Share

Black Business Council fights for a seat at Nedlac

The Black Business Council (BBC) is pulling out all the stops to ensure it is given representation at an influential institution where business, labour and government regularly meet to discuss key issues.

Business Unity SA (Busa) and the BBC were at each other’s throats earlier this week after both announced the termination of their cooperation relationship at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

Key to the breakdown between the BBC and Busa have been personality clashes. Different interpretations of the credit rating downgrades by S&P Global and Fitch Ratings were also a major bone of contention, according to sources close to the matter.

Busa was concerned that the BBC did not appreciate the gravity of the downgrades and the impact on the economy.

There was also a build-up of matters, such as members of the BBC apparently not attending key meetings with Busa. Some comments by members of the BBC were also thought to be out of place by members of Busa.

At the opposite end, there has been discontent among members of the BBC aimed at Busa president Jabu Mabuza, who is seen by some as anti black.

The battle between Busa and the BBC resulted in the latter being excluded from Nedlac committee meetings on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, a source close to the BBC said that the organisation would, if needed, force its way into Nedlac meetings or take the matter to court to ensure it was part of the discussions that impact black business.

It is critical for the BBC to be included on Nedlac, as its exclusion will result in the organisation losing legitimacy, especially in the eyes of government.

During Friday’s Nedlac executive committee meeting, which the BBC wasn’t invited to but attended anyway, the BBC and Busa were ordered by Nedlac to effectively represent the country’s business sector at the social dialogue forum.

Nedlac’s executive director, Madoda Vilakazi, confirmed that the two parties had been ordered to resolve their differences. “We gave them until next month,” he said.

In an interview with City Press, Busa CEO Tanya Cohen said the reason the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two organisations was not renewed was because it was not “implementable”. Busa convenor Kaizer Moyane, who accompanied Cohen, said the goal over the last two years was never to renew the MoU, but to find a “new way of working together”. The BBC eventually failed to agree to this.

“It wasn’t fit for purpose. I think it was statements of principle, but it wasn’t implementable in terms of the structure,” Cohen said.

Cohen said the parties disagreed on certain essential matters such as mandates and representation.

“The BBC has a different way of working and that, for us, was just becoming more and more difficult. We couldn’t even get to a point where we were making sure our delegations had business people in them and that’s extreme,” Cohen said.

According to Moyane, the difference in the way the two organisations worked proved futile.

“We thought they should also operate by [the principles that we like to operate by] to make things easier, so those differences are what ultimately led to the collapse of the negotiations that we had resuscitated,” Moyane said.

Cohen admitted that the parallel political developments exposed differences that had already existed.

Among those differences is the response to the recent credit rating downgrades.

Asked if Busa thought the initial MoU was a marriage of convenience at the time and whether Busa was doing the BBC a favour, Moyane said Busa was committed to working with all organisations.

“[When] we entered into that initial MoU, it was always with the intention [of bringing] within the fold a structure that was representing business, so we wanted to have a voice for them,” Moyane said, adding that the memorandum was entered into to accommodate its voice at Nedlac.

“We were not naive to the differences, but we did not anticipate the split.”

However, Cohen and Moyane vehemently denied that the arrangement with the BBC was approached with an attitude of, “you are in my seat, therefore you dance to my tune”, from Busa.

Should the BBC choose to approach Nedlac for a seat, Busa would not stand in its way, Moyane said.

Vilakazi said for the BBC to have a seat, its application would need the approval of Busa as the holder of all 18 seats in the business constituency.

“I am sure Busa would not be unreasonable,” Vilakazi said.

He further pointed out that the MoU between Busa and the BBC was reached without the involvement of Nedlac and it was purely an in-house agreement between both parties.

The BBC’s secretary-general, George Sebulela, said that his organisation did not see any reason to apply for admission.

“How is our competitor supposed to evaluate our application?

“Nedlac just has to give us the status,” he said, saying that if it meant that the Nedlac-enabling act should be amended, so be it.

Sebulela also took a swipe at Vilakazi, saying he had not dealt with the matter properly.

“We are questioning his role [at] Nedlac because we feel he is biased,” he said.

Sebulela, however, agreed with Cohen’s assertion that the parties’ initial agreement was “unworkable”, but said it was only because the BBC did not submit to Busa’s house rules.

He said the legitimacy of Nedlac was in question if black business was not represented by the BBC.

On Thursday, two BBC members were shown the door by Vilakazi during a Nedlac committee meeting in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Vilakazi said he told the members they should not be at the meeting as the BBC was no longer a participant at Nedlac.

“I was just carrying out the decision until a higher structure decides on the matter,” Vilakazi said.

Before the meeting, Vilakazi said that the matter of the BBC and Busa was not on the agenda and the former had not been invited to the meeting on Friday.

However, after Friday’s meeting, Vilakazi said the BBC would be “extended the courtesy to attend committee meetings” and would not be turned away again, as it had been on Thursday.

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.90
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,016.25
+1.4%
Gold
2,220.89
+1.2%
Silver
24.88
+1.0%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders