Ferial Haffajee
Membership of The Network is coveted. It’s the hottest club in town and counts the country’s leading business, intellectual and political talents in its midst.
The Network has reportedly come out of the closet, partying last week to celebrate the appointment of Tito Mboweni as Reserve Bank governor-designate. It was as much a victory dance for black ascension to the heart of the economy. Those who boogied at the Sunnyside Park hotel in Parktown were all black and powerful. So how can you join?
It’s not going to be easy. This club has no fixed abode, fax or e-mail address. “A loose grouping,” is how Transnet chief executive Saki Macozoma describes The Network. Invitation is usually by fax from the offices of Macozoma, Denel’s boss Seshi Chonco or casino king Reuel Khoza.
One high-flyer says it’s like organising a bridal shower: “Somebody says, `Let’s do it.’ And everybody chips in.”
You have to be black in the broader sense. You’re on the A-list if you’re an investment banker, financier, accountant or other executive. Lawyers and doctors score well. So do academics or “key opinion- makers”. Membership is guaranteed if you head a parastatal.
You will rub shoulders with the likes of Women’s Investment Portfolio founder Wendy Luhabe and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s economic adviser, Moss Ngoasheng.
The Network is intricately tied to political power – there is a lot of cross- over membership with Mbeki’s “kitchen cabinet”, though you don’t have to be a member of the African National Congress to join.
But you do have to be super-cool, with the Radio Metro accent, the right haircut, sunglasses and cologne which convey an undeniable chic and a taste for good living.
Despite this group’s colour and conspicuous consumption, comparisons with the staid and grey Broederbond abound. Although the two are very different, it is an understandable comparison where the patronage and control the Broeders exercised are still in such sharp focus.
Some fear The Network will scoop the most lucrative government contracts, while one critic commented: “Where’s the mentoring? Where’s the capacity building?”
But political commentator Steven Friedman says: “Is it really appropriate to call it a Broederbond?” For him it’s more a Rand Club, the exclusive enclave started in Johannesburg’s financial district by the Randlords.
All over the world, he says, those who have been marginalised from the economy club together to accumulate wealth. “Ethnic and social ties are a great lubricant for business.”
The Network is plotting ways to increase the 8% of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange blacks currently control.
For Chonco the new forum is “a need to acknowledge that there’s nothing wrong with being black and successful. It’s neither anti-white nor pro-black.”
If you’re not on the A-list, hanging out at Johannesburg hotels like the Hyatt, Michaelangelo and the Sandton Hilton will improve your chances of bumping into Network members. And tagging along to their functions is unlikely to get you chucked out. Says a member: “With us blacks, there’s no such thing as gatecrashing.”
In addition to looking the part, you should drive something metallic and fast like an Audi, a Dolphin (3-series BMW), a Golf GTI or a 4×4. Personnel agencies reckon you’ll be in the company of people who take home at least R240 000 a year and definitely have a share portfolio.
If you do score an invite, you’re on the band-wagon and in the loop. To stay there, you’ve got to talk the talk. That means quickly learning topics which might include “how to turn a parastatal to profit”, “how to buy, list and keep a company afloat” and “how to beat the old guard”.