OVERVIEWBanking and
OVERVIEWBanking and financial servicesAfrican Bank is stronger.SECTOR INSIGHTOld Mutual is starting a bank.African Bank has a branch in Kathu, two in Kuruman andthree in Kimberley, one of which is in the Diamond PavilionShopping Mall, pictured. A total of 12 branches across theNorthern Cape points to the extended reach of the newlyrevitalised African Bank.The R80-million purchase of Ubank, which traditionally had a strongpresence in mining areas, added 4.7-million retail customers to AfricanBank’s portfolio and, together with the purchase of Grindrod Bankfor R1.5-billion, indicated the scale of African Bank’s ambitions. It alsogave an indication of how far the bank had come since it was put intoadministration in 2014. The Reserve Bank still has a 50% shareholdingin the bank, which it intends to sell.South Africa’s banking sector continues to experience change. Fournew banks are in the pipeline and have received regulatory approval:Old Mutual, the Young Women in Business Network (YWBN) MutualBank, Postbank (a state entity) and the SA Innovative Financial ServicesCooperative (SAIFSC), which will be run by the Department of Women,Youth and People with Disabilities.With more than 30 000 employees in 14 countries, Old Mutual isbest known for insurance, but has now won approval to establish afully fledged bank. For some time, the group has offered the MoneyAccount, a low-cost transactional account which doubles as aunit trust savings account. This product was offered by Old MutualTransaction Services in association with Bidvest Bank Ltd and OldMutual Investment Administrators.ONLINE RESOURCESAssociation for Savings and Investment South Africa: www.asisa.org.zaAuditor-General of South Africa: www.agsa.co.zaBanking Association South Africa: www.banking.org.zaNew entrants to the copperminingsector in the NorthernCape have recently listed on twoSouth African stock exchanges.Copper 360, active near Springbok,listed on main board and AltXboard of the JSE where there arenow 44 companies in the basicmaterials sector.Australian mining companyOrion Minerals also listed on theAltX and the JSE main board. Thecompany’s two main projectswhich it is financing are the OkiepCopper Project and the PrieskaCopper Zinc Project.Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) isactively involved in several NorthernCape projects. A special purposevehicle will be established, withdevelopment finance institutions,to tackle the backlog in schoolinfrastructure and a similar ideaunderpins the financing of a ruralroads programme.With the renewable energysector booming in South Africa,a new sector in need of projectfunding has opened up for banks.The Northern Cape has attracteda large number of independentpower producers.Most agricultural companieshave financing and servicesdivisions, as one would expect in aprovince with a strong and variedagricultural sector which exportsmuch of its produce. ■NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/2650PHOTO: Diamond Pavilion
ICTRural areas are getting connected.Pupils at Ba Ga Lotlhare Secondary School Cyber Lab atHeuningsvlei have access to a Cyber Lab, thanks to an initiativeof the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).Heuningsvlei is a small village in the Joe Morolong LocalMunicipality, north of Kuruman. The district municipality into whichthe school falls, John Taolo Gaetsewe District, recently recorded themost improved matriculation results and the school itself scored a100% pass rate in Mathematics and Science. The national Cyber Labprogramme falls under the Department of Communications andDigital Technologies.A digital system for leave requests and submissions has beenintroduced by four departments of the Provincial Government. TheOffice of the Premier, the Treasury, Economic Development andTourism and Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements andTraditional Affairs now have e-Leave and e-Submission forms and theaim is to have all departments using such systems by the end of the2025/26 financial year.This is in line with the newly introduced Provincial BroadbandStrategy which has also seen many state facilities such as health andeducation connected. An electronic dispatch system is working at 91%of the province’s health facilities while every one of the public ordinaryschools is connected for administrative purposes. The SA Connectprogramme is helping the province roll out digital connections forteaching: so far 98 schools in the Pixley Ka Seme District have beenconnected.Two pilot projects have introduced Coding and Robotics as asubject (at 173 schools) and converted classrooms (at one school ineach of the five districts) into Cyber Labs.Agriculture will also benefit from the Broadband Strategy through apartnership with the Vaalharts Agricultural Distribution Centre (VADC)and Farm Smart Technology. The aim is to improve access to marketsand to assist with logistics.The major telecommunications operators, Vodacom, MTN andTelkom, have recently spent nearly R1-billion in upgrading broadbandinfrastructure such as base stations. The result is that the provincecan now boast of 98% cellular network coverage, a remarkableONLINE RESOURCESNational Department of Science, Technology and Innovation:www.dsti.gov.zaSquare Kilometre Array: www.ska.ac.zaTechnology Innovation Agency: www.tia.org.zaSECTOR INSIGHTOVERVIEWProvincial government isgoing digital.The STEM Programme at EnochMethetho Secondary Schoolis sponsored by the NoupoortWind Farm.achievement for such a bigprovince. Vodacom is partneringwith the provincial government inthe provision of digital call centresfor emergency medical services(EMS) in Upington and Kimberley.Sol Plaatje University (SPU) isteaching data analytical skills toundergraduates and many ofthem are moving into the financialsector on graduation. Anotherarea where these skills are in greatdemand is radio astronomy. Oneof the world’s great scientificventures, the Square KilometreArray radio telescope project, hasbeen established near Carnarvonand the amount of data that itwill generate is so great that it isdifficult to comprehend. Manydata analysts and other skilledspecialists will be needed. ■51NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/26
