Housing in Southern Africa July 2016

longest serving nhfc

I t was the opportu- nity of a lifetime to sit next to a mag- nanimous individual always willing to lend a hand to the young and upcoming. Eric Molobi looked at him- self as a pioneer and trail blazer and made it his duty to develop tal- ent and expose them to opportunities.” Molobi and Tati had p r e v i ou s l y c r o s s ed paths, when Tati head- ed the Get Ahead Foun- dation, a micro finance business and housing projects, while Molobi chaired and ran the Kagiso Trust. “Eric Molobi had tre-

Sizwe Tati, theNHFC’s longest serving and current NHFCBoard member, fondly remembers the invitation to serve on the board by Chairman, Eric Molobi.

throughout its 20 year history, which bodes well for a state-owned entity. “This is something we are very proud of, as we have always been above board. Samson has done a sterling job and this would not have been possible without the Chairperson, Michael Katz, and our sub-com- mittees' supporting management. Michael has done an excellent job in providing leadership. I have the privilege of working withMichael and Samson in this delivery space, which has truly been an honour.” During NHFC’s 20 year history it faced a number of challenges. Tati explains that as a wholesale DFI, the initial challenges were to operate through non-governmental institu- tions, retail finance institutions (no banks) and to ensure that they had governance and systems in place to handle the funds being channelled - that was a huge milestone. “In leveraging the private sector, the NHFC established a secondary housing market and securitisation created by Gateway Housing, funded by the private sector. The concept took off but failed to scale up to the extent we anticipated. We saw the model in the United States – Fannie Mae, the leading source of financial mortgage products, and thought it would take off in South Africa but the private markets were not ready

development finance institutions. TheNHFCandNHBRCbothemanated from the policy framework that he laid out in those early stages of the new democracy.” As a new Board member, Tati says that it was important to understand NHFC’s mandate and under the lead- ership of Professor Michael Katz, it wasn’t difficult. The Board had a mix of public and private sector expertise and how the two divergent approach- es to businessmelded together was a challenge for the institution in order to serve the sector in a sustainable way. Tati was part of the Board that ap- pointed the first CEO, who did a ster- ling job in getting it off the ground. He was also part of the panel who interviewed candidates for the suc- cessive CEO, when Samson Moraba was appointed. Moraba’s impressive financial institutional background, grasp of sectoral issues and ability to deliver exactly what he says, has stood the test of time. “Samson has never disappointed us. He has the ability to steer and spearhead a large insti- tution through turbulent times and always works in a unifiedmanner. He is extremely focused, which shows in the results achieved.” Tati adds that the NHFC has never had any adverse audit reports

mendous people skills, he was good at spotting talent and it was a privilege to have worked with him. Joe Slovo, the first Minister of Housing, was responsible for the hous- ing policy framework in the country. Slovo constituted the National Housing Forum, which was overhauling the entire hous- ing market. The conclusion reachedwas that there was a huge gap in the mar- ket – the lower end and previously disadvantaged individuals were not being served by traditional markets. This ‘market failure’ was addressed by Slovo, who proposed the establishment of

Sizwe Tati

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