Fihla accused of snubbing black business group

AN emerging black business organisation in Nelson Mandela Bay has lambasted new mayor Ben Fihla, saying just like his predecessor Zanoxolo Wayile, he had snubbed them by not inviting them to talks with a Chinese delegation in the city last week.

In a strong worded letter to Fihla, the Black Business Forum (BBF) said only the NMB Business Chamber was invited to meet the Chinese delegation.

They labelled this as a shame and a sign of continued strained relations between black business leaders and city bosses.

But the municipality said it did not snub anyone and that the talks with the Chinese were merely a follow-up to past agreements.

The forum said it represented about 345 business members in different sectors in the Bay. “It is indeed a short space of time for you and the institution you lead to be making blunders and serious errors that might be a setback for the same ANC that deployed you,” BBF president Litemba Singapi wrote.

Influential business delegates from the city of Ningbo visited the Bay last week to discuss possible trade investments with the metro. Fihla, his deputy, Chippa Ngcolomba, representatives from the Coega Development Corporation, the business chamber and the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) attended the meeting with the 12 delegates from China.

This has angered Singapi, who threatened to bring the city centre to a standstill if they were not taken seriously. He also questioned why black businesses should continue to encourage communities to vote for the ANC which he claimed “undermined” its voters.

He accused the mayor of forgetting the role black business had played in the struggle.

“At one stage we took our trucks and all our vehicles and brought the CBD and entrance to the city hall to a complete standstill up until our demands were met, and we do not fear doing that again,” Singapi wrote.

The municipality’s head of economic development and tourism, Zolile Siswana, said: “The engagement between Nafcoc, the business chamber and Ningbo was a follow-up meeting to the agreements signed previously. This meeting was to further engage and facilitate continuity; we were not snubbing anyone at all.”