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preface
values or township lifestyles? I venture to suggest
that we are not even aware of what matters to the
transformation candidate. Of immediate interest
and closest to what I am proposing so far, is the
Discovery Bank product design. In a nutshell, the
product is designed to attach less value on the
credit history and more value on the savings/
spending patterns of the client.
In respect of the healthcare, we continue to see
health funding institutions (medical schemes)
as charitable NPO causes. Yet, this is an industry
where there is mass black participation and
participants are merely seen as consumers
and nothing more. No effort is made to build
economic value proposition that can convert the
consumers in that sector into investors. The recent
Health Summits had little to offer towards content
of what I propose as the alternative.
In the transport sector, we have been busy with
Adv. Bhuka
infrastructure for all sorts of rapid public transport
systems. The commuters that use these are seen
A
merely as customers / clients. I ask myself, is
bout 24 years ago, the dawn of democracy
shone upon the South African landscape.
The nation spent the 24 years defining and
redefining what must be the proper meaning of
the phrase, “transformation” in our country. We
developed laws such as PPPFA, BBBEEA, EEA, (not
a closed list), etc. We have also tried to customise
this meaning by reducing it to transformation
charters, sector codes and quotas.
The question is, whether or not we have managed
to form a standard universally accepted meaning
of the phenomenon called transformation since
the dawn of democracy. I do not propose to offer
a statistical analysis, but wish to briefly reflect on
the following observations:
In the year 2018, our courts were called upon
to determine / issue a declaratory on the
transformational credibility of the mining charter.
Interestingly enough, notwithstanding the age of
the debate in that sector, our courts still had a split
(minority and majority) judgment.
In an article date 22 July 2018, City Press
reported on the State Deputy President, David
Mabuza, reflecting on how inclusive and radical
transformation must be.
In an article date 10 November 2018, Fin24
reported on Professor Momokgethi Phakeng,
Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
8
www.transformsa.co.za
as having said that transformation must not just
be about bringing people in, it must also entail
changing the space these people are brought into.
there none of the intelligent propositions we
have heard of in the past 24 years that can offer a
proposition to make these commuters investors
in these infrastructure projects? No wonder when
It is evident from the three examples that I would
not be too far of the mark when I say we have,
just this calendar year, had substantial political
amusement, academic discourse and judicial
intellectual stimulation that tends to suggest
that we are not near answering the question in
the affirmative.
we have service delivery protests, these assets
become easy targets for destruction. This last line
is not to justify the vandalism but to state a factual
cause of people not respecting the value of these.
In closing I wish to advance a proposition that
it is not the accuracy or intelligence of the
definition that will give progressive realisation of
And so, what do I intend to advance as a
proposition in this short pierce?
transformation in South Africa, but it is attaching
monetary value and growth path to things the
transformation candidate value. Developments
It is my proposition that the above examples
are an indication that our progress may not
be properly founded on political amusement,
academic discourse and intellectual jurisprudence,
but on attaching monetary value to what the
transformation candidate’s value. For example,
it may we be that transformation candidates do
not value JSE listed shareholding but value fixed
income generating assets where there is a real
relation between the effort and the returns. In
the banking environment, we have seen the
introduction and growth of Islamic banking
products. In the investment sector we have seen
the introduction and growth of bitcoin economy/
trading.
such as the reaction to Momentum’s refusal to
pay the claim on an insurance, the reaction to
the GEMS refusal to honour a claim on a medical
aid and the ethos of the recently formed Black
Bar Association, (not a closed list) can easily give
insight on what the transformational candidates
regard as valuable and then the nation can
expend their energies on the debate about what
rand value to be attached to these.
Thank you
Adv. Bhuka, NW
Chief Legal Officer & Scheme Secretary at Polmed
Please note that this contribution is Adv. Bhuka’s
Have we seen similar energy in developing
banking products that are consistent with black
personal views and does not necessarily represent
nor has it been commissioned by Polmed.
