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Veteran businessman Joe Hlongwane has resigned as president of his “faction” of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc).
The long and convoluted battle for control of the organisation, and its sizeable investments, took yet another turn this week as Hlongwane’s own faction apparently pressed him to step down.
His resignation letter got tabled at an urgent meeting attended by Nafcoc leaders in Sandton on Thursday.
“I feel that I have done all that I could do for the organisation up until now, and I have appreciated the support from my colleagues. However, I think it is time for someone else to take over,” reads the brief letter addressed to his executive committee and the presidents of the 15 Nafcoc affiliates of his “faction”.
Nafcoc has been frozen in a bizarre leadership contest since 2011 after Lawrence Mavundla was elected as the president of the black business organisation, beating Hlongwane, who was the incumbent.
Hlongwane then, in essence, recreated Nafcoc, along with its provincial structures, leading to the existence of two organisations – both of which claim to be the legitimate one. They keep separate offices throughout the country.
Since then, there has been a long and bitter battle for control of Nafcoc’s significant investment holdings, dividends from which are used to fund Nafcoc’s structures. Due to the split in the organisation, Hlongwane’s faction has been starved of cash.
In principle, the confusing battle came to an end last year when the Mavundla faction won a Supreme Court of Appeal case, which declared it the legitimate elected leadership. Since then, talks have been held to discuss unifying the parallel structures.
It seems that this process has created new divisions in the organisation.
Hlongwane’s deputy, his faction’s KwaZulu-Natal president, Pinky Mkhize, wrote to him a week before Thursday’s meeting, accusing him of trying to exclude her from the reunified Nafcoc.
Her letter was also tabled at Thursday’s meeting.
In it, she bemoans Hlongwane’s treatment of her despite the fact that she stuck with him after the courts declared his presidency illegitimate.
