/ 1 January 2002

Durban suspends Sacob membership

The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday suspended its membership of the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob), becoming the third major metropolitan affiliate to abandon the beleaguered national chamber.

Durban chamber president Graeme King said that the decision was taken at a special meeting of the chamber’s board on Thursday.

King said the Durban chamber had not withdrawn from Sacob completely but had only suspended its membership in order to give itself the opportunity to consult other regional chambers and national bodies on future networks within organised business.

The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry withdrew from Sacob earlier this week. The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce left in June last year.

The Durban chamber is the single largest contributor to Sacob’s coffers. Its members include large national companies in the sugar, chemical and manufacturing industries, to small and medium business in the Durban metropole.

The withdrawal of the Cape and Durban chambers is expected to reduce Sacob’s revenue base by R1,2-million. King said the departure of the Cape and Johannesburg chambers had ”greatly weakened” Sacob.

The Durban board also felt Sacob could have improved its level of consultancy with its stakeholders on issues such as economic policy, labour and trade and investment.

However, the Durban decision was not related to the public statements or management style of Kevin Wakeford, who resigned suddenly as Sacob chief executive earlier this week.

”Certainly he was a controversial figure but it didn’t influence our decision,” King said.

Wakeford came under fire for his role in the commission of inquiry into the depreciation of the rand last year.

At the time, Wakeford suggested the devaluation could have been the result of manipulation by individuals and institutions but this was never conclusively proved.

Wakeford has still not explained the reason for his resignation.

Trade and investment director James Lennox, who was appointed on Wednesday as Sacob’s acting chief executive, insisted in Thursday’s edition of Business Report that it was ”business as usual” at the national chamber.

The Durban chamber intends to continue talking to Sacob and to also engage the other regional chambers as well as the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) with a view to taking forward the unity process in the business community.

”We are very keen to see unification in terms of the business movement generally and we in Durban have been behind that drive for 18 months. We now perceive that Nafcoc is leading the way in terms of the unification process,” King said.

It was important for business to be represented at national level by a strong umbrella body, King said. The Durban chamber hoped to have a clear picture on its future direction by the end of this month. – Sapa