Businessman Patrice Motsepe will be stepping down from his high-level position in business organisations to concentrate on black empowerment.
He made the announcement at a media briefing on Friday after the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce’s (Nafcoc) two-day biannual national conference.
”I’m not going to make myself available for re-election at Sun City [where Nafcoc’s AGM will be held in November]”.
Motsepe was elected president of Nafcoc four years ago.
”I’ve identified a number of people I’m confident can take over from me … I’ll continue in Nafcoc as an ordinary member and my heart will always be in the organisation,” he said.
Motsepe would step down next year from his position in the Chambers of Commerce and Industry South Africa (Chamsa) too.
”I’ve moulded Matthews Phosa to take over,” Motsepe said. He would also step down from Business Unity South Africa (Busa) next year.
”I hope to spend more time on the Motsepe Foundation.”
Quashing any suggestion that he might enter formal politics, Motsepe said he had already asked that ”the day I go into politics, people must take me to a doctor and say he has lost it”.
What was needed were people outside the mainstream of the political dispensation who had the sense and ability to interact. While a lot of black businessmen had benefited from this dispensation, the majority had not and were in need of becoming beneficiaries.
He said black economic empowerment had entered a new phase.
”Those of us who have been successful, the duty on you is to help others.”
The focus now was not to ensure black participation in business, but to ”see them, identify them, feel them and see the body of broad new participants”.
His experience — especially his failures — had put him in a position to share his experience with young entrepreneurs. He had also found he was taken more seriously by people in authority –like bank managers — than they were.
Motsepe said black businesses could not trade on their merely being black, but had to provide services and become competitive. It was not enough to ensure they were successful in township communities, they had to be made nationally and globally competitive. – Sapa