THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Dr Alistair Ruiters, director general of the department of trade and industry that his department was restructuring with major changes aimed at benefiting the private sector, was well received by businessmen at the breakfast gathering he addressed last week.
I came here with a chip on my shoulder, said exporter Alan Hoffmann, chairman of equipment manufacturer Hoffmann International. I have been trying for months to get an answer to the simple question of which trade shows DTI is planning to be involved in on the African continent.
But each call I make is channelled from one person to another and
nothing positive ever emerges. Now, if what I have heard is true, I'll be able to get somewhere at last.
A similar complaint came from Brian Kirchmann, chief executive of South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), which deals specifically with industrial and commercial property.
We run up against brick walls in whatever assistance we try to get from the department, he said. There are so many acts with which we have to comply but no one there can answer our questions about them. When we tell them we intend doing something, they tell us we will be breaking the law, but they haven't any solution to offer.
I came here to ask Dr Ruiters what we can do, because we have to get on with business, but we are stymied in almost every effort through their inability to help. Now it's a matter of waiting on the minister's announcement. I think we are getting somewhere at last.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
