33 Days in the Hot-Seat

The Black Management Forum (BMF), which has been without a managing director for almost a year‚ recently appointed Themba Dlamini as its new managing director (effective from 01 April, 2014). Many view Dlamini’s appointment as being made at a critical time for the South African business leadership landscape. His experience in regulatory compliance and teamwork has been cited by the BMF as qualities that will add value to the mandate of the organisation. At the time of writing this article, Dlamini had only been 33 days in his new position, but had already identified some of the organisation’s challenges, these being primarily, an unstable budget and a wavering membership. “I’ve always wanted to contribute to socio-economic change and when I was considering applying for the position of managing director at the BMF, I saw there were few constraints in terms of legislation.”

 

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Exploring Maritime Prospects

The maritime policy imperatives and goals as set out in the Transport Policy state that the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has a multipronged mandate as far as the country’s maritime interests are concerned. Apart from developing maritime awareness, SAMSA has to assist in the creation and fostering of an economic environment for the maritime transport industry that will allow South Africa and the industry to compete with other nations. Sobantu Tilayi, chief operations officer of SAMSA, explains how the Authority is striving to meet its directives and contribute to positioning Africa at the seat of world trade. “Some of our priorities include the modernisation of South Africa’s shipping administration and ensuring the safety of life and property at sea. We also have to prevent and combat pollution of the marine environment by ships, as well as promote the country’s maritime interests,” reveals Tilayi..

 

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Manufacturing: A Vital Cog for Growth

The metal and engineering industries are a vital component of a growing and sustainable economy. In South Africa’s case, the sector has been recognised as one of the facets that will push the growth agenda. In early 2014, the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) hosted its annual Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council National Conference 2014: A Summit on Job Creation, at which speakers brought this issue closer to home, as well as, most importantly, how stakeholders can grow the economy and create sustainable jobs. Industry experts and speakers from various sectors emphasised the importance of the sector, in addition to the role that the Council could play as a catalyst for realising all the goals envisioned. A few years after the global meltdown, economies – South Africa’s included – continue to feel the effects of the meltdown.   

 

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