 106 metres above the World Cup football pitch and swing out in a huge 220 metre arc under the iconic arch.

Swim with sharks Experience the incredible sharks of Shark Park in the Aliwal Shoal. Get up close and personal with Black-tips, Duskies and maybe even the graceful Tiger sharks.

Where Rocky Bay, South Coast-40km from Durban When Everyday, Booking is essential, Tel: +27 (0) 83 303 1515 www.bluewilderness.co.za

Try a Durban Curry AT INDIAN CONNNECTION This is the most popular really good curry den in town, although ‘den’ does an injustice to this old suburban house in Morningside with its twin palm trees and rather vast north Indian menu: lamb vindaloo, rogan josh, chicken korma, butter chicken, fish, prawn and vegetable curries, naan or more chewy paratha bread, even dhimgri dholma (a mushroom curry) … you get the picture, and all, as they say. And in true local style, where they prefer to drink beer with their curries, the wine list is somewhat humble (you can take your own - we suggest an off-dry Gewürtztraminer). The staff really know their food though, so you can debate the benefits of sambals, or ask for something special.

Where Indian Connection 485 Windermere Road, Morningside Tel: +27 (0) 31 312 1440 www.indianconnection.co.za

Looking for the perfect conference and function venue?

You want it to be easily accessible from Johannesburg, Pretoria and OR Tambo and across the road from Gallagher. You want a choice of 17 stunning conference and function halls and brilliant service. You need hospitable intimate seven 4-star guest houses with 91 twin bedrooms on suite.You want gardens and pools for your delegates to relax and unwind at the end of each day. You want a village that understands your needs and budget constraints.

Look no further.

Midrand Conference Centre and Villa Tuscana Guest Houses offers all this and more.

Email: info@midrandconferencecentre.co.za or visit www.midrandconferencecentre.co.za Phone: 011 315 8326

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TRAVEL & TOURISM Out and about in Johannesburg

WILD LIGHTS AT JOHANNESBURG ZOO Visitors can walk the Johannesburg Zoo at night lit with Christmas lights making for a lovely evening build up to the Christmas season.

Where: Johannesburg Zoo, Upper Park Drive, Parktown When: 07 Dec 11 to 23 Dec 11 Price R24 to R55

Catz Pyjamas From trendsetters to the informal, from insomniacs to the lethargic, from old to young, from contemporary to classical music, from the hungry to the drinkers, and from the adventurous to the faint hearted...Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Catz Pyjamas is the only restaurant in Johannesburg, where you can enjoy a scrumptious meal at any time you choose and the quality will be consistent.

Where 12 Main Road, Mellville When 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Tel: + 27 (0) 11 726 8596 mellville@catzpyjamas.co.za 112 114

Sand boarding at Mount Mayhem Morara’s Wine & SPIRITS EMPORIUM Morara, which appropriately translates into grapes in Tswana, is Soweto’s first Wine and Spirits Emporium. It’s located at a boutique-like digs and has so much character it could easily be a headlining feature in a connoisseurs guide to uber bubblies in the south of France. But hold up! Its feet are firmly set in the hustle and bustle of Joburg. The emporium’s walls are colonised by all sorts of vintages from the finest estates-local and abroad.

Where 649 Kinini Street, Mofolo Central, Soweto When Mondays-Sundays 9-5 pm Tel: +27 (0) 11 982 2290

One of the latest and most exciting new outdoor sports is sand boarding.

