THE organisation that was once referred to as the "ANC of black business" watches sheepishly on the sidelines as other business formations in the new Mzansi debate the reshaping of this country's economic future for the benefit of all its citizens

Power struggles, infighting and mismanagement have rendered it moribund and impotent.

Gone are the days when leading private sector companies would fall over each other to sponsor its national annual conferences, like the one being held at the Durban International Convention Centre over the next two days.

Not any longer. Nafcoc has become a hollow shell.

These days the cash-strapped business chamber goes to its investment company, Nafhold, with a begging bowl every time it needs to pay its phone bill or change a light bulb. It's a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.

Nafhold, which is sponsoring this week's conference, again showed its muscle over its mother body when it made all the decisions for the conference.

The indication of where Nafcoc is in the greater scheme of things in Mzansi is perhaps aptly demonstrated by how Nafhold, its own creation, dictated the travel arrangements of some of the delegates.

Except for two senior office bearers, including president Lawrence Mavundla, all members of the organisation's top leadership were, for the first time in the 46-year history of the business federation, booked on low-fare airline flights.

On receiving his low budget plane ticket from 1time airline, genuinely taken aback Nafcoc deputy president Steve Skosana asked someone at the organisation's headquarters in Rivonia, Sandton, on the eve of the conference: "What's 1time?"

"It's a minibus taxi that flies," came the sarcastic reply.

This was one time that Nafcoc was rudely reminded of where it was in the national discourse - at the lowest end.

Guluva would like to suggest that the organisation, in line with its new airline partner 1time's "Azikho loNonsense" payoff line, consider changing its "Rise in Faith" slogan to "Azikho loMali and loPlan".

Farewell to bad rubbish

Award-winning Afrikaans writer Anneli Botes says, unflinchingly and unashamedly, that she has a phobia for black people.

The Mail & Guardian last week quoted her as saying: "In my daily life there's no one else I feel threatened by except black people. If a courier comes to my door and he's white, coloured or Indian, I'd have no problem inviting him for a glass of water."

The article also notes that Botes and her husband are planning to emigrate to England - where their children already live - as soon as he goes on pension.

Ironically, this is the same woman who recently won, and accepted with a straight face, a literary award named after Kabelo Sello Duiker, an award-winning Soweto-born novelist who died five years ago at the age of 31, for her Afrikaans novel Thula-Thula.

Interestingly, Botes did not feel threatened when she accepted an award named after a black man. Neither did she feel embarrassed when she stole the title of her book from a black language.

Guluva believes Botes should not wait for her husband to retire but pack her bags now and head straight for the airport because Mzansi does not have a place for such people.

E-mail Guluva on: thatha.gulvua@gmail.com.