18 Wednesday, February 28 2018 BUSINESS REPORT TO CONTACT BUSINESS REPORT: BR ONLINE [email protected] JHB NEWSDESK 011 633- 2288 CONTACT 011 633 2343/2186 E-MAIL BR NEWSDESK & REPORTERS [email protected] COMMERCIAL TEAM E-MAIL OPINIONS& PR RELEASES [email protected] CONTACT 011 639 7133/ 7127/ 7193 Opinion&Analysis E-MAIL LETTERS [email protected] E-MAIL [email protected] SA is on a new Land Bank’s Nchocho decries slow transformation path and burying GROWTH BLUEPRINT the Gupta ghosts Luyolo Mkentane AND Bank chief executive TP Ncho- cho doesn’t mince his words when it comes to ramping up the slow trans- THE formation pace in the agriculture sector. And he is prepared to put SHAKE-UP Lmoney where his mouth is. We catch up with Nchocho at the bank’s headquarters at Centurion in Pretoria, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sechaba ka’Nkosi recent State of the Nation address and the subsequent national Budget for 2018 tabled RESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa this by former finance minister Malusi Gigaba. week drove the final nail into the In the Business Report interview, Ncho- already crumbling Gupta empire. cho makes references to the Ramaphosa Ramaphosa sacked Lynne Brown, and Gigaba speeches, and said he appreci- Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, ated the sense of optimism in them as they PDes van Rooyen and David Mahlobo, among addressed issues pertaining to growing the others, from his cabinet. Few eyes will shed economy, creating employment, transform- a drop over their departure. For while they Faith Muthambi, former minister of Public ation and improving the governance of made for some entertaining education on Service and Administration. PHOTO: GCIS state-owned enterprises to curb wasteful how not to run a government, they also expenditure and corruption. cost South Africa billions of rand in capital Ramaphosa said agriculture presented outflows and investments. one of the greatest opportunities to sig- Brown allegedly opened the Eskom nificantly grow the economy and create vault to Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta to much-needed jobs. plunder as they pleased. She appointed He’s also acknowledged the crucial role Gupta acolytes such as Brian Molefe, Anoj the sector played in helping the economy Singh and Matshela Koko, while swearing clamber out of a technical recession last by whatever was most sacred to her that all year. was right with the utility. Even when she Ramaphosa said they would accelerate was found to have misled Parliament, she the land redistribution programme, not simply shifted the blame. only to redress “a grave historical injustice, Muthambi, a rural girl from an obscure but also to bring more producers into the village called Vhembe, thought it very pro- agricultural sector and to make more land fessional to let the brothers in on some available for cultivation”. classified cabinet decisions. She also com- Nchocho speaks frankly about challen- peted with Brown in getting what to her ges confronting the country and said that were the best minds to run key government he welcomed South Africa’s prospects as institutions (Think Hlaudi Motsoeneng). the government anticipated an economic Zwane single-handedly elevated the growth of 1.5 percent in 2018, 1.8 percent Guptas from an ordinary immigrant family Former Public Enterprises minister Lynne in 2019 and 2.1 percent in 2020; and the seeking greener pastures in South Africa Brown. PHOTO: FILE projected Gross Domestic Product growth into a sleek machinery that ran the coun- from 0.7 percent to 1 percent. try’s coal mining industry like no other However, Nchocho’s main focus is on company had done. the developmental agenda he’s pursuing The morbid Van Rooyen lied so noncha- at the Land Bank in order to transform lantly that he even attracted the attention the agriculture sector and help grow the of Public Protector Busi Mkhwebane away continental superpower’s economy. from the SA Reserve Bank. As for Mahlobo, He said the development bank had he should take comfort in the probability over the past two years handled more that his hilarious intelligence reports will than R1.2 billion in empowerment equity one day make for a must-read in early finance; its loan book grew from R33bn in childhood development centres. 2015 to R45bn currently, and it achieved a When Mkhwebane’s predecessor Thuli net growth of about R4bn per annum. Madonsela drafted her State of Capture “That’s a lot for an organisation our report, some cabinet ministers were fin- size,” he said. gered as chief lieutenants of the state Nchocho explained that the develop- capture project, making it possible for the mental portion of their loan book was Land Bank chief executive TP Nchocho during an interview with Business Report at the bank’s headquarters in Centurion. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Guptas to plunge the economy into a crisis, 6 percent in 2016, but was now around while fattening their bank accounts. They 13 percent. mental initiatives and that 50 percent of agricultural sector, transformation, sector “It’s not sustainable for the status quo moonlighted as Gupta consultants on key He said: “Our target in the next two to funding would go towards helping black growth, employment quality, food security to remain. Continuing on the status quo state transactions and ensured that state- three years is to have 30 percent of our entrepreneurs. “That’s how bullish we are and sustainable development. can only cause major socio-political risks owned entities (SOEs) were turned into entire portfolio made up of transformation in driving transformation,” said Nchocho. He admits that transformation is a for the country. cash cows for the family. and/or developmental issues in terms of He said the Land Bank was currently thorny issue. “Land reform has to be tackled with Their fall, therefore, signals an end Axed minister of Mineral Resources, loans and investments.” in talks with the Department of Agricul- “One of the challenges we have strug- vigour and with aggression. Those who to one of the most painful chapters of Mosebenzi Zwane. PHOTO: REUTERS He said the bank managed to raise ture, Forestry and Fisheries to implement gled with as an organisation is that the want the status quo to remain must ask South African history, where an elected R7.7bn in new financing last year from a blended financing facility, “whereby you key stakeholders in the form of organised themselves: do they want to participate in government chose to enter into a joint gov- that they will look for wage increases that development finance agencies, including take a grant and combine it with a loan for agriculture are formed along racial lines a constructive land reform or do they want erning expedition that shuttled between will take care of additional costs on their the World Bank, KfW Development Bank, maximum impact”. – AgriSA for whites and Afasa for blacks. to face social civil unrest. It’s happened in Mahlamba Ndlopfu and the Gupta’s Sax- stretched pockets. Nene will have to con- the European Investment Bank, Standard “Essentially, what this means is that you These are two constituencies with very other parts of the world. So, it’s real.” onwold compound. vince them that the belt-tightening exercise Chartered, and through local bonds. blend grant money with debt money. If you different expectations,” he said. Land Bank’s focus areas for 2018 include cuts across all sectors and that the bloated “The ability to raise money is indicative do that, can you imagine the impact that But Nchocho is uncompromising in his increasing its corporate social investment cabinet is firmly under his and Rama- of the healthy state of the Land Bank,” says you can achieve, because you are basically stance of driving much-needed transform- expenditures to R2.1m; partnering with Survivor phosa’s microscope. He will also have to Nchocho proudly, adding that for the past using different types of money to achieve ation in the sector. other development finance institutions and The only survivor in Ramaphosa’s Mon- rein-in the ruffians that currently run the eight years they had achieved clean audits more impact and finance more blacks and “Our view is as follows: Our country intermediaries to co-fund programmes, day night axe is Home Affairs Minis- SA Revenue Service and kickstart an all from the Auditor-General. “We remain on a beneficiaries.” has a particular racial history, where it’s and enhance funding and expand its reach ter Malusi Gigaba, who returned to his but moribund economy. clean path when it comes to governance.” Nchocho talks passionately about the undisputed that black people were unfairly in communities, among others. portfolio just five days after delivering Then there is poor old Gwede Mantashe, For 2018/2019 more than R2.5bn would bank’s Vision2020, the bank’s blueprint discriminated against from owning land. his maiden Budget speech. Most people who will have to polish his negotiation be set aside for transformative develop- aimed at driving in the back-breaking So, we must start there. @luyolomkentane expected him to take the fall for his actions skills to deal with the monumental bungles in his previous portfolio as the minister that Zwane has left behind in the mining of public enterprises and also at home industry. affairs. It was he who approved the Gupta Under Zwane’s stewardship, the bodies brothers’ naturalisation into South Africa. of three workers remain trapped in an But as we turn our backs on their prom- underground container in Lily Mine. Last inence in our body politic, we must spare year the industry recorded 82 fatalities a serious thought for those who are now between January and November.