Similar to snowboarding, this adventure in Gauteng may not have snow, but has got tons of great sand! So, if you feel the need for speed, adrenaline and just a whole lot of fun, join Mount Mayhem in Boksburg, only 30 minutes outside of Johannesburg. Their instructors will strap you down and get the blood rushing through your veins. At the end of the day you will be gliding over the sand and addicted to the thrill of sand boarding. Equipment and sand boarding lessons included. If the group is larger than 10, arrangements can be made for during the week. Wear comfortable loose clothing and sneakers. Hiking boots are not recommended. Bring your own refreshments and energy drinks Where Mount Mayhem, Benoni When Saturdays & Sundays from 10h30 to 15h30 Price R201 to R500 per person Tel: +27 (0) 82 605 1150 marco@purerush.co.za www.purerush.co.za

Responsible tourism at Tau Game Lodge

O

n the far Northern border of South Africa lies a beautiful area known as the Groot Marico and it is in this spectacular setting, in the malariafree Madikwe Game Reserve, that privately owned Tau Game Lodge is situated. Thirty luxury chalets are spread out in U-formation on either side of the lodge, offering excellent views of animals approaching the waterhole from the opposite bank. The lodge has a 5 star rating and chalets are equipped with both air-conditioning and ceiling fans, mini-bars ,tea and coffee facilities.

Each chalet has its own wooden deck, which allows one to experience the bush in privacy and is equipped with an en-suite bathroom and open-air shower. Since its inception, the Tau Foundation, driven by Tau’s director, Clifford Green, has implemented a number of impressive projects in the local Supingstad community and we are proud of what the Tau Foundation has achieved so far.

The social responsibility programme is delivering tangible results at the various local schools. This includes the fencing and safe keeping of the school properties and upgrading of the school sports fields and play grounds, as well as the renovation of school buildings and facilities, setting up of vegetable gardens, computer rooms, creating 116

a borehole and installing guttering and water tanks and toilets with running water at the high school. Guests visiting the lodge are offered the opportunity to visit the Supingstad schools, some traditional historical sites or they can contribute to the soup kitchen which Tau arranges at the schools. These tours are led by our community officer, Itumeleng Michael Senne.

The Tswana traditional singer-dance group, Ditshepe tse di Tshetlhana, was formed in January 2004, in the nearby village of Supingstad, under the leadership of Sacky Suping. The group was formed to add flair to the growing tourism in the area and help existing programmes for community development. Our guests play a critical role in supporting the Tau Foundation by integrating local and international travellers and rural people to their mutual benefit.

The Tau Tree Fund The Tau Tree Fund was started to allow visitors to the Tau Game Lodge the opportunity to plant protected tree species and to learn a little about the trees that they are planting, thereby playing an active role in conservation. Information supplied to the guests includes the medicinal purposes, African folklore, natural habitat, ecology, animal and plant relationships, etc. of their

chosen tree.

As an alternative project to assist in sustainability of the Mmasebudule community project, the task of supplying trees to lodges in the Madikwe Reserve was initiated. This project was designed to teach the community to collect seeds and germinate indigenous trees for resale both within and outside of the game reserve. They have been supplying trees to a number of lodges in Madikwe, who in turn have either planted them, or in our case, have also sold them to guests who have then planted them, with all profits then going towards the Tau Foundation.

We are working closely with the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and our supplying nurseries, so that from time to time when the trees seed, they are able to collect seeds for further regeneration During Arbor week this year, Tau pledged to plant a tree each day of the first week of September and staff members of each Lodge department were involved with this on a daily basis For any additional information, please feel free to contact us on +27 11 314 4350 or taugame@mweb.co.za www.taugamelodge.co.za

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Book reviewS

Writer Farah Abdurahman

MONEY ALCHEMY

Leaderless Revolution Steve Jobs

Author Kiki Theo

Author Carne Ross

Author Walter Isaacson

Publisher Penguin Books SA

Publisher Simon & Schuster, Distributed by Jonathan Ball Publishers

Publisher Little Brown, Distributed by Penguin Books in South Africa

Price R270

Price R300

Taking different angles on contemporary issues, economics, politics, the state of democracy, the environment and terrorism, wrapping them into a unified explanation of how money and power function to control the lives of the earth’s inhabitants. It seems that mankind has settled upon liberal democracy as the ideal form of government. Its triumph with the collapse of communism signalled the end of ideological struggle and thus of history. Examining histories of both cosmopolitanism and anarchism, The Leaderless Revolution shows how both ideas, in combination, are relevant and necessary for the problems of today.

