New leaders at the helm of chamber
The 106th AGM was said to be the most captivating one yet.
The warm atmosphere and members of different industries engrossed in captivating conversations were the first thing one encountered when entering the 106th AGM for the East Gauteng Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
The programme took a different tone this year, with the keynote speaker Dawie Roodt choosing to address the crowd ahead of the actual AGM.
Roodt is the director, founder, chief economist and chairperson of the Efficient Group. He is one of the country’s most referenced economists.
With a masters in economics, Roodt is one of the leading specialists in the field of the international political economic situation that affects the South African economic landscape.
Sorting through the jargon that happened to free flow around the room, there are many things the layman can take away from the conversation that took place during the evening.
During his initial speech, Roodt touched on how the state of the world and the political atmosphere within the country affects businesses and households alike.
Prices for grain and oil, raw materials that are used to manufacture everyday products such as maize and petrol, are on the rise due to the war between Ukraine and Russia.
He also spoke about how the current political structures of South Africa are crippling the country and are making poor people poorer.
“We have an exceptionally weak presidency whose ideologies are causing great damage to our economy,” said Roodt.
He made examples of the monies that flow within the country and how South Africa is running out of it.
“Seventy per cent of state-owned entities are not financially viable anymore. For every two unemployed people who benefit from the state, we have one employed person who contributes to the state and that is also not financially viable.
“The state simply cannot afford the wage increases either,” he said.
He added how the above can also affect food prices and interest rates as fewer people are contributing less to the overall purse of the country and the government is struggling to make up the shortfall.
He urged business people to look at the positives as well.
“We shouldn’t dwell on the negative. There are achievements we should be proud of. Over the last 100 years, the life expectancy of the average person has increased and industries that have previously been overlooked are about to change the world,” he affirmed.
The industries he speaks of are agriculture, education, wearables which include personalised healthcare, and finance.
“With the emergence of digitised education, the sector has become ageless, genderless and limitless. This will mean that anyone will be afforded the chance to teach and in the same passion learn at their own pace.
“There are also great things happening within the financial sector. The reserve bank has announced that it is launching an app that will allow us to transfer money between cellphone numbers, essentially cutting out the bank as the middleman between person-to-person daily banking activities,” declared Roodt.
He said even though the idea is brilliant in its own right, absolute power still has the potential to corrupt absolutely and access to people’s monies without regulations is a possibly disastrous situation.
He ended his speech with a joke about taxes and the attendants relaxed into a question and answer session followed by the meals and the AGM.
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President Pravin Naidoo read his report of the previous financial year ending for the chamber.
This included the eulogy of the chamber’s previous manager Anita Greef followed by a moment of silence for those they have lost since.
The report was brief and straight to the point as Naidoo announced the new chamber executive committee members.
Dr Roney Ndala received a unanimous vote as the new vice president of the chamber.
The other new members are councillor Mike du Toit, who is a past president, Neville Brown from ABSA, Taurai Chinganga from Sibanye Stillwater Refinery, Richard Miller from Mpact, Bob Gillie from Deetcom, Lulu Moutafis from JCJ Sweets and Joseph Mokhuane from Impala Platinum Refineries.
The following members were co-opted onto the executive committee because of their expertise and knowledge of the chamber: Philip de Jager previously from Jager, Kruger and van Blerk Attorneys, Mary Reynolds from Reynolds Travel Centre, Johan van der Merwe from Peter Miller and Associates, and councillor Thulani Simelane.
