Banker S.A. June 2013 | Page 55

SKILLS ‘Partnering with customers is key’ Poverty. Unjust, unsustainable poverty. For South Africans, it is our most dangerous enemy. To all intents and purposes, it is our only enemy. T he National Development Plan (NDP) sets out a 12-page vision of a society all but free of the scourge of poverty and its handmaidens – unemployment, crime, ineffective public service and exploitative business practices. It focuses on the common enemy. There may be much controversy about how to eliminate it, but the goal is clear. It is no surprise that the NDP explicitly addresses banking. Banks are inevitably going to be co-creators of the country that the NDP promises. Without banking, there can be little or no growth. There will be no capital for the creation of the 11 million jobs that will reduce South Africa’s GINI co-efficient from 0.69 to 0.6, or for the massive increases in infrastructure and efficiencies required to drive improvements in all spheres of South African life and create a fairer, more equal, infinitely more sustainable society. Edition 6 Subbed Banker SA issue6 - training skills article - financial capability.indd 53 BANKER SA 53 2013/07/18 8:08 AM