Programme Director
The President of the Minara Chamber of Commerce, Mr Suleman
The RAK Marketing Manager, Mr Binu Pasharady
The RAK Head of Legal Affairs, Mr Johnson George
The leadership of Minara Chamber of Commerce
Members of the Minara Chamber of Commerce
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocol observed
We are honoured to be part of this gala dinner where we meet, not only to break bread, but also to look at what all of us, as government and as business people who are part of the Minara Chamber of Commerce, can do to speed up the growth of the economy of our province and to ensure that the benefits that accrue from this growth are shared by all of our people.
Programme Director, we meet today as a country that is still in a state of reflection about the journey we began about 20 years ago which was marked by the release of one of the founding fathers of our democratic dispensation and the colossus of our struggle for liberation, Dr Nelson
Mandela.
It seems like a long time ago that, two decades ago, our country stood on a precipice of making history, inspired by the collective hope of our people and imbued by the sense of renewal. As fate would have it, we confounded our critics and ushered in a new democratic dispensation, premised on equally rights and human dignity for all of our people. As we look back to the journey that we have travelled over the past two decades, it is inevitable that as a country we have to do a lot of reflection about whether we have attained the goals for which many of our people laid down their lives.
While there are still a number of challenges facing our country, there is no doubt that South Africa is a far better place to be than any other time in its modern history. Not only have the material conditions of our people improved dramatically, our country now holds a pride of place in the table of the family of nations and is no longer an outcast because of its abhorrent system of apartheid. For that we believe that all of the people of this country should give themselves a pat on the back.
However, Programme Director, we cannot forever bask in the afterglow of our achievements as a country, for the world is a dynamic place and is forever changing. As we meet today, Programme Director, the world is still in a precarious state of economic recovery after last year it was plunged into the biggest economic turmoil of our age.
While South Africa emerged relatively unscathed from the biggest financial meltdown since the great depression, it is now a matter of common cause that we lost close to a million jobs last year. This and many other harsh realities of our time confirm that as a country we cannot insulate ourselves from what is happening in the global economic environment.
In whatever we do, we need to be mindful of the fact as an open economy South Africa cannot escape the vagaries of the global economic conditions.
Programme Director, we also meet just days after the Minister of Finance Mr Pravin Gordhan delivered his budget policy speech in which he tabulated a number of measures aimed at stimulating the economy of our country and securing the poorest of the poor from the worst after effects of the recession.
One of the main anchors of our budget is the R846 billion infrastructure project which has provided a much needed fillip for our economy and ensured that our economy continues to holds in own in a harsh global economic environment.
While many an economy screeched to a thundering halt, ours continued to rumble along, providing job opportunities and ensuring that many of our people are able to ward off the pangs of deprivation. However, Programme Director, the stark reality is that our economy is not out of the woods yet, particularly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. As all of us know, in the fourth quarter, the province of KwaZulu-Natal lost 49 000 jobs and was the worst affected regional economy, according to the Labour Force Survey which was released by Statistics South Africa early this year.
Paradoxically, this has reversed all the gains that were made by the province in the third quarter when it became the only province which showed any positive growth on the job creation scorecard when it created 1000 jobs.
The net effect of this see-saw statistic and particular reality is that we are not out of the woods yet and that the road to a buoyant economy is going to be a long winding one, fraught with many challenges.
However, this is not unique only to our country or indeed our continent. The world news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported about a week ago that Europe’s economic recovery had stalled. As the business community you will recall that towards the end of last year, economists had already started to predict a growth trajectory for Europe’s economies, particularly France and Germany, because of the green shoots that had been observed in those countries.
The AFP report, however states, “Europe’s economic recovery has stalled, with the heavyweight German economy slowing to a halt in the fourth quarter of 2009 and Italy switching back to contraction. Economic growth in the 16 nations using the euro single currency was a meagre 0,1 percent over the previous quarter compared with 0,4 percent growth in the third quarter.”
As we speak, even the global economic outlook, Programme Director, is still precarious at best and tenuous at worst, with the Greek economy threatening to throw the euro zone into an economic tailspin that could have a domino effect throughout the globe. This then confirms that economic recovery is not an event but a long and arduous process which needs all the partners to work together towards building on the green shoots and remaining vigilant not to repeat the mistakes that have plunged us into this situation.
As the province, we have embarked on a process of analysis all the sectors, with a view to identifying all the weakest links in our provincial economy in line with the resolutions which we took at our groundbreaking Economic Recovery and Jobs Summit conference held in August last year.
As we gather here tonight, collectively we need to respond to the question: What is the role of each and every one of us, including the Minara Chamber of Commerce, in helping to put our economy back on a growth trajectory?
Programme Director, it is a known fact that the South African economy could not be where it is today without the contribution of the Muslim businesses. Even at the time when the apartheid machinery contrived to ensure that Muslim businesses were relegated to the outer fringes of our economy, the Muslim businesses worked hard against all odds to ensure that they become a critical pillar of our economy.
