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Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Established in 1804, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the oldest member-based business organisation in Africa. It is mandated to serve, enable and lead business. This is achieved through a multitude of services, networking opportunities as well as robust advocacy on behalf of business.

The Chamber represents business of all sizes and virtually all sectors. Our members count on us to be their eyes and ears in the Western Cape as well as on a national level, and we work tirelessly to ensure that we serve our members’ needs.

As a key player in the business landscape, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry truly believes that we are Where Opportunity Meets.

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Upcoming Events

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Labour Relations Workshop

24th July 2018 08:30

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Take your Exporting to the Next Level - Workshop 3

25th July 2018 09:00

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Business Writing & Email Writing Skills Workshop

26th July 2018 08:30

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Incoming Trade Delegation from Nevada USA

31st July 2018 09:00

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Small claims court procedures - Mitchells Plain Chapter

31st July 2018 10:00

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Presentation Skills Workshop

1st August 2018 09:00

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Women in Leadership - Workshop

2nd August 2018 08:30

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SARS - Business Compliance and Small Business Incentives

2nd August 2018 11:00

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Events

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LATEST NEWS

18 Jul
Foreshore freeway development plan cancelled for legal reasons

Foreshore freeway development plan cancelled for legal reasons

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has noted with concern that the call for proposals for the Foreshore freeway development plan has been cancelled for legal reasons. What this means is that the way the City went about the proposal call and its evaluation of the bids fell short of legal requirements. Preparing a bid of this nature is an extremely expensive undertaking. The six bidders employed dozens of planners, architects and other top professionals to prepare their submissions and it has all come to nothing. When developers take part in projects like this they understand that there will be no compensation for the losers but it is a chance they are prepared to take. When the final decision is made they congratulate the winner and move on. What they do not expect is that all their proposals will be thrown out because the City got it wrong and the whole process was in some way illegal. This raises two questions. The first is whether there will be some form of compensation for all the bidders and the second is who made the mistakes and will there be consequences? Senior City officials earn massive salaries (more than R3m a […]

Featured Item Press Releases
16 Jul
Mandela Day Campaign: Sanitary towels and/or old clothing

Mandela Day Campaign: Sanitary towels and/or old clothing

A MANDELA DAY REQUEST FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER Young women need to be spared the indignity of not having access to sanitary towels, and with Winter upon us, there are many marginalized people in our community who are in dire need of your used clothing. So, please assist us in this month of July which would have been Madiba’s 100th birthday, by dropping off any of the above at the Chamber offices at 33 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Foreshore, or if you’re in the Bellville area, please feel free to drop it off at my address: Myburgh Attorneys, 12 Second Ave, Boston. Yours faithfully Janine Myburgh President, Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Featured Item Press Releases
12 Jul
Potential high cube ban to cause chaos in exports

Potential high cube ban to cause chaos in exports

The Chamber has warned of potential chaos on the roads and damage to vital export fruit industries if the Department of Transport enforces its ban on the use of High Cube containers on standard trailers in January next year. When the shipping containers, which conform to international standards, are loaded onto normal trailers they exceed the maximum height permitted on South Africa’s roads by 30 centimetres. The Department wants to see all standard trailers replaced with special low-bed trailers. In a letter to the Department we’ve said “the original concern with the containers was that because they were higher than the old ones there could be a problem with unstable loads, especially in cross winds. However, these containers have been in use for more than seven years and we are unaware of any incidents or accidents involving unstable loads in the new containers. It would therefore seem that there is no justification for the original fears.” The second problem was the high cost of the conversion to low- bed trailers. The cost per trailer is estimated at about R300 000. Many of the companies which transport the containers of export fruit are small businesses run by the previously disadvantaged and operate […]

Featured Item Press Releases
10 Jul
Two Cape Town business women to receive awards from International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC)

Two Cape Town business women to receive awards from International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC)

