Johannesburg, 14 October 2016 – Arabela Holdings Executive Chairman Elias Monage was elected President of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) and Chairman of its Board of Directors with effect from Friday, 12 October 2018.
A seasoned business leader with vast experience in business in general and the metals and engineering sector in particular, Mr Monage was elected President during SEIFSA’s 76th Annual General Meeting in Parkton, Johannesburg on Friday. ArcelorMittal South Africa Marketing Director for Africa Alpheus Ngapo, Babcock International Africa Division Company Secretary Neil Penson and Auto Industrial Group CEO Andrea Moz were elected as Vice Presidents.
Mr Monage has also served as the Black Business Council’s Convener at NEDLAC and is the former President of CAPES and a former Director of Steloy Casting. He was first elected onto the SEIFSA Board in 2016.
Other Board Members also elected at Friday’s AGM were South African Mint Company (Pty) Ltd Managing Director Tumi Tsehlo, MphoNo Energies Managing Director and KSB Pumps & Valves (Pty) Ltd Board Member Nonhlanhla Ngwenya, Lixil Africa Chief Legal and Human Resources Officer Seneca Lutchmana and Murray & Roberts Power & Energy Human Resources Executive Patrick Metswi. They join Africa Steel Holdings Founding Director Mayleen Kyster and Zimco Group (Pty) Ltd Human Resources Manager Ellen Veldhoven on the SEIFSA Board.
SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba congratulated Mr Monage as President and the others as Board Members. He said that this was the most diverse that the Federation’s Board has been in its history.
“We commend SEIFSA membership Associations for having elected the most transformed Board in the Federation’s history, both in terms of race and gender. Colleagues and I are encouraged by this development, which we believe to bode well for transformation in the metals and engineering sector. We look forward to working with the new President and Board Members,” Mr Nyatsumba said.
Delivering the Presidential Address, outgoing Interim President Alpheus Ngapo said although production in the metals and engineering sector was generally increasing alongside international commodity prices, the cluster was still going through a structural adjustment and its challenges were still prevalent.
“Its growth pattern still fluctuates, productivity is generally poor, capacity utilisation is still below the required 85% and investment and profit levels are low. Domestic production costs have also been rising alongside output levels,” Mr Ngapo said.
He added that although these challenges signal the resilient nature of businesses in the metals and engineering sector, regrettably the optimism and hope for better future business prospects was not shared by all purchasing executives. He said there continued to be understandable concern among a number of stakeholders and observers that the country is de-industrialising.
“That concern is a direct consequence of the ongoing decline of broader manufacturing’s contribution to South Africa’s GDP over the past few decades, at a time when other sectors such as finance, real estates and business services and wholesale and retail trade, catering and accommodation grew at a higher pace,” he said.
Mr Ngapo said other challenges currently facing the sector were South Africa’s lacklustre economic performance, followed by continuing significant imports of cheap products and skills as well as the manufacturing sector’s apparent lack of international competitiveness.
“These challenges will continue to stare us in the face, and maybe even worsen, until such time that Government, business and labour get together to address them constructively, putting the country’s interests above all else, and then implementing the solutions agreed to,” he said.
University of Johannesburg’s Pan-African Institute Associate Professor Mcebesi Ndletyana, a keynote speaker at the AGM, provided an insightful analysis of the country’s political economy.
He said while the initial optimism that came about as a result of the replacement of Jacob Zuma by Cyril Ramaphosa as President of the country in February has since subsided, he remained hopeful that a new dawn and a promise of renewal was still possible, but only if the ruling party worked hard to distinguish itself from Zuma’s ANC.
“The ANC Ramaphosa inherited was not only riddled with corruption, but it had also turned South Africa into a clientelist state that served as client for the Gupta family. For the current administration to stand a chance of securing victory at next year’s election, it is of paramount importance for it to cleanse itself of corrupt leaders, including Ministers implicated in State capture,” Professor Ndletyana said.
He said for a different ANC to emerge, a new, morally-conscious leadership would have to rise and reform the ANC, adding that failure to do so would result in the organisation losing the 2019 elections.
Issued by:
Ollie Madlala
Communications Manager
Tel: (011) 298 9411 / 082 602 1725
Email: ollie@seifsa.co.za
Web: www.meindaba. seifsa.co.za