Safika Holdings

Founded in 1995, Safika Holdings (PTY) Limited www.safika.co.za is an influential South African investment holding company headed by Nelson Mandela's fellow political prisoners Sakumzi 'Saki' Macozoma and Moss Ngoasheng.

In 2003, when the South African government decreed that major businesses must ensure a certain percentage of their shareholding be held by black people[1] Safika became the preferred Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner for a number of prominent South African companies. Their head office is in Johannesburg.

Safika has interests in financial services, mining, transport, manufacturing, human resources, media, gaming and technology. The company has close ties with the Standard Bank Group, http://www.standardbank.co.za, Africa's largest banking group by assets and earnings and with Liberty Holdings, http://www.libertyholdings.co.za/, a leading South African-based assurance conglomerate that has operations in 15 African countries. In 2004 Standard and Liberty took shares in Safika which in turn acquired stakes in Standard and Liberty.[2] In 2005 Standard increased its shareholding in Safika to 20 per cent.[3]

On October 1, 2005 Safika bought a stake in Oosthuizens Transport, a major short-haul trucking company based in Mpumulanga that is heavily involved in the transport of coal to power stations. It subsequently acquired an effective 75 per cent stake after which the company was renamed Safika Oosthuizens Transport. http://www.oosthuizenssa.co.za

Safika holds a significant interest in Spartan Truck Hire, a South African national truck and crane rental company based in Kempton Park near Johannesburg, http://www.spartantruckhire.co.za. It is active in the packaged cement market through Castle Cement Holdings, http://www.idm.co.za.

In 2010 Safika expanded its operations to Australia taking a stake in the Wingate Group http://www.wingategroup.com.au, a privately held investment company.

Safika is the controlling shareholder in Ntsimbintle Mining (PTY) Ltd. which, through its subsidiary Tshipi Manganese Mining (PTY) Limited, http://www.tshipi.co.za, is creating a multi-billion rand manganese mine called Tshipi Borwa in South Africa's Northern Cape. Production started in late 2012.

Key personnel

Sakumzi 'Saki' Macozoma and Moss Ngoasheng, leading South African businessmen, are Safika's controlling shareholders.

Sakumzi 'Saki' Macozoma

Safika's non-executive chairman, is one of the best known business people in South Africa. He is chairman of financial institutions STANLIB and Liberty Life, deputy chairman of the Standard Bank of South Africa and a director of the Liberty Group and Volkswagen SA. He is a former chairman of the President's Big Business Working Group, former co-chair of the Business Trust, former Chairman of the Council on Higher Education, chairman of the University Council of the University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the Board of Governors of Rhodes University. He is the chairman of the Kwazulu–Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008 he was appointed deputy chairman of Standard Bank.

Macozoma served five years as a political prisoner on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and later became a prominent figure in the African National Congress (ANC) serving as a member of parliament and as a member of the ANC's executive committee. In 2009 Macozoma left the ANC saying the ruling party could no longer carry the hopes of the South African people [4] and for a short time joined the opposition political grouping, Congress of the People (COPE). He is now politically unaffiliated.

Moss Ngoasheng

Moss Ngoasheng served eight years as a political prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela. After his release in 1985 he obtained a scholarship to study at the University of Sussex in England and then returned to South Africa to teach at the University of Natal.

From 1995 to 2000 he served as economic advisor in the South African Presidency. For a number of years he also served on the African National Congress's (ANC's) economic policy unit. He consulted to the World Bank and National Housing Forum (South Africa) on aspects of economic policy in South Africa. He is chairman of the board of the COEGA Development Corporation, Coega, and of The Kelly Group, a human resource and skills provider group listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, JSE,. He is a board member of Dimension Data (Middle East and Africa), Hot Slots Gaming Enterprises, Safika Resources, Tshipi e Ntle Manganese Mining, Ntsimbintle Mining, South African Breweries, The Wingate Group, Winsaf and Business Leadership South Africa. He is a member of Harvard University's Index of African Governance Advisory Council.

Marc Ber

Ber is a shareholder, director and chief financial officer of Safika Holdings and holds board positions in some of Safika's investments. He is also in charge of Safika's Australian activities.

A chartered accountant by training, he has worked with the Safika group since soon after its inception. His responsibilities encompass every stage of a transaction from assessment of its viability, through determining the most effective structure from an operational, legal and tax perspective to managing the transaction's implementation. In line with Safika's investment policy, once a transaction is concluded he remains intensively involved.

References

  1. ↑ The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. South African Government.
  2. ↑ http://liberty.investoreports.com/liberty_iar_2011/financial-reports/group-financial-statements-and-notes/notes-to-the-group-financial-statements/notes-to-the-group-financial-statements-note-41/
  3. ↑ Standard Bank Integrated Report 2010. 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ http://mg.co.za/article/2009-03-01-phumzile-macozoma-throw-lot-in-with-cope