Beads Magazine | Vol 4

Simphiwe's story is heart-breaking but her bubble
personality does not allow you to feel sorry for her
because she sure does not feel sorry for herself. The 33-
year-old mother of three girls from Nseleni in eMpangeni
- KZN North Coast - has had a share of hard times in her
life. Simphiwe was physically, verbally, emotionally,
mentally abused and HIV infected by her ex-boyfriend.

“He infected me on purpose. I had to hear through a relative who
told me she had overheard my ex-boyfriend telling someone that
he had infected me with HIV. I then went for a check-up and
conrmed that I was indeed HIV positive. It was a hard thing to face
and come to terms with, but after receiving counselling and
guidance from health professionals, I realised that it was not a dead-
end. The response I received from my ex-boyfriend when I told
him about what I had found out was “So what?”

The next step was to tell my family. Eish, it was difcult hey! After I
found that I was living with a disease, I made a decision. I said to
myself that I was not money, not everybody was going to like me. It
was a very traumatising moment for my mother since she had lost
my brother through HIV/AIDS.

While dealing with all of this I was also dealing with an abusive
boyfriend. I was almost killed. It started with a slap on the face then
escalated to a gun-point. But I reported the matter to the police and
left that relationship. After a successfully assistance from the Justice
Department, I realised that there were many women on the same
predicament as me. There were women I shared that man with,
women who also suffered and went through the same thing I was
going through.

I encourage women to get out of abusive relationships and speak
out about it because you do not only helping yourself when you
leave but others as well. Women must learn to stand on their own
feet in order to succeed in any obstacles on their way, they must not
always fall victims. I stayed in a toxic relationship for years because I
didn't believe in myself. I didn't respect myself enough, because if I
had I would not have allowed that man not to use a condom. I
allowed him just to make him love me. I encourage women to
refrain from having unprotected sexual intercourse. I tell them to
walk away and save their lives. Value yourself when you see you are
not valued.

After everything I had gone through I said to myself I need to do
something about this issue. I started with motivations, speaking
about my experience. I visited schools, churches, and other public
events. At home, they were against me speaking publicly about the
disease I'm living with. I had to sit my mother down and tell her that
this is my calling. This is what I wanted to do and nobody was going
to stop me. Secondly, I'm not going to die just because I'm HIV
positive. It was my responsibility to make a difference in challenging
stereotypes and stigma associated with HIV. I wanted to be
instrumental in changing the existing image of HIV.

I don't do what I do for show or for attention but I do this to show
women that HIV doesn't have a face. I'm a beautiful woman – even if
I say so myself - and yes there is an HIV virus in me.

50 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| be INSPIRED

If a person is HIV positive, people expect him or her to “He infected me on
be ugly. There's nothing I can't do, I had a child while HIV purpose. I had to hear
positive and she was born negative. Nowadays there are
supportive structures and there’s medication available so through a relative
people won't die prematurely. I have been on ARV's who told me that she
since 2012 and still going strong on them. I also
encourage people to start and stay on ARV's. There's not had heard my ex-
cure for HIV and AIDS, so let's not be fooled by people boyfriend telling
who say we must quit ARV's they have a cure for the someone that he had
disease. I think women should also live positively for infected me with
revenge, to show people who infected them with the
virus that they were created by God and nobody can kill HIV”
them. ”

I think our country is doing the best they can with the
resources they have. I'm very proud of our government
for saying if you nd out that you are HIV positive start
ARV's. There is no reason now for us to infect our
partners. There are piles of condoms distributed
throughout the country

I believe the stigma is still there in our families and
communities. But the greatest stigma we have is “self-
stigma”. We ask ourselves “what will people say when
they hear that I'm HIV positive.” The only greatest
weapon to ght stigma is to speak out and don't care
what other people say, and eventually they will come to
your terms. I own my life, I do what I need to do to stay
alive and live the best life. When it's time to take my
ARV's, I take them whether I'm in a taxi or anywhere. I'm
living my life like its golden.”

