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The presidents of the Black Business Council and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) are going to meet on Thursday to discuss the difficult economic situation that the country is facing.
In a joint statement Busa President Sipho Pityana and BBC President Sandile Zungu said that they had held two face-to-face meetings following the widely publicised differences between them.
In addition, they would convene “an eight-a-side leaders meeting” this Thursday in Sandton, which Pityana and Zungu would co-chair.
“This meeting will, among others, analyse the difficult economic situation the country is facing and discuss the challenges facing business that require a collaborative response by organised business,” they said in the statement.
“A single-minded effort will be made towards a unified voice of business in South Africa to continue championing the interests of business and to better partner other social partners [government, labour and civil society] in tackling the challenges of disappointingly low levels of economic growth, stubbornly high levels of unemployment that then lead to increasing levels of poverty and increasing levels of inequality,” Pityana and Zungu said.
Read: Zungu to sue Pityana
“We would also address the impact of state capture and rampant corruption and explore ways in which we can promote ethical leadership, sustainable as well as inclusive socioeconomic growth and transformation. The BBC and Busa will focus on finding solutions,” they added.
Last month, Zungu threatened to sue Pityana, who is also the chairperson of AngloGold Ashanti, for defamation.
In two open letters written in his personal capacity, Pityana accused Zungu of having played a role in state capture and plunging the country into a “perilous state”.
In his last letter published last month, Pityana wrote that previously his problem with Zungu has been “the unethical conduct that has been a trademark of your past”, but he now could add to that his “dishonesty in owning up to that past and trying to rewrite history”.
He charged that Zungu was a “useful comprador [agent] for the barons of state capture” and accuses him of “selling out the very crooks you were once proud to have as business partners”.
Pityana slammed Zungu as an “unscrupulous state capture collaborator”, saying that while he didn’t want to become embroiled in a “tit-for-tat”, he wanted to correct Zungu’s attempts to “airbrush history – particularly your collaboration with the architects of state capture, and your dealings with the Guptas”.
In his response, Zungu said: “The latest missive by Sipho Pityana reinforces a widely held view that he is engaged in a malicious and personal vendetta against Sandile Zungu and is campaigning against the BBC”.
“The most recent ‘open letter’ by Sipho does not even have the good grace to acknowledge the fact that his first open letter was replete with falsehoods and inaccuracies. I deny his allegations in the strongest terms,” he wrote.
“The legitimate commercial business dealings which Pityana refers to, [although entirely out of context], and tries to pass off as an exposé, when the details thereof are and have always been a matter of public record, simply do not support his far-fetched, unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations.
“I have resolved not to comment any further on Sipho Pityana’s public allegations as to do so only fuels his insatiable cravings for publicity.”
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