The Black Management Forum (BMF) has expressed its desire to create proper opportunities to talk about serious issues around transformation. A conference once a year is simply not sufficient, it says.
The alternate euphoria and depression resulting from the outcomes of conferences of this sort seem to impose a constraint on us from doing a thorough appraisal of it. We do not allow ourselves opportunities to be objective, but rather respond to the resultant highs and lows of the outcomes. Some of the telling themes that came out of the last conference included:
- The need for economic consciousness and solidarity among black people, which is presently missing;
- The lack of a nationally determined and accepted view of what we seek to achieve with this process;
- The failure of the black elite to provide leadership in times of need; and
- The continual seduction of immediate gain by accepting leftÂÂovers from the master’s table.
It is time to deal with issues and put thought into action.
An indictment on us, the ”black elite”, is that we still spend too much time talking about the challenges we need to overcome and the goals that history demands we achieve.
These and the subsequent debate on charters are indications of how much we still need to do to reach the requisite level of understanding and internalisation of what needs to be done in order to deliver. The Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Programme contain the principles and imperatives we need to consider in order to drive the agenda forward with the required level of consciousness and action.
The most profound presentation at the recent conference, from my perspective, was by Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena. Its appeal lay mostly in its simplicity and directness. His thrust was that we lack the economic consciousness and solidarity to counter forces against economic transformation and deliver solutions to the economic plight of millions of black South Africans.
This aligned with the central theme of the BMF conference, which spoke about the lack of a national view of transformation. If we lack a compelling vision, our actions will be fragmented and counterproductive. As a people, black South Africans are identified by their spirit of togetherness. The fact that there still has to be a clarion call for the development of economic consciousness and solidarity to the level last seen in periods leading up to 1994 shows how we have let ourselves and our forebears down. The black elite, among others, should be part of the vanguard of the transformation movement and so should assess how it has failed in this mission.
Sadder still is the minister’s prescient view that we accept the status quo as if ”it is okay”. We are untroubled by it and it is as if we were predestined to be second best. We are without a consciousness that drives us to demand the best of ourselves.
This calls for a different brand of entitlement, which says we will not settle for a peripheral role in this economy. This consciousness enjoins us to articulate clear, substantial and sustainable objectives of the process. Consciousness of who we are, where we are, where we ought to be and what it’s going to take is an indispensable step in this process. It is sad that we still have to be reminded of this at a BMF conference in 2007.
We have to digest what Steve Biko meant when he said: ”Black man you are on your own,” and act accordingly.
Some of the priorities we need to put our energy into are:
- Bringing the value of true holistic diversity into business. What are the experiences, values, ambitions, et cetera?
- Undermining the prevalent attempt to assimilate us into the system. For example, the ”established ways” of measuring business performance have not changed because we are now involved.
- Each one teach one. Providing opportunities and support to our own, whether they are struggling while within or need to come in.
- Articulating a clear vision and strategy of how business should be, and its priorities.
We commend the BMF, its structures and leadership for keeping the issues topical.