Johannesburg | Tuesday
A NEW non-racial chamber of business incorporating South Africa’s largest white and black business bodies was launched on Monday evening.
The South African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Safcoc) was launched at a gala evening in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, and will incorporate the formerly mainly white South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) and the black National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc).
The unification agreement of the two chambers, which up to now operated separately, allows for a two year period to wind up outstanding business before a full merger, which will see black and white-owned businesses operate under one banner in the country.
It also provides for the setting up of a single head office for the two organisations and for the twinning of all offices.
”Safcoc will strive to unite business from all sectors so that this process will eventually culminate in a single representative body for business in South Africa,” the new organisation said in a statement.
Addressing more than 1 000 people at the function, former Nafcoc chief executive Sabelo Macingwane said: ”We have to live not with fear but to go forward together.”
Safcoc co-president Christoph Koepke said that in the new organisation the idea of sharing would be paramount.
”For South Africa to succeed and business to grow we need to learn to share.”
The launch of Safcoc was ”the right thing to do at this time in South African history,” Koepke said. – Sapa