Two outstanding Cape Town business women will travel to Shanghai in China in September this year to receive awards from the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge. They are Jill Bysshe and Jaqueline Naughton and both run businesses with an annual turnover of more than R20m. They were nominated by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Jill Bysshe runs Neo Trading, a company which distributes natural and organic products. She bought the company six years ago when it was essentially a “one-man” operation representing only 12 brands. Since then the company has grown to the point where it now distributes 50 brands and turnover has increased to more than 20 times the original volume and is poised for even greater growth as the products are now going into some chain stores. Jaqueline Naughton is in the call centre or contact centre business. She used to run an operation in the UK that employed 12 000 people before coming to live in Cape Town where she set up her own business, BYC, which provides consulting and training services to the growing industry. It started as a one-woman business and has grown to a team of 130 during the past 17 years. It’s inspiring to […]

Featured Item Press Releases
2 Jul
Capetonians will feel the full impact rates and tariff increases this month

Capetonians will feel the full impact rates and tariff increases this month

Capetonians will feel the full impact of the City Council’s rates and tariff increases this month, but the City has also experienced unprecedented resistance and anger from its customers. For the first time there were tens of thousands of objections to the increases and the City was forced to back down in a number of areas. Instead of a rates increase of 7.2% the council approved a lower 6.5% increase. There were significant decreases in the proposed tariffs for water and sanitation with a reduction from a proposed 26,9% to 19.9%, with even greater relief in some categories. What we still don’t understand is why the City does not have reserve funds to deal with exceptional problems like the drought crisis. The logic of making people pay more for using less water still escapes us. The City have also backed down on its plan to give its executive directors a 17% salary increase and have limited these increases to 7%, but that is still above the inflation rate. What has happened is that the City, probably for the first time, experienced people power and that is a good thing. I hope they understand that the days of regular above inflation […]

Featured Item Press Releases
28 Jun
Death of Day Zero

Death of Day Zero

We are delighted to welcome the death of the whole Day Zero concept. The City has announced that the dams which supply Cape Town’s water are now more than 43% full and that there will be no Day Zero next year. We have all learned hard lessons and taken costly measures to store and save water. These measures remain in place and amount to an investment that will ensure water security for the future. In addition to 43% full dams, there are now also millions of litres of water stored in new rainwater tanks and the boreholes had been recharged. Even more important was that real progress was being made in the reuse of water and ending water wasting. The Day Zero story has been a panicky reaction to what was clearly a long-term problem and it has damaged our tourist industry. We must now tell the world that Cape Town is back in business and banish all suggestions that Day Zero was even a possibility. We must also recognise that the greatest sacrifice has been made by the agricultural sector and we owe the farmers a huge debt of gratitude. It is fairly easy for city dwellers to save water […]

Featured Item Press Releases
22 Jun
Exporter of the Year Competition to include a category for Halaal Products

Exporter of the Year Competition to include a category for Halaal Products

The Cape Chamber’s annual Exporter of the Year competition will break new ground this year with a special award for exporters of Halaal products. The new award will be sponsored by Wesgro and will tie in with a major conference on the Halaal industry in the Cape Town International Convention Centre. We are delighted to work with Wesgro to promote local industries and inject more growth into the Western Cape Economy. This is the 28th year of the competition and it is a pleasure to have Wesgro aboard. Entries for the competition close on Friday, 24 August 2018 and the names of the winners in all categories will be announced at a gala banquet at the Westin Grand hotel on Wednesday, 17 October 2018. The main trophy, the Cape Chamber of Commerce Exporter of the Year trophy and a cash prize, will go to the big or small exporter who performs best according to the judge’s criteria. In addition, there are prizes for the best engineering/manufacturing company and for the best non-engineering exporter. There are also trophies for the best small exporter, the most innovative exporter, a design award, the best exporters into Africa and the most transformed exporting company. Entrants […]

Featured Item Press Releases
14 Jun
Problem areas in the dti’s subsidy plan

Problem areas in the dti’s subsidy plan

The Department of Trade and Industry’s subsidy plan designed to encourage industrialists to start new manufacturing businesses needs to be revised to eliminate a number of problem areas. One problem is the tight time lines. In the Western Cape a lot of manufacturing is tied to agriculture and that means it is seasonal. In terms of the subsidy rules projects have to start within 90 days of the dti’s approval, but that may not be possible as the manufacturer will have to wait until the fruit is ripe for picking. A second requirement says that claims to the dti have to be made within six months of approval. Our members in the agri-processing industry tell us that manufacturing equipment is mostly imported and has to be specially made. This can start only after a deposit has been paid and the whole process of manufacturing, importing and installing the machines can take a lot longer than six months. Another concern is that even approved projects are subject to the availability of funds and that makes planning very difficult as there is no guarantee that the grants will come through when needed. Many of the problems relate to a lack of clarity […]

