Transformation too slow – black forum
Black forum unhappy with progress on transformation
TRANSFORMATION in the private sector topped the agenda at a vibrant 40th anniversary celebration of the Black Management Forum (BMF) in Port Elizabeth yesterday, with speakers pointing to protests by students and school pupils as signs that the next generation might not be so patient.
As BMF Eastern Cape chairman Mfundo Tsheketshe made his maiden speech, a dominant topic was white male domination of corporate leadership.
In his short speech Tsheketshe warned: “Those [#FeesMustFall] protesters will be here in two years. And they will be here to turn corporates upside down. You have two years to get ready for this.”
Tsheketshe went on to criticise the slow pace of transformation in the private sector before ending his address with calls to criminalise both racism and the non-implementation of transformation.
Programme director and Bay businessman Nceba Moss questioned whether the right methods had been used to implement affirmative action.
He believed companies had generally not implemented AA and had instead been “playing a numbers game”.
In another firebrand address, BMF managing director Busi Mavuso drew on statistics to paint a lily-white picture of corporate leadership in the country.
“It has been 22 years since we became a democracy and 18 years since the introduction of employment equity, yet the status quo [lack of transformation] still exists.
“This status quo cannot continue to exist,” she said.
“There is no reason the top corporate structures should be white. Whites are still the face of corporate South Africa.”
In further references to selective recruitment through unconscious bias and low black representation in the JSE’s top 40 companies, Mavuso said black employees were generally placed in support roles in companies and not on the road to be chief executives.
She also warned that young people, like the Pretoria schoolgirls who had protested over rules about their hair styles, would be coming into business with new and different views.
Keynote speaker for the event was Transnet’s export iron ore and manganese business unit general manager Lloyd Tobias who said the need for black industrialists was non-negotiable.
It was not a dream any more, but a must.
Tobias also urged black entrepreneurs in the Eastern Cape to organise themselves to tap into opportunities that were being provided by Transnet.