51 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

52 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| business & FINANCE

From left: King Cetshwayo District Municipality Mayor Cllr Nonhle Mkhulisi, New Zealand High Commissioner Mike Burrell, KwaZulu-Natal
MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Sihle Zikalala, Nyanza Lights CEO Donovan Chimhandamba, uMhlathuze

Mayor Cllr Mduduzi Mhlongo, RBIDZ CEO Mpumi Motsoahae

R4,5 Billion

investment for

Richards Bay

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T Commissioner Mike Burrell, partnership. We aware that
provincial MEC for Economic importation of product is very costly
Development, Tourism and these days and we do believe that
Environmental Affairs Sihle Zikalala, South African will save lots of money.
Deputy Director for department of
”Mkhulisi expressed her gratitude to
he signed major partnership between Trade and Industry Sipho Zikode, the investment, mentioning that the
the Richards Bay Industrial King Cetshwayo District Municipal project came at the place and time
Development Zone (RIBZ) Nyanza Mayor Cllr Nonhle Mkhulisi. where the district was experiencing
high rate of unemployment and
Light Metals and New Zealand based Zikalala described the project as a poverty.
company which will culminate in the major boost for KwaZulu-Natal
construction of a R4.5 billion titanium economy, adding that it affirmed the “Working with the ward committee
beneficiation plant has put the city on province as a preferred investment members we want to identify and
the world map. destination. “We are very excited respond to at least 95% of the issues
affecting the community. We have
The plant will produce titanium about this project because it will have partnered with the KZNCCP where
dioxide pigment, a product used in a huge impact on our economy and it we deal with crime and fight
paint, toothpaste and colourants for will also create 550 permanent skilled corruption in the community, we
food products. The construction of the jobs, 1 200 indirect and 800 jobs during believe that building a sustainable
plant will commence next year, while construction. ”He expressed society we need to fight these biggest
production is expected to begin in late disappointment on the slow chemical factors affecting our communities
2019. The Department of Trade and manufacture in the province while it first. The relationship I have with the
Industry (dti) extended a grant of R17, is very rich in nature resources.“We ward committees is very effective and
1 million to the company for need to ensure that the magnified we are all driven by the aim to change
feasibility studies and has also economic grow is shared through the community for the better. It was
approved an investment allowance of transformation. agreed to have a database of
everybody in the ward which clearly
R900m. The investment we are experiencing states the number of households,
number of employed households,
The glamorous event held at Protea today will create much needed jobs source of income and graduates. This
Hotel in Richards Bay yesterday, was for local citizens which will contribute will help to ranked from the very
honoured by the uMhlathuze to the scourge of unemployment,” needy to the average people and also
Municipality Mayor Mduduzi said Zikalala. help in terms of job opportunities. It
will give us a clear working outline of
Mhlongo to witness the milestone In his term of service he wants to who and where to reach should job
investment. he also wishes to be improve the standard of the roads in opportunities come” Cllr Mkhulisi
always available for the programme. the ward, to rework sports facilities to explains.
“This is a momentous and milestone help youth to keep fit and stray from
occasion. We will see the real drug abuse and
economic benefit. We aren't moved Burrell believes that this investment
that the project will create sustainable would not merely contributing to the
employment,” Mhlongo said. Other local economy but to the country as
dignitaries were New Zealand High whole. “We completely value this

