NOT many organisations live to see their half-centenary and we are indeed grateful to God Almighty whose grace and goodness kept us through the very many turbulent times in the life of our organisation.
When the founding fathers of our great chamber movement gathered in Orlando, Soweto in 1964, little did they know that the seed they were sowing in the form of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) would grow through the dark days of apartheid to the dawn of our democracy in 1994.
If we could survive apartheid, we can survive anything. Anything is possible under a democratic dispensation. As our slogan rightly proclaims: Rise in Faith. It was faith that helped us survive apartheid, and it is faith that will take us through the next 50 years.
The theme is: “Lessons of the past 50 years… opportunities and challenges for SMMEs [small, micro and medium enterprises] in the next 50 years.”
The question we need to answer is: how can we make the lessons of the past 50 years relevant today in an environment where SMMEs are at the centre of our economic growth and job creation?
However, before venturing into answering this fundamental question, allow me to reflect and comment on the current socio-political environment in our country where institutions of authority are being threatened by forces of insurgency masquerading as political parties.
We recently witnessed with horror and dismay the denigration of the office of the president and that of the Speaker of Parliament in full of view of the nation and the world in the name of freedom of speech.
While we support these rights as enshrined in our constitution, what happened in Parliament on August 20 was a disgrace to our nation and we want to urge relevant bodies in Parliament to take the strongest action against those been found to be on the wrong side of the rules.
We appeal to all parties elected to represent their constituencies to air views within the decorum and rules of both houses.
I want to underline the fact that leaders and come and go but our institutions will remain for generations to come and when as a nation we brazenly destroy the very same institutions that represent the values of our nationhood and sovereignty – we are on a slippery slope to a “failed state” and we must do everything in our power to protect our democratic institutions.
We understand that people differ with President Jacob Zuma but it does not change the fact that he is the head of state, voted into office by the vast majority of South Africans, and he must be accorded the respect his office commands.
We have also noted with deep concern the deteriorating state of institutions such as Nedlac, the National Economic Development and Labour Council, which has been relegated to irrelevance after failing to exercise its mandate of bringing about social compacts between business, labour and civil society – resulting in prolonged and violent labour disputes. For example what happened in Marikana must never be allowed to recur in our country ever again.
It is worrying that institutions that are supposed to safeguard our democracy and bridge the vestiges of the past are now facing a credibility crisis. In order for our democracy to work for all its citizens, we need to bridge this trust deficit between the governors and the governed.
The month of October also marks exactly 10 months since the sad passing of the father of the nation and global icon, Nelson Mandela. As Nafcoc, we are yet to pay proper homage to our fallen statesman and this is a matter the national council will have to attend to after this conference.
Just recently, we heard the sad news of the collapse and bailout of African Bank by the Reserve Bank and other commercial banks to the tune of R10 billion.
Maybe the time has come for the African Bank to be returned to its rightful owners and change its mandate from microlending into a fully-fledged bank that accepts deposits. I’m referring this matter to the national council for discussions.
There still exist a vacuum in the financial services industry for a black-owned and managed commercial bank with a clear understanding of the needs of the black community.
The struggle for economic emancipation still rages on. The battles of access to capital by SMMEs, access to markets, access to land, are still being waged.
Under apartheid, we could not trade in “white areas” and yet white businesses were allowed to trade in “black areas”. Although apartheid has been abolished, this trend continues.
Black townships have been invaded by big retail stores and foreign nationals and local black retailers have been turned into spectators in their own backyard. This is exactly what we refused when Pick n Pay founder, Mr Raymond Ackerman, approached us in 1978 with a proposal to partner with Black Chain Supermarkets to target township and village markets.
To this end, I would like to thank Minister Lindiwe Zulu and her counterparts in the Gauteng government for following up on our call to revitalise township and village economies. We are very encouraged by this.
We are ready to partner with government and other interested parties in rebuilding small-scale manufacturing and home-based industries within reach of township residential areas as part of a multi-pronged strategy to boost township economies.
We would like thank the government for insisting on 60 percent localisation in the manufacturing of trains for Prasa (Passenger Rail Agency of SA) and locomotives for Transnet, thus ensuring the broadening of the black industrial base.
I’m quite pleased to announce that the president and chief executive of General Electric in South Africa, Tim Schweikert, is present today to address this very important question of nurturing black industrialists in our country. We would like to urge our government to replicate this model across all facets of the economy to speed up the transformation from “white” to “black” within the shortest possible time.
It cannot be right that black people are still spectators in the theatre of economic activity on their ancestral land. We remain hopeful that we will realise the objectives of the radical economic transformation programme as proposed by the ANC government.
