ABOUT BONITAS
WHO WE ARE
We’ve been around for nearly 40 years – long enough to have developed a rich heritage and a solid understanding of the private healthcare industry in South Africa. So our team of experts is always looking at innovative ways to ensure our members get affordable, quality healthcare, whether it’s keeping our fingers on the pulse of technology, managing your care so lifestyle diseases are identified before they become chronic, or negotiating better rates for you. If you are one of our 730 000 beneficiaries, then you will know we are always on your side – negotiating for better rates and sourcing reputable service providers to help keep you healthy and limit rising healthcare costs.
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all, so our wide range of plans ensure that you and your family will find a snug fit for your particular needs. We also believe there is beauty in simplicity and have made our plans easy-to-understand and use while helping to stretch your benefits as far as possible. Whether you are a go-getting entrepreneur, a CEO, newly-weds, a couple with a new family, facing retirement, or a minimum wage earner who needs peace of mind when it comes to healthcare, Bonitas is there for you.
And yes size does matter – we have financial stability, strong key indicators of fiscal health and reserves of over R6 billion. So you know we have you covered.
OUR AWARDS
One of the Bonitas strategic pillars is to connect with our customers to ensure we are always striving to deliver on their best interests and remain member-centric. Our team have all embraced this strategy and their hard work in supporting this strategy is paying off.
Bonitas Medical Fund has been highlighted as having a high level of service excellence and customer satisfaction across three different surveys.
Ask Afrika Orange Index
- Voted the best medical aid in South Africa in the 2021/2022 Ask Afrika Orange Index for service excellence in the Medical Aid industry.
- Voted the no. 1 medical aid in South Africa in the 2019/2020 Ask Afrika Orange Index for service excellence in the Medical Aid industry.
- Voted industry winner as the top medical aid in South Africa in the 2017/2018 Ask Afrika Orange Index for service excellence in the Medical Aid industry.
The Ask Afrika Orange Index, which started in 2001, measures services within and across 31 industries, using 10 of the most relevant service benchmarks. This provides a 360-degree view of the service performance of an organisation while measuring customer and emotional satisfaction and loyalty.
South African Consumer Index for Medical Schemes (2019)
The South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-CSI) for Medical Schemes (2019) conducted by Consulta, provides highly scientific insights into the overall level of satisfaction of customers of South Africa’s medical scheme providers.
In the overall 2019 Customer Satisfaction Index, Bonitas came out on top (joint leadership position), showing the greatest improvement of 4.9 index points.
Sunday Times Top Brands Awards
2nd place in the 2019 Medical Aid Companies category! The Sunday Times Top Brands survey is the leading barometer of consumer sentiment towards brands. When you receive accolades such as these, it is an endorsement that you are doing something right, however the competition will become fiercer.
Notwithstanding the achievements, we will not allow ourselves to become complacent but remain passionate and committed to doing right by our members and beneficiaries!
We are proud to be making a difference to our members when they need us the most, in life-changing moments. We are there For South Africa, For Life!
OUR FINANCIALS
Medical schemes are non-profit organisations. This means any money we save is for the benefit of our members. The more we can save, the more we can keep costs down as well as increase the value of your benefits.
While we might not run for commercial profit, all our financial ducks still have to be very much in a row, including our financial reserves. The good news is we have more than enough in reserves. So we are absolutely confident that we can not only pay your claims but provide you with the best possible bang for your buck.
As an added bonus, our financial indicators are well above industry average and include low expense ratios, allowing us to provide you with quality healthcare and benefits.
Please note: these figures are based on the approved Financial Statements:
OUR LEADERSHIP
Effective leadership is rooted in passion for the cause – in this case making quality healthcare more affordable and accessible. If we make a profit it is ploughed straight back into the Fund so that we can give you more value for your money. We also use this profit to help keep healthcare costs down for you. We have a management team with a wealth of experience to ensure that Bonitas runs smoothly. They are supported by an independently elected Board of Trustees to ensure that our members’ interests are always put first.
Board of Trustees
Mr O J Komane (Elected Trustee)
Mr Komane served as a non-executive director of the Mineworkers Investment Company until 2020. He holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick (UK). Mr Komane is currently the Managing Director of Accelerated Mining Services and served for two terms in the office as the Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. He previously also held a number of positions on different boards of companies
Appointment details:
2 January 2016 and re-elected 1 June 2021 .........
Mr R Cowlin (Appointed Trustee
Mr R Cowlin has over thirty years’ experience in the medical aid industry and is involved in several aspects of the industry, including administration, marketing, product design and managed care. He held various top management positions within Medscheme and was the Managing Director of Aid for Aids for ten years.
Appointment details:
2 January 2016 and appointed by the Board with effect 5 January 2021
Mr J Bagg (Appointed Trustee)
Mr J Bagg is a qualified actuary with over 40 years’ actuarial, financial management and consulting experience. He served as Statutory Actuary for numerous life insurance companies and is a Trustee of various retirement funds. He also holds directorships at life insurance and reinsurance companies
Appointment details:
1 April 2019 as part of a casual vacancy and appointed by the Board with effect 5 October 2022
Mr M G Netshisaulu (Elected Trustee)
Mr MG Netshisaulu holds an LLB and MCom in Taxation. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and a member of the Compliance Institute of South Africa. He has extensive experience in the tax industry from SARS, as well as corporate and non-profit organizations. He completed a CMS Trustee Development and Inhouse BHF programme. He is currently employed as a Financial Strategic Analyst at UNISA. He also serves as UNISA member of the Professional Research Committee. He also previously served as Nehawu Branch Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson.
