Times Of Swaziland: MINISTER IMPRESSED BY BUFE

MINISTER IMPRESSED BY BUFE
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Nhlanganiso Mkhonta on 09/08/2024 08:27:00


MBABANE – The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, says
it was refreshing to have a positive, productive conversation with Business
Federation of Eswatini (BUFE).
The newly-formed federation paid a courtesy call to the minister on Wednesday,
where both parties had deliberations of a range of topics. A focal point of the
discussions during this visit was the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act of 2023,
which seeks to promote and stimulate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES)
development through the economic empowerment of citizen-owned companies. BUFE is
an organisation that represents, protects, advances, and promotes the
socio-economic interests of businesses in Eswatini. The new federation was
formed by the Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) breakaway
members.
Licence
The new federation has been registered and they attained their trading licence
from the Commissioner of Labour Mthunzi Shabangu recently. Former FESBC member
Jobe Mashwama is the President of the newly-formed federation and his assistant
is prominent Attorney Mzwandile Dlamini, who was FESBC’s Legal Advisor.
Mangaliso Maseko, who was also an executive member at FESBC, is the Chief
Operations Officer in the new federation.
When asked if the ministry still recognises FESBC in light of the new
federation, the minister said their attitude as a ministry was that these were
two federations and chambers of commerce, and they viewed them equally.  In a
recent interview with this publication, FESBC Head of Business Transformation
Mavela Sigwane said they were actually excited with the formation of the new
federation as they would help strengthen bargaining power.
Sigwane said the formation of BUFE was part of the strategy of the local
businesses to strengthen their bargaining power. He said they were very much
aware of the newly-formed federation and they encouraged more emaSwati to
regroup themselves and form even more federations and enhance bargaining power
based on the obstacles in the trading space.