54 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| business & FINANCE

the

sectorAgro-Processing

gets a R1 Billion incentive

55 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob supporting smallholder farmers, amongst
Davies says the Department of Trade and others. The objective of the scheme is to
Industry (the dti) has established the Agro- increase capacity, create employment,
Processing Support Scheme (APSS) aimed competitiveness and enhance
at stimulating investment in the agro- transformation. It is a cost-sharing grant
processing sector. Minister Davies made to a maximum of R20 million.
the announcement in Parliament “Last year we concluded the Economic
yesterday where he was presenting the Partnership Agreement with the
department's Budget Vote. European Union with the aim of
“The agro-processing sector is an increasing market access for our
important labour-intensive sector agricultural produce such as seafood,
prioritised in the Industrial Policy Action wine, canned fruit and sugar. Also, our
Plan (IPAP). Given the importance of the partnership with the BRICS is bearing fruit
sector for jobs and enterprise as we saw our export of apples to China
development, I am pleased to announce growing by 70%,” said Minister Davies.
that we have set aside R1 billion to fund a Agro-processing is the largest single
sector-specic incentive for the agro- subsector in manufacturing and has
processing sector in this nancial year. The shown relatively rapid growth in sales and
incentive will support both brown and employment over the past 15 years. It is a
greeneld investments, encourage major source of exports, especially fruit
investment in up– and downstream juice, as well as covering key wage goods
support services, and for the expansion of and some industrial inputs. It supports
infrastructure to be used by farmers and important areas of job creation and self-
agro-processors,” said Minister Davies. employment both upstream, in
He expressed condence that the agro- agriculture and downstream, notably in
processing incentive would make a retail and food services.
positive difference by creating jobs and

56 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| business & FINANCE

Passion

FOR FARMING BREEDS
BUSINESS SUCCESS

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“Do what you love and love what you do,” are words Loyiso
Pepeta, owner of Coppereld Farm in Kokstad, lives by. The
dairy is the result of a dream Pepeta, 44, had and which was
fullled by Ithala Development Finance Corporation, KwaZulu-
Natal's provincial development agency. Pepeta, formerly the
Chief Financial Ofcer of Ingquza Hill Local Municipality, fondly
recalls the short turnaround time for his loan to be approved by
Ithala – “four months to be exact and it was all systems go”.

Coppereld Farm currently supplies supermarkets and
wholesalers across KZN and the Eastern Cape with dairy milk,
maas and yoghurt. A factory is currently being built to include
long-life products such as butter ghee and to sterilize milk for
which there is demand. The company, which Pepeta co-owns
with his wife and uncle, has been in operation for ve years and
currently, affords 40 people a living and boasts an impressive 810
hectares of land on which more than 200 cattle graze.

Pepeta is the son of a pastor and was born in Bizana in the
Eastern Cape. It was when he joined Ntabankulu Junior
Secondary School that he discovered his love for numbers,
choosing commerce as a subject which proved to be
instrumental in his later life. He matriculated from Mthatha
Technical College and studied accounting at Port Elizabeth
Technikon. He later acquired his BTech in Accounting from the
Durban University of Technology.

“I have always enjoyed farming and being out in the elds. Even
though I went to university and got a qualication, I always
wanted to be out in the open and not ofce-bound. I love
grazing and mechanisation, and enjoy the fact that I can still apply
my accounting skills set to the business.”

At some point in Pepeta's career, he decided to change his BMW
for a Range Rover but gave careful consideration to the debt this
would impose on him. He decided that a tractor would be a
better option for him. While still employed full-time, he put the
tractor parked at his home in Bizana to work on land in rural
communities for the benet of trusts and co-operatives. The
objective was to generate income and fast-track his loan
instalments.

“After my ofce job from 6pm to midnight, I would work on the
land to generate revenue and build capital towards buying my
own farm.”

The father of four - two boys and two girls - guards his family
time closely. His daily wakeup call is at 4am and his task list for
the day ranges from tackling delivery notes, verifying production,
checking machines to overseeing the milking process, counting
stock and signing off on delivery.
“In my journey as an entrepreneur, I have learnt to not be
inuenced by peer pressure. I have also learnt to handle extreme
amounts of pressure as everything depends on me.”

He attests to being a man of integrity. “Whatever I promise to do
I will surely do it and if, for whatever reason, I am not able to do
it anymore I will let you know upfront.”

