LIMPOPO – Speaking at the Homu Day event held at Homu-14A in Giyani recently, Mabunda said the persisting stand-off between President Jacob Zuma and the country’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has rattled the market and put the country’s economy at risk.
“Those of us born in the 60’s know what the ANC envisioned for the country and I am not sure this is what was intended. I don’t want to talk politics because I’m here to discuss business, but we cannot do business without getting caught in the mix of the tense political climate,” he said.
Mabunda,whose company houses businesses in Limpopo and Gauteng – including Tirhani Auctioneers situated in Johannesburg – urged government structures and traditional leaders to talk to the president in order to remedy the situation. “You the leaders, particularly the National Chairperson of traditional leaders, Kgosi Mauban, who are close to the president, go tell him we are confused,” he said without explaining what he is confused about.
Mabunda also criticised the way land is distributed in rural villages, saying giving people land without title deeds is a problem that needs to be addressed. Development in these areas is hampered because entrepreneurs in the area are not able to secure loans as they do not own land.
“There are certain uses of land where the lease agreement option does not serve a purpose. For example, I built the Nyukani Private School with money from my own pocket because we couldn’t access funding to build the school. To qualify for funding, you need a title deed for the property and the school had none. Is it fair for children not to have a school because of these formalities?” he continued.
“When I started my business in 1993, I took a second bond loan on my house and bought a franchise restaurant outlet in Giyani. I was able to do that because I had a title-deed on my house,” he explained, saying this was a situation which traditional leaders need to work on to ensure their villages develop and for entrepreneurs to create job opportunities for the youth.
