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Andile Nomlala: Black people must ensure transformation

Cape Town - It is the responsibility of black people to ensure that transformation laws in South Africa are implemented, Andile Nomlala, chair of the Black Management Forum (BMF) in the Western Cape, said on Thursday.

Apartheid was not policed by the Union Buildings in Pretoria, he explained. It was white people policing apartheid and affecting it, Nomlala said at a business breakfast hosted by the BMF in Cape Town.

"Now it is the responsibility of black people – especially black managers – to make sure transformation laws are implemented. We cannot still romanticise change in our country – there is not time for that," he said.

"If the private sector stands firm on the established situation, then we must create new industries primarily and exclusively for black people. That is how you deal with a lack of transformation. We still implore government to be decisive on the implementation of transformation and to also make sure black people ensure transformation."

Nomlala said it is a myth that parastatals and public servants are unqualified, uneducated people.

"We do not support cadre deployment. We support the deployment of capable black people. There is a realisation in the BMF circles that says the opportunities that lie with new industries should be used to have economic transformation and to prioritise black business," he said.

"It does not mean other business cannot benefit, but you must talk something that resembles the demographics of the population. We want to look at 80% black owned. Government and Transnet as a state owned enterprise (SOE) remain a critical tool in this process. So if Transnet spends R22bn per year we cannot justify 20 years down the line that 70% of this spend is still on other companies. If we cannot manage that with Transnet – how can we expect to do that with Investec?"

READ: Huge potential in SA's oceans economy - Transnet manager

Due to the economy contracting and people disinvesting in SA because of what they see as political risk, Nomlala is of the opinion that the only hope that remains is for SOEs to drive investment opportunities to stimulate economic activity, since the private sector is not spending.

"I am convinced that our communities in townships cannot raise children anymore. It is now spaces for loitering black youth and a breeding ground for criminals. Who romanticises change? We as black professionals must address this," said Nomlala.

"Black people are procurement heads, but yet there is not change. Whether we like it or not, transformation will happen and if it happens it will not be with the politeness we are still using today."

Nomlala emphasised that the BMF does not want people to get tenders or securities just because they are what he terms "street kids" - in his view people who cannot do anything else when they are given a position which depends on politics to survive.

"The entrepreneurs government has been funding are street kids' businesses. They have no other skills than the proximity of getting tenders," said Nomlala.

"It is a fallacy to think you can create entrepreneurs from people who graduate from inferior education. What person with an inferior education can run a business? What type of a black person is that?"

He said Transnet remains critical in this regard.

"We demand that Transnet spend on black companies and if it cannot find these companies then take employees and develop those blacks to run those businesses. We don’t want excuses and stories," said Nomlala.

"We are worried that if our own Treasury refuses to repeal the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act – which is, in my view, used as an excuse not to transform – we struggle to find sense in why our own black government believes the myth. It is a lie to say there are no experienced black people. We do not want excuses, we want implementation. We, the new young generation, are coming. We will run this country. We will move with haste. We waited for all these years for things to happen."

READ: Zuma to repeal current preferential procurement act

In his view when someone creates a business it must be with one purpose, namely to turn it into a multi-national.

"Let us dispel the myth of being an SME indefinitely. We want to create our own employment. With the spending by government we can transform this country. I do not know where the excuses are coming from," said Nomlala.

"We will hold each one at Transnet accountable. We support Brian Molefe’s excellence as manager and if his name is cleared we will welcome him back. He is smeared at the moment. Let us be a decisive black leadership with no excuses."

Loyiso Ngqwemla, chair of the BMF's Cape Town branch, said it is key for the BMF to be ambassadors and advocates in the development and empowerment of leadership.

"I want to highlight that the BMF is a non-racial and non-political organisation. We engage from a position of knowledge and insight. We are a thought leadership organisation. We create events for people to network and hopefully from the events you can benefit," he said.

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