THE war for the leadership of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) has seen important battles waged in Grahamstown recently.
Infighting and power squabbles gained momentum on 26 November 2009 when the group, lead by the chamber’s president elect Lawrence Mavundla, held a conference aimed at toppling the national leadership.
THE war for the leadership of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) has seen important battles waged in Grahamstown recently.
Infighting and power squabbles gained momentum on 26 November 2009 when the group, lead by the chamber’s president elect Lawrence Mavundla, held a conference aimed at toppling the national leadership.
The opposing group, led by the chamber’s former president Buhle Mthethwa, attempted to block the conference by taking the matter to court a day before it was due to be held.
These attempts proved to be unsuccessful because they were too late to prevent the conference from going ahead.
A day after the conference ended the Mavundla group filed court papers to have themselves declared as the legitimate national Nafcoc leadership. Nafcoc National secretary-general Gilbert Mosena, who is part of the Mavundla group, said the North Gauteng High Court confirmed his group as the legitimate leadership of Nafcoc.
He also cited the High Court saying the Mthethwa group had to bring all the organisation’s materials and documents back to the office. At the heart of the latest infighting are shares worth R1.5-billion from Nafhold, Nafcoc’s investment holding company.
Nafcoc decided in 2007 that the shares should be distributed to members and Mavundla says they are busy allocating them to deserving members.
Phumzile Ndendela, Nafcoc president in the Eastern Cape, and part the Mavundla faction, said the provincial leadership was invited by the chamber’s Makana leadership to disseminate information about Nafcoc and to explain how members benefit from their programmes.
“We want to fund our members because we noticed that banks and some government agencies don’t do so, and we told our members that we are trying to put together the funding,” he added. Ndendela also said they explained how Nafcoc operates in relation to the South African Revenue Services and the municipalities.
He said the chamber’s president-elect Lawrence Mavundla will soon be joining a business delegation which will be accompanying President Jacob Zuma on an overseas trip showing that the ruling party supports the new Nafcoc leadership.
However, Nafcoc provincial secretary Loyiso Nkantsu, who is aligned with the Mthethwa camp, said the matter did not proceed to court.
A resolution was taken during the November conference, during which Mavundla was elected, to expel Mthethwa and “other members which continue to bring the organisation into disrepute” and violate its constitution.
The council resolved that the Mthethwa group be charged and immediately suspended from Nafcoc as members and that a disciplinary committee be set up to investigate them.A special council meeting will subsequently be called to finalise the matter.
It was further resolved that the Mthethwa group will be disqualified from shares allocated to members. Mosena said the council is processing the resolution to expel the Mthethwa group.
“The council has to sit with the disciplinarycommittee and confirm the date of the disciplinary hearing,” he said.However, Nkantsu said: “Our stakesholders including the ruling party’s leadership both at national and provincial levels have been briefed about this matter and they are fully behind us.”
Meanwhile, ANC provincial spokesperson Mlibo Qoboshiyane said: “We don’t like to see Nafcoc divided, because that will kill the spirit of SMMEs, we wish the business community would get its house in order,” he said.
He added that the ANC will hold discussions with Nafcoc leaders and noted that the majority of the chamber’s members are black people so that harmony inthe organisation is restored. ”
Last month the Mthethwa group held a national council meeting in Pretoria which gave the leadership a mandate to defend “the organisation in court”.
Henry Vorster, a lawyer for the Mthethwa camp, said he was awaiting his clients to brief him on the way forward and that he will make the information public once he has received it.
