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Johannesburg - Business lobby group Black Management Forum (BMF) on Thursday elected former MD Mncane Mthunzi as president during an annual general meeting in Midrand.
Mthunzi replaces Bongang Mohale, whose term has come to an end. He narrowly beat former deputy president Koko Khumalo by 23 votes to 20. Dumisani Mpafa was elected unopposed as deputy president.
In his frank acceptance speech, Mthunzi laid bare some of the challenges facing the organisation. These, he said, included individuals using BMF for personal gain and the emergence of dirty and unethical power broking in the organisation. He said such practices devalued BMF.
“We need to energise and rally around transformation. Transformation is now on reverse gear. People are starting to question the relevance of BMF. We need to bring back the courage (of BMF). We should leverage legislation in support of transformation,” he said.
Mthunzi also highlighted the need to advance human capital development. “We need people who will add value to the economy,” he said.
He said the organisation should go back to the basics and become an advocacy and lobbying body. For three years, Mthunzi was BMF MD. He has been a member of the organisation for 21 years.
Mohale told BMF members that he was handing over a financially stable organisation. BMF annual income in 2015 is R2.9m, compared to R2.4m in 2014. In his remarks, Mohale however lamented the dwindling numbers of BMF individual members.
“A survey would be the best instrument to gauge the membership and utilise the outcome to craft a sustainable membership drive strategy,” he said.
