BEE Tourism News Report

This August is no month for women giving birth

Numerous stories have been told of babies dying without care and more being at risk each day without a resolution to the strike, taking a heavy toll on mothers. Gory tales of women giving birth in front of locked hospital gates have also been told. These are the very same women whom we pretend to be celebrating as a country during Women's Month. What gives? All this mayhem as a result of the demands for a R1 000 housing allowance and an 8.6 percent wage hike?

Hopefully sanity will soon prevail. As it is, South Africa is being portrayed as uncaring a mere month after it splendidly hosted the World Cup, defying even the worst sceptics of our abilities. With no end to the strike in sight, even the volunteers are finding their work cut out for them as they risk intimidation and harassment from some of the strikers. Staff from The Unlimited, volunteering at King Edward hospital in Durban yesterday, said it was a life changing experience. "The reality of how the strike has hit hospitals really brought home the awful situation the patients and staff alike find themselves in," said David Comins of The Unlimited, a financial services company.

The 25 volunteers from The Unlimited went to work with just two doctors in the trauma unit, seven nurses and members of the army. Normally King Edward hospital is run by a staff of 3 000, but all of them are absent due to the strike.

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, in China with President Jacob Zuma, has signed an agreement on close co-operation with Chinese authorities on railways "and other transport-related matters". Apparently this will include: joint ventures between South Africa and Chinese companies and railway-focused consortiums; as well as marketing potential opportunities to investors, including private-public partnerships. Hopefully it will lead to more efficient commuter train services, particularly in the Cape Town area, which has more people travelling to work or school from widely dispersed townships than in any other part of South Africa.

But there was no mention of air services in the announcement and, although China is an increasingly important trade partner for South Africa, there is no direct airline service between this country and the Chinese mainland. Kenya and Zimbabwe have had one for some time. Most local business people reach the mainland by way of Hong Kong, to which SAA and Cathay Pacific Airways fly daily from Johannesburg, and go on from there by airline or train. Some, who want to visit Shanghai, Beijing or other cities, fly from Europe.

Dirk Elzinga, the former managing director of Cape Town's International Convention Centre and now Cape chairman of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, points out that the lack of a direct service is a serious disadvantage, both for business and for growing tourism to this country from China. Questioning why SAA has not introduced one, he suggests that the national carrier make it a priority to do so. SAA did, in fact, investigate this possibility before joining the Star Alliance of international airlines but was persuaded instead that this need could be met by connecting flights from Singapore with an alliance partner, Singapore Airlines.

Former SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula later regretted this, but SAA at the time was not in a position to start such a route. Now it is about to replace some of its fleet with new, more cost-effective aircraft and, possibly in view of the increasing ties between South Africa and China, may be able to look at it again.

Proponents of black economic empowerment (BEE) always argue that it is a way of wealth redistribution meant to redress the imbalances created by apartheid in the country's economy. But, with time, things got out of control and BEE turned out to benefit a few elite and those in the politically connected club. Greed and materialism played itself out at its best. Small surprise therefore that Khula Enterprise Finance - a development finance institution serving small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) - has realised that its real mandate rests mainly with the hard working small businesses in the townships. Most of these are real job generators with potential taxpayers and people who have the welfare of their children at heart. These small businesses were started by people who were willing to get their fingers burnt, take risks and eventually reap the rewards of their hard labour.

The announcement yesterday by Khula that it would focus on these businesses and establish their real needs to help them grow and create sustainable neighbourhood economic development should be commended. Thus the billions of rands used to advance the current BEE models need to be redirected to this cause.

The issue of BEE, and that of SMME development in particular, has been a subject more of talk and less of action. It is up to Khula chairman Malose Kekana to ensure that the promises he has made to look at the plight of SMMEs under a microscope become a reality and not rhetoric. Kekana plans to promote access to Khula by underdeveloped SMMEs, further developing the sector and ensuring their financial sustainability. He needs to prove, as when we had a private, informal discussion with him shortly after the announcement, that he walks the walk.

Extracted from a report by Banele Ginindza, Ellis Mnyanda, Audrey D'Angelo and Lucky Biyase.