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In iSteve: The Book of Jobs, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, iSteve is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.

Price R140 Beyond the logical mind, beyond positive thinking and affirmations, beyond the known secrets of money making, lies Money Alchemy. Money Alchemy is a shift in thinking, a training in the use of unconventional moneymaking tools, and a personal transformation that will take readers into wealth and beyond, quickly and effortlessly. Based on the real-life wealth journey of a self-made entrepreneur, who despite severely disadvantaged circumstances retired wealthy at age 39, Money Alchemy will lift readers lightly and humorously onto their own magic wealth carpet! The results will astound!

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Beyond is giving away a copy of each reviewed book as well as a set of 3 books on starting, financing and marketing your business. E-mail your contact details and where you picked up your copy of Beyond to win@beyondpublishing. co.za. Competitions closes 6 February 2012

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Technology REVIEWS

TOP GEAR SATNAV

PLAYSTATION VITA PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) is the official platform name for the next generation portable entertainment system and will launch in global market starting the end of 2011/start 2012. PS Vita incorporates a beautiful 5-inch multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) as the front display and a unique multi-touch pad on the rear. Together with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, PS Vita offers new game play experiences never before seen on any device, allowing users to interact directly with games in three dimension-like motion, through “touch, grab, trace, push and pull” finger motions. PS Vita will also feature two analogue sticks which enable a wider range of game genres to be brought into the portable experience, such as shooters, action games, and fighting games. Also, by having both Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity, together with various applications, PS Vita will enable infinite possibilities for users to “encounter,” “connect,” “discover,” “share” and “play” with friends wherever they are.

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TomTom launched the TomTom GO LIVE Top Gear edition, bringing fans a combination of a Stig mode, Jeremy Clarkson’s directions and unique Top Gear selected points of interest including race track and raceway locations related to the series. Featuring TomTom’s congestion-busting HD Traffic technology, the new satnav will steer drivers through traffic jams and is packed with Top Gear features including start-up and shut-down screens and car icons. Drivers can choose to have The Stig mode, which renders the device instantly silent, or select Jeremy Clarkson’s voice to guide them. At R1 999, the TomTom GO LIVE Top Gear edition includes one year of TomTom’s LIVE Services at no cost. The flagship service is TomTom HD Traffic, which delivers dynamic routing and accurate traffic information every two minutes.

HD Traffic gives drivers detailed incident reports, length of delays and reason for them, accurate travel and arrival times and alternative route proposals. The LIVE Services bundle also includes the Speed Cameras service, providing mobile and fixed speed camera alerts, while TomTom Places local search helps to pinpoint shops and businesses in the area. QuickGPSfix gets you navigating in seconds and TomTom Weather gives local and five-day forecasts. www.tomtom.com/topgear

TOMTOM via live

NPO1Wi INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD The integration of Luidias eBeam technology into the NEC projector mount enables all NEC’S short and ultra short throw projectors to deliver advanced data interactivity to customers. Customers will be able to not only view, but collaborate on projected content in real-time. This leads to more exciting, engaging and most importantly, productive classrooms and workplaces around the world.

The optional NPO1Wi module will be compatible with NEC’S U series and M Short Throw Series projectors. The new interactive whiteboard module launched in November 2011.

Price: not available www.nec-displays.co.za

First fully connected mid-range device with HD Traffic and easy Voice Control.

TomTom launched the brand new TomTom via LIVE, bringing the most accurate traffic information as well as a more enjoyable driving experience.