As clearly enunciated in the Venda Sun Conference resolutions in 1990, we made a clarion call to the business community that, by year 2000, 30 percent of all directors on JSE-listed companies must come from the black community, 40 percent of the shareholding of JSE-listed companies must be controlled by the black community, 50 percent of the value of their outside purchases must come from black-owned suppliers and contractors and 60 percent of their top management and personnel must also come from the black community.
Twenty years on, these targets have not been achieved. According to the Employment Equity Report of 2012/2013, they clearly show that the biggest beneficiaries of the democratic dispensation have been the white community – specifically white males.
Furthermore, Statistics SA recently released a report that showed that the skills level of black African workers has not increased as it should have over the past 20 years, with the skills level of black youth aged 25 to 34 having regressed. The skilled employment among black Africans only increased by three percentage points, compared with increases of 26 percentage points and 19 percentage points, respectively, in the Indian and white categories.
Clearly, our education has failed the African child and mistakes were made by the closing down of teacher training colleges and the discontinuation of apprenticeship programmes in the public sector. The private sector is equally to blame for not investing in the up-skilling of workforce.
In spite of the challenges, this is what Nafcoc is proposing as a way forward:
n In terms of township and village economies we need to clearly define potential areas of economic activity in the townships and villages and ring-fence them against competition from big companies.
n Government Funding Agencies – these must be aligned to national initiatives such as the National Development Plan (NDP). We are calling for all funding agencies operating in the SMME environment to be incorporated under the new Small Business Development Ministry.
n Taxation on SMMEs – We are generally in support of the findings of the Davis Tax Committee which, among others, found that small businesses spend an average of 255 hours a year to deal with all tax compliance-related matters. In line with these findings, we are therefore calling for a relaxation of the tax regulatory environment in order to create a more enabling environment for more entrepreneurs. This is one of the issues the Small Business Development Ministry will champion.
n The government’s R1 trillion infrastructure roll-out presents an exciting opportunity to increase the participation of SMMEs in the economy and boost skills.
n Economic transformation will never be complete without black people owning their own bank and I want to emphasise the point I made earlier about African Bank returning to its rightful owners. Our government leaders present here today will assist us in creating a black-owned and managed commercial bank.
n The NDP will not succeed without the active citizenry and participation of organisations such as Nafcoc. SMMEs are our business and we stand ready to grow the sector in South Africa, working with partners such as the new Small Business Development Ministry. We are calling for very clear lines of communication to ensure maximum participation of our people in the implementation of the NDP.
n One cannot speak of a way forward without speaking about the role of the Small Business Development Ministry. The NDP says 90 percent of new jobs will come from medium and expanding firms and the new ministry has a very critical role to play as the champion of SMMEs. And in order for the ministry to be effective, we are requesting that the staff complement of the new department should be made up of people with an acute understanding of the SMME sector as well as the socio-political environment, over and above their business acumen and academic qualifications. Minister Lindiwe Zulu, we asked for this ministry and we thank the ANC government for granting it and we pledge our unequivocal support because we want you to succeed in taking the lead in the economic empowerment of our people.
n Nafcoc is fully equipped and resourced to deal with all the needs of a business chamber.
n In terms of tendering for big business ventures, we are collaborating with organisations such as the Black Management Forum to strengthen our management capability. We have also roped in women-only organisations and organisations of people with disabilities to make our organisation as broad-based as possible.
n Government wants to create one million jobs from the agricultural sector and our farmers’ affiliate associations, Nafu (National African Farmers Union) and Afasa (African Farmers Association of SA), are ready to take advantage of opportunities in the agricultural sector. We want to make sure that black farmers increase their control of the entire value chain. We are in fact talking to the Polish government with the possibility of starting a tractor manufacturing plant where black farmers can own shares.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is why we need a stronger Nafcoc at all levels in order to see that the economic development programmes of our government reach the intended beneficiaries. By a stronger Nafcoc, I mean a united Nafcoc. Represented here today is more than 80 percent of Nafcoc members and leaders, including those leaders who took us to court. I’m therefore calling on all our members to come back home. It’s cold outside.
During the liberation struggle, we played a community leadership role to fill the vacuum created by the imprisonment and banning of our political leaders. Nafcoc leaders and members must now carve for themselves a new community role as advisers of political and community leaders, particularly in the manner in which they interact with members of the community to minimise acts of sabotage and arson that have become the order of the day with every community protest.
The madness and unruliness which has characterised parliamentary proceedings will soon spread to our communities like uncontrollable wildfire and we owe it to Tata Madiba to nip it in the bud before it causes any further damage to our body politic. The lesson that stands out for me over the past 50 years, which was and is still the thread that runs through the different epochs in the life of our chamber movement, is “perseverance”.
Joe Hlongwane is president of Nafcoc. This is an edited version of a speech he gave at the 50th anniversary conference in Durban.
