The honourable Premier, MEC’s, Mayors, DG’s, diplomatic corps, guests, all protocol observed, good morning, goeie more, asalam aliekum, molweni nonke, dumela, heita ra, to you under a certain age, hey dudes wuzz-up and to my close friends, hosh salute ouens en franse.

Ndingu Lesley Africa and I am honoured to address you as the Chairperson of the Business Constituency, a social partner in the PDC.

Three years ago the social partners gathered in this manner expressing their commitment to the growth and development of the Western Cape. From that day they have worked tirelessly in an effort to achieve our goals as set out in the Framework Agreement. Much ground has been covered and the foundations laid to make the Western Cape a “Home for all” in line with the Premier’s vision.

The pertinent question is “ How do we measure the success of social dialogue?” Do we measure its success only by the numbers of agreements we reached, or do we measure it in terms of the nature, scope and depth of relationships that has been forged between social partners? The partners within the PDC have been historically separated and this process offered social partners the opportunity to collectively discuss issues that are not only informed by the PDC’s agenda, but also the broader developmental trajectory that we want the Western Cape to be on.

I would like to highlight three issues that stand out for me in this three years of deliberation;

• firstly - the challenges and importance of this dialogue, relating to the notion that people are the architects of their own future and destiny
• secondly – the voice of the voiceless majority and
• thirdly, now that we have talked the walk, we need to walk the talk towards sustainable growth and development, especially 2010 and beyond, addressing the challenges facing organized business..

Deligates from the Hout Bay Business Opportunity Forum l.t.r.: Mario Jacobs, Jacky Gilfellow, Christopher Frechas, Merle Frechas, Maria Ngetu

For Organised Business one of the biggest challenge was not only to engage in meaningful deliberations with the other social partners, but also to open up the discussion within our own constituency. Let me briefly explain who the 4 social partners are, although I believe all of you know who they are. Within the PDC we have Organised Business, Organised Labour, Civil Society and Government as the main role players. A great achievement for me was the fact that the PDC could create a platform where these 4 partners could sit around a table, engage each other in Specialist Committees and could reach consensus on a number of issues. Although there are still areas of difference and where it will take some more discussions to reach consensus, the mere fact that we could engage each other, is in my view a great achievement.

To date these have been the achievements in line with the Premier’s vision that we are proud to boast about:

• Amongst other things, we have seen the successful establishment of a Sector Strategy for the Agricultural Industry, the endorsement of a new draft policy on aquaculture development and many other agreements reached in the Economic Participation, Enterprise Development and Employment Creation Specialist Committee.
• Much progress has also been made in the Human Resource and Social Development Specialist Committee with the exception of the two outstanding matters, Safety and Security Strategy and the Health Strategy both critical in view of 2010. Here we have seen, among other things, the conclusion of agreements on critical issues such as the Human Capital Strategy, Learning Cape Initiative, Poverty Reduction, Integrated ECD Strategy and the Draft Social Capital Strategy.
• In the Infrastructure, Spatial Development and Sustainable Human Settlements Specialist Committee, we have also seen conclusion of a numbers of agreements. In the midst of the challenges that we faced with regards to the energy crisis, several intervention methods have been applied. To this end Business applauds both the Province and the City on initiatives that have been taken to deal with the issue of energy. Given the work that has been done it is safe to say we should not expect energy problems to impact negatively on the ability of the people of the Western Cape to benefit from the 2010 Soccer World Cup or on the ability of the social partners to work towards a better Western Cape.

If you think that deliberating around a table for the 4 social partners namely, business, labour, civil society and government was difficult, let me introduce you to the members of the business constituency. I must point out that from the start we decided that business will speak as one voice and that our position will be a consolidated position. This alone brought with it its own challenges.

Please allow me to introduce to you the members of the Business constituency: We worked closely with the recognized voice of business organizations in the Western Cape, namely CHAMSA Western Cape and were privileged to have all six constituent members of CHAMSA Western represented within the PDC and fully participating in the three Specialist Committees. They are the Afrikaanse Handels Instituut (AHI) Cape Regional Chamber of Commerce (CRCC), FABCOS, NAFCOC, WECBOF, and SACOB through the Blaauwberg Chamber. Very importantly is however the fact that we involved other important constituencies in this process to be part of this dialogue. We are very pleased to have Agri Western Cape, NAFU and SACOSBE as part of organized business. You don’t have to be a genius to see that within organized business there were conflicting standpoints and a challenge to get to a consensus point. I must recommend the PDC for creating the platform for organized business to speak to each other, a point in case is at one of the last meetings, the document still reflected a certain viewpoint as that of Agri Western Cape and we were quickly reminded by them, that we need to change that to the viewpoint of organized business. Obviously there are still matters where we need to deliberate more, and build more trust, but I feel comfortable today to say to you that I have the mandate to represent and speak on behalf of organized business in this province.

