Bid to regulate foreign-owned businesses
The first order of business at the relaunch of the Nelson Mandela Bay branch of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) on Thursday is a campaign to regulate foreign-owned businesses in townships.
Nafcoc national president Lawrence Mavundla said black businesses in the townships were on the brink of disappearing because foreign-owned shops had taken over.
He was addressing representatives from black-owned businesses and organisations in the Bay at the Eastcape Training Centre where the event – dubbed “Nafcoc NMB renewal and revival: reclaiming black business space in our lifetime” – was hosted.
“We’re here to revive and reorganise Nafcoc in this region because we believe that a lot of small and big businesses can benefit from a strong and united Nafcoc,” Mavundla said.
“In the past, there was a neglect and division within the region that led to the collapse of activities and the office was not functioning very well.
“Now that we are here we hope to do away with that and ensure that Nafcoc functions and that it’s very strong.”
He said in light of “township businesses that have been taken away by foreigners”, the organisation would initiate practical programmes to support members, such as access to funds and training.
“We need to make sure that we bring in black businesspeople who can take the process forward,” he said.
“We’ve worked in other regions like Gauteng where we do bulk buying directly from manufacturers and we also give [small business owners] some branding so that they can operate in a visible way.”
Phumla Nkuhlu, Nafcoc’s secretary of the African Co-operative for Hawkers and Informal Business, also called for the township business ownership landscape to change.
“The first point of call is to ensure that we have a mix in terms of the participants – you have the youth who have energy and you have your older ones who have the experience,” she said. “And then what we do is to regulate and say there can not be more than 10 foreignowned shops in a particular area so that we share the market and it does not only belong to the foreigners.”
She said Nafcoc was engaging foreign-owned businesspeople.
“I’ve done so and I’ve told some of them that their principles and practices are no different from the principles of the apartheid government because it’s all about excluding the others and taking over the space,” Nkuhlu said.
Nafcoc provincial secretary Mercy Mini said that it would not use violence to achieve this. “As Nafcoc we want to reclaim our businesses in townships but we’re not going to do that by fighting, we are going to reclaim and work together so that our own people can grow,” Mini said.
The organisation’s provincial deputy secretary, Chwayita Zituta, added: “This is a very strategic and important conference for us so that our SMMEs can know that Nafcoc exists and that there are opportunities we give them as Nafcoc.
“We are moving forward – Nafcoc has been renewed, revived and reclaimed.
“We are united and we acknowledge that there are challenges that our SMME’s face and our existence as Nafcoc is to make sure we do deal with those challenges.”
However, Siyabulela Mandla, a member of Nafcoc Youth, said he did not believe that the organisation was ready and organised.
“[The] township economy is there and it is where the informal traders and some members of Nafcoc are, but even there we are not organised.
“We are not the ones exploring business opportunities,” Mandla said.
“The clear message is that if we are not ready, people are going to come through and take over, which is what you see with the emergence of the foreign-owned shops. And why? Because we are not ready.
“We are not united and we are not able, as a collective, to make sure that we’re able to secure business and establish ourselves.
“It’s something Nafcoc has to do and it’s long overdue,” Mandla said.
‘We want to reclaim our businesses in townships but we’re not going to do that by fighting’ Mercy Mini
NAFCOC PROVINCIAL SECRETARY