The leadership of the SA Chamber of Business (Sacob) was confident on Thursday that two days of behind-closed-doors discussions in East London this week would help to refocus the embattled organisation.
James Lennox, acting CEO of the organisation which is South Africa’s largest business body, told Sapa he felt ”very positive” about what had been achieved during talks at Sacob’s annual convention.
”I think we are on track, what I like is the attitude of everybody… we must try use this opportunity to get something constructive on the table.”
About 120 delegates from 42 chambers across the country have assembled in the Eastern Cape city for the meeting. In a break from previous conventions, Sacob closed sessions planned for Thursday and Friday to allow for an open exchange of views, and a workshop on how it should move forward.
The convention takes place less than a month after the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and some corporates, including Sasol, broke away from the national body. The Durban chamber suspended its membership soon afterwards.
Sacob CEO Kevin Wakeford resigned suddenly at the beginning of this month in the wake of the findings of the Rand Commission of Inquiry.
Wakeford, who did not take part in the East London meeting, had fingered Sasol deals as partly responsible for the rand’s dramatic fall late last year.
Lennox said those two chambers — Cape Town and Durban — accounted for between 15 and 20% of the organisation’s total income, and their decisions were obviously a cause of concern. Delegates had held constructive discussions to identify problems and to deal point-by-point with the issues raised by those chambers.
He saw the meeting as part of the ”restructuring and refocusing” of Sacob, a process that had begun some 18 months ago. ”There is a possibility of a change in focus, it may be radical and it may be fine-tuning.”
The delegates would make recommendations from the interactions on Thursday — in what one delegate described as a ”let it all hang out” session — which would be put to the Sacob council meeting early on Friday.
Lennox said urgent change was needed and it was hoped the convention would provide a clear indication of what the various chambers required of the national body.
”We can’t go on talking about change… There is a need for the chamber bodies to get more in synch with the (economic) environment and the changing market.”
The executive council or ”officers” of Sacob were to meet again next month and in February next year, which would be followed by a council meeting in March.
There would be more clarity, by then, on the organisation’s future role and structure, he said.
On unification moves with the National African Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc), Lennox said this was a ”given objective” and that it had come through strongly during the morning’s deliberations.
The agreement signed in Sun City last month would allow the two bodies to move forward more effectively, but stressed there was a need for consolidation in both Sacob and Nafcoc.
It was essential to have a stable foundation that would allow them to ”converge”.
Sacob president Christoph Köpke said in his opening address on Wednesday the creation of a truly non-racial business movement was still possible despite the failure of previous attempts. The organisation’s deputy chairman Mac Nia — who is widely expected to take over from Köpke as chairman on Friday ? echoed the acting CEO’s sentiments, saying he, too, was ”extremely positive” about the discussions so far.
”There is a need for a very strong business movement, and Sacob has the infrastructure to maintain that, and I think that is important.”
The organisation’s leaders were eager to make sure that it remained relevant for its membership.
Nia said his regional chamber, Durban, had agreed to support him if he was elected to chair Sacob, despite the regional chamber’s decision to suspend its membership.
A delegate said Thursday afternoon’s session had been chaired by a facilitator who had encouraged the delegates to be ”brutally honest”.
He added that there appeared to be some unhappiness among the delegates from the Cape regarding the Cape Town regional chamber’s decision to pull out of Sacob.
They apparently felt especially aggrieved that the decision was taken without first consulting the body of members. The convention is due to close on Friday. – Sapa