TomTom via LIVE comes with enhanced driving features, including full voice control and hands-free calling. Designed for people who love to drive, the device comes fully connected, providing unprecedented live traffic information knowledge of the road ahead. With TomTom HD Traffic bundled free for the first year to all, via LIVE is built to get drivers through traffic quicker than any other traffic service available on the market. The TomTom via LIVE range is the perfect companion with up-todate speed camera information on both fixed and mobile cameras en route, as well as live weather updates and local Google business address searches.The TomTom VIA LIVE 120 and TomTom VIA LIVE 125 includes one year of LIVE Services for free and is available from all retail stores nationwide, for R 2 299.00 and R 2 599.00 respectively. The LIVE Services subscription will cost R 499.00 for the second year. The TomTom via 110 without LIVE connectivity is available from R 1 999

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc 4.2 inch screen, 8MP, Android OS. Sony Ericsson handsets are renowned for their superb multimedia handling, with both music and photo capabilities borrowing liberally from their Sony heritage. First impressions are that the Xperia Arc is unbelievably thin and incredibly light-a mere 117g. It captures 8 megapixel pictures and high-definition video. You can even jack straight into your flat panel TV to watch videos or share photos.

Using Google’s Android operating system means access to thousands of free applications and games and solid integration with Gmail and search functions. Fast and super stylish. A lovely piece of hardware to have.

Price: ZAR5000 www.sonyericsson.com 121

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RESTAURANT REVIEW Reuben’s Writer Farah Abdurahman

I

had the pleasure of dining at Reuben’s restaurant at the One and Only Hotel on the V and A Waterfront. The restaurant opened in 2009 and is owned by the well-known homegrown chef Reuben Riffel and is just a small feather out of his hat full of successes.

My first thought, when I was told that I would be reviewing this particular restaurant, was riddled with complete angst as it sits in the only seven-star hotel in Africa. The expectation accumulated to a point of silver chairs and golden spoons. But, once I was standing in front of Reuben’s, I was completely surprised – in a good way.

As you come down the stairs towards the restaurant, the entrance immediately catches your attention as it is made up of a most impressive wine cellar. Over 300 wines are displayed in the glass cellar with the brilliant lighting and design. Upon entering Reuben’s, my colleagues and I were welcomed by friendly staff members and shown to our table. The interior uses the warmth of earthly colours such as red and brown to create a sophisticated yet relaxed environment where both intimate couples and families 120 122

can share a good and hearty meal. The tables are engraved with the word Reuben’s and is set with a variety of fresh bread and butter and olive oil. My excitement, after being told about this particular review, was punctured by the fear of a menu that may be out of my taste bud arena. Upon being seated, we were handed an A3 menu by our welcoming waiter, Robert; who gave us a list of the preferred customer dishes. Once again, I was surprised in a good way. The menu offers a variety of fresh, scrumptious and local flavours. The kind of flavours that reminds you of your mother’s cooking with a modern and sophisticated spin.

I decided to give one of the customer favourites a try: the Chilli Salted Squid; while my colleagues had the Warm Duck Confit Salad and Norwegian Salmon Carpaccio. The starters were beautifully plated and the time between ordering and the meals arriving was satisfactory – service excellence is definitely a priority for the local chef. After being pleasantly lured into the wholesome and fresh flavours of the starters, we then ventured into our mains. I had the mouth-watering Confit of duck and

my colleagues enjoyed the Vanilla Prawns and the famous 650 grams Char Grilled aged T-bone Steak. The portions were generous and the taste of each dish was marvelous. The mains left us quite full but as any reviewer, you are required (by the job description) to have dessert.

My taste buds found it sorting through the One and Only trio of ice cream selection which included flavours such as peanut butter, liquorice and honey-comb ice cream.

My colleagues enjoyed Glazed Lemon Tart and the traditional Apple Crumble. The trio of ice cream flavours are unusual but the different flavours fused together well to present an interesting and delicious outcome.

My colleagues were also experiencing the “happy dance” in their mouths while consuming the wonderful desserts.

Reuben’s at the One and Only Hotel offers sophistication, relaxation and a guarantee of friendly service and local flavours.

Experiencing seven-star dining with a local feel to it allows for this restaurant to secure a comfortable bullet-point on my monthly todo list.