Appointment details:
1 September 2017 and re-elected 9 September 2022
Mr J D Ngwane (Elected Trustee)
Mr JD Ngwane is employed by the National Union of Mineworkers as Unit Head: Social Benefits. He assisted union negotiated retirement funds with a process involving harmonising of benefits, resulting in consolidation of funds. His self insurance experience on retirement funds helped in reducing repudiated permanent disability claims, thus resulting in savings in premiums paid to the insurer and these reverting to the members fund credit. He assisted with medical aid comparisons across the mining industry thus resulting in that the chosen option, benefits and costs are favourable to the members and its families during hard financial times.
Appointment details:
1 July 2019 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
Mr P J Ribbens (Elected Trustee)
Mr PJ Ribbens started his business in 1997 and has run it for the past 24 years. He has vast experience in marketing and sales and is a director of Ribbens Office National. His responsibilities include overseeing assigned accounts and monitoring and evaluating project activities. He provides guidance to the marketing department by evaluating and developing marketing strategies and planning and coordinating marketing efforts. He positions the company’s brand and also develops pricing strategies with the sales department.
Appointment details:
1 July 2019 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
Mr J R Venter (Elected Trustee)
Mr JR Venter holds a BCom from the University of Pretoria. He has extensive experience in business development, corporate governance, strategic member relationship, retention management and financial management. He is employed by the largest technology service provider in Africa with more than 15 years’ ICT experience. Mr Venter is member-focused and drives SLA adherence from service providers, thorough due diligence for contracts and value creation for members.
Appointment details:
1 July 2019 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
DR P W Hill (Elected Trustee)
Dr Hill, PhD, is a chronic disease self-care consultant pharmacist. He earned a doctorate in patient behaviour in Type 2 diabetes mellitus at Rhodes University. His doctoral studies included training in Chronic Disease Self-Management at Stanford University. His practice, teaching and research remain focused on helping people with chronic diseases prevention. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Liberty Medical Scheme prior to the amalgamation with Bonitas Medical Fund.
Appointment details:
1 June 2021 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
Ms V Rikhotso (Elected Trustee)
Ms Rikhotso is a Chartered Accountant registered with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has 14 years’ experience in public and private sector auditing, specialising in financial services, tourism and transport sectors. She is currently an Executive Manager: Internal Controls and PFMA at Transnet SOC Ltd. She is responsible for establishing and maintaining sustainably effective internal controls across the Transnet Corporate Centre operating division, identifying areas that require financial and operational improvements in the internal control processes and driving the development of appropriate models/solutions to sustainably address internal control deficiencies arising from internal and external audit reports.
Appointment details:
9 September 2022 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
Adv R T Monene (Elected Trustee)
Adv Monene is an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, practicing at Johannesburg Society of Advocates (JSA), Group One Chambers in Sandton. She completed her Bachelors in law (LLB) degree with the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2017, served pupilage training with the JSA in 2018 and was further admitted in the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division. Her specialties are Labour law, Administrative and Public Law Litigation, Constitutional Law, Medical Negligence, Corporate and Commercial Law. She is currently enrolled for a Master in Law (LLM) (Research) UNISA.
Appointment details:
9 September 2022 ............................. .......... .. ....... ........
Management
Because we have been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after your needs, we take your welfare and healthcare very seriously. It is our duty and our promise to:
- Always act in the best interests of you and your beneficiaries
- Provide healthcare benefits of exceptional quality and substance
- Make sure you get value for money when you need it most.
- Design and customise our benefit options to ensure there is a plan that is perfect for you and your family
- Make it simple and easy to understand
- Deliver outstanding service
- Ensure that our financial management and corporate governance is exceptional
Mr L Woodhouse Luke is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) SA and holds a BCOMPT (HONS) Accounting Science degree. He has over 10 years’ experience in the healthcare sector, previously heading up finance and operational roles within the AfroCentric Group. He has a wealth of practical experience when managing technical finance matters relating to the medical scheme environment.
Mr L R Callakoppen Lee holds a Master HR Professional (SA Board for People Practices) and MPhil from the University of Johannesburg. He has a wealth of experience in operational management in various sectors. Over the past 12 years he has been involved with Medscheme and the AfroCentric Group in various functions including heading up the Bonitas Business Unit.
OUR SPONSORSHIP
We have a number of sponsorship initiatives that benefit not just our community of members but the community at large. The thread that runs through all of them, big or small, is that we are always promoting health and wellness and making healthcare accessible to more people. This includes improving the skills of your healthcare professionals so they give you the best, cutting edge level of care and sharing information and tips around chronic conditions and other health concerns that are prevalent in South Africa.
OUR SPONSORSHIPS
Gift of the Givers
Hearing loss is more common than we think, up to 19% of South African school children suffer from varying degrees of hearing difficulties. To address this important health issue and close the gap on hearing impediments, we have partnered with humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers, on a project that will initially screen around 15 860 learners during 2023. We are truly excited by this partnership, and we know this ambitious project will have a profound impact on so many lives. .
