THE black business voice is divided again after Bheki Sibiya lambasted the Black Business Council (BBC) as racist.
The BBC was re-established last week after black businesses felt that Business Unity SA (Busa) did not have their interests at heart.
Sibiya said BBC did not reflect the unity desired in the current society.
"Obviously BBC is a racists organisation ... and as long as I live I will never associate myself with it," he said.
Sibiya, CEO of the Chamber of Mine, said: "We are building a non-racial society, so the Black Business Council takes us back. Busa is there, it is imperfect, it needs to be fixed, rather than start racist organisations. The name is Black Business Council, it is a racist organisation, with all due respect.
"We need to say that those who support the Business Council are racists and we need to condemn them with all the seriousness it deserves, whether it is cabinet ministers or successful business people.
"We need to be saying we need a united nation in this country and if there is disagreement, the people should lock themselves into rooms as they did during the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) and find the solutions," said Sibiya.
He was one of the panelist in a dialogue hosted by KPMG on the business response to the National Development Plan, a document which tries to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030.
He was addressing one of the challenges identified in the NDP - the need for transformation and unity.
But BBC is not fazed. BBC general secretary Sandile Zungu said: "Bheki Sibiya talks for himself because significant stakeholders within the Chamber of Mines do not share his hostile sentiments towards the Black Business Council.
"The leadership of BBC will soon meet Bheki and his principals to enhance their understanding of the critical importance of the Black Business Council towards fostering the more inclusive growth in the national economy. Hopefully, we will also develop a common programme of action that will unite rather than divide us," he said.
The NDP outlined, among other things, challenges in education, health, job creation, corruption, building a capable state, transformation of rural and urban areas, transformation and unity.
Lulu Kruger, economist at KPMG, said the document did not outline how trade unions would be engaged in job creation.
"Because the structural issues that they are talking about are issues such as labour legislation. For small businesses as well, they are saying we have done a lot, we have made the business processes easier but on the labour issue, we tend to skid around that.
"We need to stop being sensitive about it ... we have to get trade unions involved in this," said Kruger.
She said for the country to develop entrepreneurship, schools needed to also promote the concept at a younger age.
Business body branded racist
THE black business voice is divided again after Bheki Sibiya lambasted the Black Business Council (BBC) as racist.
The BBC was re-established last week after black businesses felt that Business Unity SA (Busa) did not have their interests at heart.
Sibiya said BBC did not reflect the unity desired in the current society.
"Obviously BBC is a racists organisation ... and as long as I live I will never associate myself with it," he said.
Sibiya, CEO of the Chamber of Mine, said: "We are building a non-racial society, so the Black Business Council takes us back. Busa is there, it is imperfect, it needs to be fixed, rather than start racist organisations. The name is Black Business Council, it is a racist organisation, with all due respect.
"We need to say that those who support the Business Council are racists and we need to condemn them with all the seriousness it deserves, whether it is cabinet ministers or successful business people.
"We need to be saying we need a united nation in this country and if there is disagreement, the people should lock themselves into rooms as they did during the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) and find the solutions," said Sibiya.
He was one of the panelist in a dialogue hosted by KPMG on the business response to the National Development Plan, a document which tries to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030.
He was addressing one of the challenges identified in the NDP - the need for transformation and unity.
But BBC is not fazed. BBC general secretary Sandile Zungu said: "Bheki Sibiya talks for himself because significant stakeholders within the Chamber of Mines do not share his hostile sentiments towards the Black Business Council.
"The leadership of BBC will soon meet Bheki and his principals to enhance their understanding of the critical importance of the Black Business Council towards fostering the more inclusive growth in the national economy. Hopefully, we will also develop a common programme of action that will unite rather than divide us," he said.
The NDP outlined, among other things, challenges in education, health, job creation, corruption, building a capable state, transformation of rural and urban areas, transformation and unity.
Lulu Kruger, economist at KPMG, said the document did not outline how trade unions would be engaged in job creation.
"Because the structural issues that they are talking about are issues such as labour legislation. For small businesses as well, they are saying we have done a lot, we have made the business processes easier but on the labour issue, we tend to skid around that.
"We need to stop being sensitive about it ... we have to get trade unions involved in this," said Kruger.
She said for the country to develop entrepreneurship, schools needed to also promote the concept at a younger age.
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