His words of wisdom to the youth are: “Find what you love and
are passionate about and work hard to make it a success”.
Pepeta is one of four category award winners in Ithala's 2017
Business Achiever Awards. He scooped the “Agriculture Business
of the Year” award.

58 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| business & FINANCE

Junk-

siSpmtauptultys

Here is a thing, we’ve had the There are credit ratings agencies aka CRA. These There are few factors that make these agencies
word “JUNK STATUS” we agencies are responsible for assigning credit view South Africa as non-investment grade, these
ratings. These credit ratings rate a borrower's include:
are TERRIFIED of it but ability to pay back debt by making timely interest Ÿ the devaluating rand
truth is some of us really payments. Out of all these agencies, there are Ÿ instability in the mining sector
don’t take enough time to three that are considered the biggest in the Ÿ political turmoil
read about it because of all the business. Those are Standard & Poor's (S&P), Ÿ the recent protests at tertiary institutions.
COMPLICATED nance Moody's, and Fitch Group. One of these agencies
terms. Well let’s SIMPLIFY - S&P - has downgraded South Africa's to junk WHAT DOES THE DOWNGRADE
status. A downgrade to junk status means S&P is MEAN?
it for you. saying – from reading SA's activities – they have
concluded that chances of SA repaying monies The downgrade will mean there is a high risk that
by Nqobile Nene that were borrowed in other currencies are low. lenders will expect the government to default on
its debt repayments. This is similar to the credit
You've read about it, heard about it, WHAT FACTORS LEAD US TO BEING rating you have with a credit bureau. If - as an
and seen it on every media platform VIEWED TO BE IN JUNK STATUS? individual - your credit record is bad, it becomes
there is. The country has recently been more difcult to get a loan and, when and if that
thrown with words such as non- credit is issued, you will have to pay a higher
investment grade, junk status and
downgrading. But what does it
actually, mean and what does it mean
to our future? Ok here it is;

59 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

“If the rand goes into freefall and reaches R16
or R17 to the dollar‚ ination will rise‚ so will
food prices and the petrol price will rise.
Households will suffer.”

interest rate. WHAT DOES THE DOWNGRADE WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOUR
MEAN FOR PETROL AND FOOD CREDIT CARD‚ SHORT-TERM
In the same way, when the government tries to PRICES? LOAN‚ CAR LOAN OR HOME
borrow, low amounts of money will be available LOAN?
and the amount of interest charged will be higher. A weaker rand means petrol prices are likely to
This means repayments amounts will increase, rise. If petrol prices go up‚ food prices will follow. When giving their reasons for downgrading
leaving less money to spend on priorities such as The raw ingredient of petrol is oil‚ which is bought the SA government's foreign debt‚ Standard
education, healthcare and housing. in dollars‚ so when the rand weakens‚ oil prices & Poor's predicted that interest rates would
rise and so does the petrol price. The knock-on rise‚ regardless of their downgrade decision.
Investors would be hesitant bringing their money effect of a weaker rand is higher transport costs.
to South Africa, meaning fewer new businesses Higher transport costs affect the price of “We think that ongoing tensions and the
would be opened; existing ones close down, everything moved by trucks – from food to potential for further event risk could weigh
which further mean no jobs would be created and imported goods and anything you buy at a shop. on investor condence and exchange rates‚
the existing ones would be lost. This further mean Food is traded on international markets in dollars. and potentially drive increases in real interest
more people would depend on the government The prices of rice‚ maize‚ sunower oil‚ wheat and rates.” If interest rates go up‚ as S&P expects‚
grant, meaning the amount of the grant to be sugar are set in dollars. That is why a weaker rand the cost of borrowing goes up. It increases
issued would need to increase, meaning the means we pay more for food‚ especially if it is your credit card repayments and the amount
country would be forced borrow money and the imported. Economist Dr Azar Jammine said: you need to pay the bank every month for
interest would be high….it goes on and on like a your short-term loan or car and home loan.
vicious circle. But that is not all..
Brown said: “The real effect of the
downgrading will be on the up-and-coming
middle class who are teetering on the brink of
making the middle class. Suddenly their debt
becomes more expensive and they can't
afford it and their home is foreclosed‚ or they
have their cars taken away by the bank [due
to missing repayments].”

