Meshack Mabogoane detects big underlying shifts in black business at the Nafcoc congress
There was a strong government presence at the 31st annual conference of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) held this week at Sun
The main theme of the conference was how black business could emerge from the sidelines to become integrated into the mainstream economy.
Nafcoc is evidently looking to the government for the support black business needs to enter the mainstream. Three cabinet ministers, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel, Public Works Minister Jeff Radebe, and North-West Premier Popo Molefe, attended the conference and indicated that a closer relationship was imminent.
Nafcoc President Joe Hlongwane called for regular meetings with government.
Radebe indicated that black empowerment was viewed as the “cornerstone” of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and that measures would be taken to reduce the dominance of large companies. Within his ministry plans are already afoot to enhance the role of black
The mining sector, according to Manuel, is to be overhauled. Emphasis would be placed on the removal of barriers in the form of mineral rights that seem to perpetuate the grip existing companies have on minerals. This could open the way for new, largely black entrants.
Molefe said the North-West had taken steps to review mineral rights and involve black partners in new mining
Nafcoc is also forging an alliance of black organisations to present a united front to pressure both the government and big corporations for business preferences, management advancement, and an enabling legal environment as well as tax breaks. This would include the Black Management Forum (BMF), the National Black Business Caucus (NBBC) and the Black Lawyers Association (BLA).
A campaign to cancel black business tax liabilities was launched by Hlongwane because, he said, blacks were excluded from the government when tax decisions were
Repeated allusions to 1948 were made. Just as the National Party empowered Afrikaner business the ANC-led government, it was felt, must do the same for blacks.
There was much talk of black unity and upliftment, but several speakers tempered hopes.
Whatever the government might do to facilitate these changes, real movement still depended on initiatives from black business. “The buck stops with entrepreneurs and black communities,” stressed Radebe.
Manuel warned that empowerment shoud not mean the creation of “a few billionaires”, a reference to the “black” JSE companies which Cosatu’s John Gomomo castigated for creating the “black fat cats.”
Recent moves in forming black conglomerates were reviewed by JSE-based investment analyst Emmanuel Lediga. He pointed to the pros and cons of listing, reminding delegates that while the stock exchange gave access to capital, both control and dividends had to be shared and that such moves would not only empower the black companies that took such a route.
Lediga said it was still the primary duty of black business to become more professional and to provide mutual support. Nafcoc’s major initiative, the African Bank, receives meagre support from black business itself. Black business also had to look after its own backyard, concentrating on forming holding companies to set up competitive shopping centres in the townships. Joint ventures with mainstream retail giants were necessary, he added.
These are the quandaries that have vexed black business, even during the “dark days”. Nafcoc, an organisation of small businesses, has to be as mindful of the survival of its individual members who may be swallowed up by such moves.
Nafcoc’s announcement that it is forming a holding company, with R100-million worth of capital, to participate in joint ventures with both South African and international companies may accentuate this
As big black businesses emerge, Nafcoc’s ability to speak on behalf of diverse and conflicting black business interests remains to be seen. Ironically, as calls for unity are made, a turning point has been reached that could see small and big black businesses pitted against each other.
Joint ventures will exacerbate the identity problem. The fear of black business losing its distinctiveness was underlined by former Nafcoc President Dr Sam Motsuenyane to the Mail & Guardian.
“We should not be swallowed up but continue to strive for a separate identity in the same way that the Handelesinstuut continues to represent Afrikaner