L I F E S T Y L E

A C C O M M O D AT I O N

Lifestyle

Val d’Or Lifestyle Accommodation is your exclusive opportunity to participate and share in a Winelands lifestyle and is for those who enjoy the good things in life! It’s all about being able to draw a cork from a bottle of wine with your own personalised label!

Val d’Or Guest House and Self-Catering is one of Franschhoek’s most luxurious places to stay, offering easy access to all of Franschhoek and the Winelands’ and is an idyllic country setting in which to shed city stress.

The opportunity of being a part of this unique lifestyle is not to be passed over.

The concept of sharing in your vineyard block, your wine and enjoying the pleasure of a wine farm lifestyle is the stuff dreams are made of!

Val d’Or Lifestyle Accommodation benefits:

• • • • • • • • •

Participation in a wine and olive farm and the production of your own personalised wine & wine label.

Each Lifestyle Accommodation member has naming rights to your block.

Accommodation – bed and breakfast.

Platinum Participation: 14 nights per annum (10 nights at Val d’Or Estate, Franschhoek and 4 nights in Sedgefield, Garden Route).

Discount on additional accommodation per annum.

Platinum Participation: 40% discount on standard rates.

Once-off participation fee for a ten year membership.

Platinum Participation: R125,000, with no annual levies!

The proposal is, of the 100 Platinum Players, only 50 will have an exclusive invitation to participate in the equity of Val d’Or Estate in the future!

Val d’Or Lifestyle Accommodation is your exclusive opportunity to share in a lifestyle in the Cape Winelands and is for the discerning few who enjoy the good things in life!

L I F E S T Y L E

A C C O M M O D AT I O N

Ashley’s Shiraz

Contact: +27 82 889 7779 or +27 21 876 3902 or e-mail lifestyle@valdor.co.za

What do you give a person who has everything…?

A WINE FARM EXPERIENCE! www.valdor.co.za

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Project and Business Management Systems getting you down?

We interviewed Key360, the newest revolution in project management software, due for release any day.

Key360 is an in-house development by SSG Consulting.

The system is designed and used by Engineers, Project Managers

and

Project

Controls

Specialists

at

SSG

Consulting – Developed by exceptional System Architects.

Interview with a Software System: Are you Web based?

√

Of course – aren’t all good systems these days?

Can you deploy quickly for a new user?

√

How does a 2 Meg download from the internet sound – about 30 secs.

Does it cover all the systems I will need?

√

120 different units across 15 Knowledge areas – about everything we could think of.

Does it work for MEGA-Projects?

√

Absolutely, I was built for handling huge amounts of data, with all the fancy grouping, filters, sorting and templates you can imagine.

How about multiple small projects?

√

With all the units in one simple interface, one user can do several projects.

Do you keep my data safe?

√

Absolutely, with all the fancy encryption, backups, hardware protection etc.

Do you handle project collaboration?

√

From workflow, chat, messaging, email integration, action lists and stakeholder management everyone is kept on top of things.

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No, I meant data collaboration and integration?

√

That is the best part of my internals. All the data in the system is centred around a core Project Breakdown Structure. You know, WBS, PBS, CBS. I even link units to each other. For example, if I capture risks, I can reflect them in the costs etc, etc.

Does that mean no time lag for reporting?

√

Definitely, all data and reports are available in real time anywhere across the globe, instantly.

With all this capability, what about my existing systems, can I keep them?

√

No problem, I will hook up to any system you have or extract info from any system you have.

Be honest, the system must be a nightmare to use?

√

Can I tell you secret, don’t tell my creators; I am actually just a very clever set of spreadsheets. That’s how they train people to use me!

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Creditworx offers

credit risk solutions that are tailor-made for the

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www.gpf.org.za EMAIL info@gpf.org.za telephone 011 290 6690

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Contact us to see why it makes perfect sense to make us your partner in debt collection.

Telephone +27 11 248 2000

www.creditworx.co.za

Creditworx is registered with the Council for Debt Collectors in terms of the Debt Collectors Act (114 of 1998).