Business must speak with one voice

The Ilembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism held a gala dinner celebrating its fifth year of successful operation at the weekend.

About 120 people attended the dinner at Collisheen Estate, sponsored by Nedbank, and included prominent business people from throughout the Dolphin Coast.

Guest speaker and economist Dr Clive Coetzee posed the question that, as Eskom currently presented the biggest threat to the South African economy, why was it being protected by the government?

In a real free market economy, government should encourage competition by removing trade barriers and allowing market forces to determine outcomes.

Coetzee said the Keynesian approach of centralised planning and spending one’s way out of a problem only resulted in bigger governments with less productive economies.

On the other hand, Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek had argued that centralised planning would always lead to misery, simply because the market could not be controlled.

“Hayek said that economic freedom was a prerequisite for economic growth. He argued that it was not wrong to make a profit, but then a business must also be allowed to go bust.”

Protecting industries from competition, such as had been done for the poultry industry, would always ensure that consumers were the loser. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had followed Hayek’s principles, which had brought about an era of spectacular growth for that country even though it had been politically unpopular.

“The role of government is to allow business to flourish,” Coetzee said, and he encouraged organisations such as the ICCIT to lobby government to remove restrictions and allow more open competition in the marketplace.

Outgoing ICCIT president Keith Palmer urged North Coast businesses to join the chamber.

“Business needs to be organised and have a voice. If we do not stand together and speak with one voice, then we are not going to make progress, particularly in our dealings with government at all levels.

“Standing together as members of the chamber will allow you to achieve goals that you cannot achieve as individuals,” said Palmer.