Mondli waka Makhanya
AFRIKANER business has its back to the wall as it tries to hang on to government contracts which have been its preserve for the past 40 years.
Just a week after Volkskas — now under the Absa umbrella — lost the Gauteng government’s R10-billion account to Standard Bank, the two Afrikaans press giants, Perskor and Naspers, are fighting to keep the lucrative Telkom telephone-directory printing contract they have shared for decades. For the first time in 30 years, Perskor risks losing its lion’s share of the contract, held to a large extent because of tight-knit Broederbond networks.
Applications for the tender for the R350-million contract closed this week and Telkom has 60 days to choose from 12 tenderers.
Industry speculation is that although Perskor will lower its tender from previous years, when it was virtually guaranteed the contract, it will lose to an English-speaking company, probably Caxton. It may even be split up among smaller companies on a regional basis so as to encourage black business involvement.
Telkom management has changed since the last tender process in 1989. For a start, the parastatal is now chaired by former Pan Africanist Congress deputy president Dikgang Moseneke and influential black businessmen now sit with him on the board. The board falls under the formidable new Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, Pallo Jordan.
Perskor’s major advantage in its bid to hang on to the contract is the fact that it has done the job for the past three decades and is therefore the one most likely to do it efficiently.
According to people close to the process, a lot of tenders have a black empowerment and affirmative action element. Although still unashamedly Afrikaner establishment, Perskor has made a concerted effort to establish ties with black publishers. It is presently involved in negotiations with Kagiso Trust Investments (KTI) about jointly bidding for the other traditional stronghold of Afrikaner publishers, the R600-million school textbook contract.
KTI is the investment arm of the huge non-governmental organisation Kagiso Trust, which has been the major channel for European and Japanese donor money in South Africa and is run by the respected Eric Molobi.
KTI’s Johnson Njeke this week rejected any suggestion of resentment in publishing circles about the former government’s blue-eyed boys getting into bed with the new government’s blue-eyed boys to perpetuate favouritism.
“When you are in business you look at what’s best for you. We do not expect the government to give us contracts simply because we seem politically correct,” he said.
For Perskor, losing the contract which makes up about five percent of its earnings will cause a slight dip in its earnings.
It will, however, have a significant psychological effect on investors, probably leading to a temporary rerating of its share price.
Observers believe these two publishing houses losing the Telkom contract will have a ripple effect on the Afrikaans business community. “It will say to them that their time is over and they can no longer maintain their images as Afrikaner organisations because of the association that goes with that,” said a printing
A stockbroking analyst said Afrikaans companies have yet to realise that the old networks no longer suffice. Though Afrikaner managements still populate parastatals, the political authority has changed and tender processes are more transparent.
For Perskor the next battle is not far off. Publishing companies will soon be bidding for the October elections ballot-paper contract. Although a major part of this will be administered by the Printing Industries Federation, the Electoral Commission will have a large say about who gets what portion of the work.