Chairperson’s Welcome
Vuyiswa Ramokgopa
Dear Members, Stakeholders, Practitioners, and Industry Affiliates,
This July the industry breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee elected to keep the repo rate at 8.25%.
Governor Kganyago stressed that this doesn’t necessarily mean no further hikes will take place this year but the improvement in terms of inflation, coupled with this ‘stable’ repo rate stands to boost the struggling property market in the interim.
While the repo rate is good news, South Africans are struggling due to tough economic circumstances, exacerbated by the indefinite loadshedding challenges, and lack of service delivery in the majority of municipalities across the country. The recent municipal rates increase also further burden consumer. The message in the short term is to tighten belts as much as possible, as we are by no means out of the woods yet.
In better news, the Minister of Human Settlements, Mrs Mmamoloko Kubayi, recently engaged with the industry at a recent event hosted by the PPRA. The NPPC views this as a step in the right direction, and is
encouraged by the possibility of increased communication channels.
One of the proposals made was that of a digital platform for the industry, as well as the digitisation of several key PPRA functions such as applications, the issuance of FFCs, and the writing of exams etc. These are key accessibility issues, and the NPPC welcomes the drive to resolve this speedily.
The Minister also spoke at length of the need for transformation of the industry as a whole, while stressing that this transformation did not imply the exclusion of current members, but rather the growing of the pie for all to share.
