SA Affordable Housing January / February 2018 // Issue: 68 | Page 7

ASSOCIATIONS
Stimulating the sector
with a round of golf...
The South African Affordable Residential Developers Association
(SAARDA) hosted its annual golf day and awards ceremony at the
end of last year.
By Ntsako Khosa | All images Ntsako Khosa
The golf day event was well attended by SAARDA members and
industry role players.
T
he SAARDA event, held at Glendower Golf Club in
Edenvale on 24 November 2017, aimed to build up the
social aspect between developers, banks and
financial institutions. “The dinner and awards ceremony
aim to motivate developers to produce quality products for
end users,” says Kiron MD and previous chairman of
SAARDA, Harry Gey van Pittius.
All SAARDA members are invited to enter a golf team
and invite individuals who play an active role in the public
or private sector. The day also addressed issues that the
sector is currently going through. Gey van Pittius says that
it is very difficult for emerging developers to start a project.
“It’s one of the reasons why we don’t see many of
them,” he says. Over the past years the industry has grown
despite having to go through a lot of red tape to secure
land. “There’s a lot of red tape so if we have a good
relationship with each other we can address these issues
with the government,” he says.
HITTING THE GREENS
Golfers teed off in respective teams to see how they’d
fare on the greens.
Prizes for golf day winners were announced at the dinner
and awards.
Gey van Pittius described the day as ‘great’ and that the
weather was perfect with fantastic fairways.
Sponsored by First National Bank, the institution has
played a huge role in the creation and sustenance of
affordable housing projects. “FNB was also the first to start
with affordable housing loans, they took the risk in 1998
and in 2000 officially started,” says Van Pittius.
On being involved with SAARDA, FNB’s head of
marketing, Lindy Zokufa, says that it was only natural to be
part of the golf day and awards ceremony. “Our head of
development housing Marinda Barnard is well known by
the developers so the relationship goes back a long way.
FNB is trusted by the developers because they get the
support they need,” she says.
GOLF DAY WINNERS
First place: City Developments
Second place: Kiron
Third place: JFS Housing
Most improved: Natrent Platinum Rentals
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018
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