Another big challenge was to get the voice of the voiceless majority, namely small business, black business and rural business, heard within all the deliberations. The active participation of Agri West. NAFU and also AHI brought the rural constituencies closer to the deliberations. Representatives from NAFCOC and FABCOS not only made the voice of black business heard, but had members from outside of the metropole giving input into the discussions. It was very heartwarming to see these members’ presence at Spes. Coms and to hear their input where it mattered. The voice of small business, not only through the CHAMSA members like CRCC, SACOB and WECBOF, but also through SACOSBE was well represented at all Spes.Coms. The historically separation became a non-issue, with each organization keeping its own identity, but giving input beneficial to the development and growth of all small businesses in the Western Cape. Proper representation of legitimate business organizations on the PDC, inclusive of rural businesses and business organisations, is an objective we must keep to strive for.

The last point I want to make is the fact that we now need to walk the talk. We are very much aware of the challenges facing business, amongst other things the capacity within business to engage meaningfully on certain issues. We need to work on a strategy to involve all sectors of the business constituency and to deploy human resources where and when required. A big challenge is also the reporting format and communicating channels.

The 2010 Soccer World Cup is around the corner and it is the view of Organised Business that all those who dwell in the Western Cape should not only watch the event unfold, but should also benefit from such an even. World cup 2010 is the largest sporting event on earth with 32 teams from 6 continents participating. 64 Matches will be played in 10 stadiums with 200 viewing hours, and the Western Cape will be hosting some of these matches. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the soccer world cup in 2010, compare this; during the Cricket One Day International World cup Cape Town hosted 18 500 visitors, for 2010 Cape Town will be hosting 350 000 visitors. 40 Billion viewers in 207 countries will be watching this event and foreign tourist will be spending R9.8 billion on accommodation, travel, restaurants and gifts nationally. We need to ensure that all communities of the Western Cape benefit from this historical event. Are we on track to see to it that sustainable jobs are created before, during, and after this historical event? Are we on track to ensure that emerging businesses benefit from this historical event?

The Provincial Growth and Development Strategy that brought us together today, is fundamental in ensuring that we are on track not just for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but for many other opportunities before and beyond.

As Organised Business, once again, we commit ourselves to work hand in hand with the other social partners to attain the goals of the Framework Agreement. Our commitment is to engage in constructive and progressive deliberations in an effort to work towards a better Western Cape. Our commitment is also to make the 2010 Soccer World Cup the success it is meant to be ensuring that communities, workers and businesses, particularly small black businesses, maximize their ability to benefit from it. We want to ensure that everyone grasps the enormity of this spectacular event and the impact it can have on the Province.

The Premier’s vision is to make the Western Cape a “Home for all”. This has never been more relevant as it is now that we are expecting 350 thousand people to flock into our province in light of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

It is the view of Business, however, that if we are to maximize benefits from this event, Government needs to begin to implement the strategies that have been attained by social partners after long hours of deliberations. To some, these deliberations have become nothing more than a talk-shop that yields no results. It is up to Government to prove that the time of these social partners has not been thrown away. I believe that we have talked the walk; we need now to walk the talk.

We fully support the Premier’s vision for the Western Cape, however, Business has identified, amongst others, the following Crucial Priority areas that need urgent attention:

1. Human Resource Development and Social Development Specialist Committee:
• Safety and Security Strategy – It is the view of Business we need a safe environment, not just in light of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but even afterwards for all the people of the Western Cape in line with the concept of a “Home for all”
• Health Strategy


2. Economic Participation, Enterprise Development and Employment Creation Specialist Committee:
• Ship building and repairs would generate employment and foreign income
• Tourism
  As Business, we are keen to see transformation in this sector and market access for emerging black business. It is our view that all social partners should commit to fast tracking transformation post summit.


3. Infrastructure, Spatial Development and Sustainable Human Settlements Specialist Committee:
• Provincial Sustainable Human Settlements Strategy (PSHSS)
  We have a reservation about a blanket moratorium, especially as there is no target date for the public land and fixed property audit
• Transport Authority
  To date all that has happened is talk and no action. We urge Government to bring this matter to conclusion
• Public transport link to the airport
  This link should not just be between the city and the airport but should be broad and cover other areas as well. It is important for the public transport system to ready for the influx of people as a result of the 2010 Soccer World Cup

Business understands that the implementation of strategies is much more difficult that putting the strategies together. However it is also our understanding that the longer we take to start implementing, the more difficult it becomes to implement, because things change rapidly. The key word for Business is implementation, implementation and more implementation. In that way we all stand to benefit from opportunities that come our way.

As organized business we are committed to the PDC process and urge all 4 partners to think out of the box and develop creative solutions as opposed to focusing on tried and tested ways.