We therefore believe that the Minara Chamber of Commerce, like all businesses fraternities have a big role to play in shoring up our economy.
As the voice and guiding force of the Muslim businesses, the Minara Chamber of Commerce is better placed than anyone else to channel the energies of all Muslim businesses into the greater goal of creating an economy whose benefits could be shared by all the people of South
Africa.
Programme Director, one of the biggest lessons we believe all of us have learned from the economic crisis is that business cannot exist solely for the sake of generating profits without any due regard for the welfare of the society in which it is operating. It has become clear, that business, like all other societal structures has a big role to play in the well being of its society.
It is on this score that we think the Minara Chamber of Commerce’s contribution towards helping to grow our economy cannot be over emphasised. We believe that this fraternity of Muslim business people has a lot to contribute to even changing the way we conduct our business. The fact that Muslim businesses are conducted in line with the prescripts of the Holy Quran and the teachings of Prophet Mohammed (praise be upon him), means that we will witness less and less repugnant business practices wherein the few unfairly amass great wealth at the expense of the innocent and the poor.
We call upon Minara to spread the gospel of business practices that are premised on ethics, integrity, honesty and compassion. It has been proven that one can be all of these and still run a lucrative business or businesses.
In this regard, we are particular heartened by the fact that social responsibility is one of linchpins on which your businesses are founded. This is a rare quality in businesses today. In fact it can be said without any fear of contradiction that the recklessness and the rapacity of the few and the failure to put society at the centre of our vision is what landed us in this greatest economic turmoil of our age.
As government, we are also heartened by the fact that you share a particular code of business practice which prevents anti-competitive behaviour. One of the reasons why our economy has not performed as it should is because of the excesses of the few who have, driven by their insatiable greed, colluded to fix prices so that they can rake in huge profits. Not only is this morally reprehensible, but it is akin to robbing the poor. All of us have read stories in newspapers of companies who have been caught indulging in this distasteful practice.
As a chamber of businesses which share a similar outlook and are bound by a common code of ethics, we have no doubt that your role in stimulating the economy of our province and our country cannot be overemphasised. However, we want to caution the Minara Chamber of Commerce to avoid the pitfalls of elitism and vagaries of complacency. With almost all fraternal organisations, there comes a time when organisations allow themselves to be complacent and not to regularly question their reasons for being.
Since the world is dynamic, an organisation like yours needs to actively ensure its relevance to its vision and mission. Indeed such a mission and vision must resonate with the aspirations of our people who, for a long time, have been sidelined from benefiting from economic opportunities that exist in our country. Empowerment will not occur in an environment where those who were previously disempowered immediately withdraw from the struggles of economic transformation once they have set one foot in the land of milk and honey.
As pioneers in the business sector, you have historical duty to ensure that you actively pursue the empowerment so that we can, all of us, ultimately realise our common objective of a country that is characterised by peace, stability, prosperity and equality.
In this regard we want to challenge the Minara Chamber of Commerce to partner with us in starting programmes with clear and achievable goals to contribute to the economy of our province. We have noted that already the Minara Chamber of Commerce has a number of bold and commendable programmes which you have started to contribute to the economy of our country. For this, we doff our hats off to you. However, we still believe that a lot more can still be achieved. It is not only financial resources that we think you should share with us to build a better life for our people. We need to tap into your vast expertise and experience in growing the various fields and sectors of the economy. We need to create trade links with various Muslim communities around the world so that ours can become a truly globally-competitive economy.
Our government has always had an open door policy when it comes to working with all the sectors of our society to tackle the challenges facing our nation. The Minara Chamber of Commerce is duly invited to join our government in creating a better life for all of our people. We have always believed that we do not have an exclusive monopoly on wisdom. We have always believed that our success as a country is depended on all of us harnessing the collective strength of our nation and our people. It is because of this reason that we believe that the Minara Chamber of Commerce can play a critical role in helping us to create an economy that is resilient and that can withstand even the most severe tectonic shift in the global economic landscape.
Programme Director, we believe that our province of KwaZulu-Natal is strategically located to be the gateway to the African continent in terms of trade and investment. Not only does our province boast two of Africa’s busiest ports, but it has a multi modal transport system which is the envy of many developed nations. We are also finalizing work on the Dube Trade Port which incorporates a R7 billion international airport, a cargo airport facility, a trade zone, an agri-zone and a cyber port.
As we speak, Programme Director, we are putting the final touches to the airport which will be opened in May. The new multi-billion rand facility will herald a new economic chapter of prosperity and growth for the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Our province, Programme Director, also boasts the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone, which is located in one of the fastest growing nodal points of KwaZulu-Natal. The Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) offers a number of appetising incentives for investors. We also urge you to explore these.
In conclusion, Programme Director, allow us to thank the Minara Chamber of Commerce for inviting us to this gala dinner. We do not doubt that working together as partners we can do more to build an economy that creates opportunities for all and making tourism to work for us all.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
22 February 2010
Source: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kznded.gov.za/)