Analysts also expect ination to rise as a result
of S&P's decision and the Reserve Bank often
hikes interest rates in response to higher
ination.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR
TAXES?

Food‚ petrol‚ and the cost of your loan won't
be the only things going up. Taxes could also
rise. The government borrows almost
monthly to pay its bills as it spends more than
it earns. Many institutions such as banks are
not allowed to invest in junk status debt.

“So the government will need to borrow
from people who are willing to invest in
higher risk debt and this is more expensive.
It's almost like going to a loan shark for debt‚”
explained Brown.

Junk status ultimately means the government
will pay much more to borrow money. The
government then has two choices: to cut
spending or increase taxes to cover the extra
costs spent on debt.

“It means more taxes in the end‚” said
Brown. Taxes are usually adjusted when the
annual budget is unveiled in February and are
normally implemented in April‚ so a potential
increase will likely not affect South Africans
for a year.

60 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za



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62 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| explore KZN

5Top things
to do in

KZN

South Africa's third-smallest province, KwaZulu-Natal has a
wealth of scenic and cultural attractions that include the country's
most popular beaches lying to the south and north of Durban. Add
to that its bushveld reserves to the north, historic battlefields and
the dramatic Drakensberg mountains, and you truly have a place
that offers something for everyone.

Ÿ UKHAHLAMBA DRAKENSBERG PARK Ÿ SEGWAY TOURS AT MOSES MABHIDA

The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is home to 35 000 STADIUM
examples of San rock paintings and a huge diversity of protected
plant and animal species. While there are many mountains in Since they rst hit South African shores the funky, modern
South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal's 200km long uKhahlamba design of the Segway transporter has held a fascination for the
Drakensberg escarpment is by far the most impressive young and the young-at-heart. By taking a tour of the Moses
Mabhida Stadium using this unique mode of transport, you'll be
Ÿ DURBAN BOTANIC GARDENS able to tick two boxes on your to-do list at once! A Segway tour
of Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium combines the fun and
Africa's oldest surviving botanical gardens, the Durban Botanic freedom of a ride on one of these uber-cool mobility
Gardens are a magnicent testimony to more than 160 years of transporters with a comprehensive overview of one of South
dedication and care by a succession of curators. Not only do Africa's top sporting attractions.
these gardens offer travellers a scenic respite from the busy city,
but they're world-renowned for their indigenous and exotic
plant collections from the subtropics – cycads, ferns,
bromeliads, palms and orchids, among many other stunning
owers and more than 80 magnicent heritage trees.

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Ÿ EXPERIENCE THE SARDINE RUN

Around June each year, word gets out along the KwaZulu-Natal
coast that the sardines have arrived. They've swum for more
than 30 days from their spawning ground in the Cape to reach
South Africa's east coast. Scores of shermen join the sharks,
game sh, marine mammals and birds that gorge themselves on
the shimmering band of silver sh.

Ÿ BEER TOUR OF KWAZULU-NATAL

Following the province's beer route is not just about drinking
beer (although it goes without saying that you'll be tipping many
a tankard, should you so wish) – it's as much about discovering
the history behind the brew and the art of beer-making from
exceptional brew masters at eight of the region's breweries. Try
the Khangela Brewery in Durban, well known for umqombothi,
a traditional beer made from maize (corn), maize malt, sorghum
malt, yeast and water. Umqombothi is popular among a large
proportion of South Africa's beer drinkers.

64 | may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za

| KZN in Pictures

| International Jazz Extravaganza | KZN Fashion Council Gala dinner 2017.

| Eyadini Shisanyama Festival Launch

65| may-june ‘17 | www.beadsmag.co.za