Featured Item Press Releases
11 Jun
Property valuations will be abused to increase income for the council from property rates

Property valuations will be abused to increase income for the council from property rates

  It is easy to understand the concern that the new Cape Town property valuations will be abused to increase income for the council from property rates. Government grants to local authorities have been reduced and income from the sale of water and electricity is down because people have found ways to use less power and water so we do have a city hungry for more revenue from property rates. The real problem, however, is the high cost of running the city. That includes a dozen years of above inflation salary increases. The fix is to reduce administrative costs and not to bleed property owners dry. The problem of high pay for bureaucrats is not confined to the municipalities but to the whole public service and State owned enterprises like Eskom. Ironically, Eskom has been the first to make a stand against ever increasing-salaries with a decision for zero increases for next year. Municipalities should follow Eskom’s example. Salaries in the public sector are now significantly higher than in the private sector and public sector staff also enjoy water tight job security. It should be clear to any thinking person that this pattern is not sustainable. People are sensitive to […]

Featured Item Press Releases
4 Jun
Ombudsman for SMMEs to prevent corporate bullying

Ombudsman for SMMEs to prevent corporate bullying

An ombudsman to help small and medium size businesses deal with the problem of late payments by the State and “corporate bullying” could save many jobs and make it easier to do business. It is estimated that Government departments are sitting on more than R7 billion in unpaid invoices submitted by small and medium sized enterprises and many of the firms who submitted the invoices are in danger of collapse. There are also complaints that big companies postpone payments to small firms for as long as possible, knowing that small firms cannot afford to hire lawyers or go to court. SMEs generate nearly 50% of the country’s GDP and nearly 60% of the jobs and South Africa cannot afford to see this whole vital sector of the economy abused in this way. Running a small business is tough at the best of times but if the invoices are not paid it becomes impossible. Maintaining a steady cash flow is essential for survival. Staff have to be paid every month and if the invoices are not paid jobs may have to be cut. The main problem is that small businesses are powerless in their dealings with government and big corporations. An […]

Featured Item Press Releases
31 May
State of our City – Survey to Business

State of our City – Survey to Business

A survey by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has revealed some major problems in central city area that could damage the growing tourism industry. The survey was undertaken after a leading tourist guide reported that he and other guides had taken a decision not to do any more walking or driven tours through the city and surrounds because of deteriorating conditions. More than 56% of respondents said informal trading was out of control. Nearly 82% said that they did not feel safe as a pedestrian in the city at night and 23.7% said that they felt unsafe during business hours. This contrasts sharply with the response to similar questions on the Waterfront where 95% of respondents said they felt safe and that conditions there were clean and orderly. Law enforcement was highlighted as a problem but views were mixed. Nearly 26% said law enforcement was better than a year ago but 21% said law enforcement had got worse. A big problem was traffic control and traffic law enforcement with 53% of respondents saying the situation was worse than a year ago while 14% said there had been an improvement. Nearly 58% of respondents said the city was cleaner […]

Featured Item Press Releases
24 May
Chaos in Philippi East

Chaos in Philippi East

Crime, traffic chaos, land invasions and pollution in Philippi East have become so bad that businesses in the area are now considering closing down or moving to safer areas. The situation appears to be out of control and neither City of Cape Town, nor the police have been able to restore any semblance of order to the area. If business withdraws many jobs will be lost and the situation will get even worse. According to firms in the area, hijackings, shootings and break-ins are regular weekly events and so is stoning and tyre burning. One factory was recently damaged by petrol bombs. The land invasions have brought an extra 1 200 people into the areas and the result has been more crime and grime and a huge refuse collection problem. Business owners have spoken to their local councilors and to the City but the only result has been a suggestion that businesses should put a rent-a-cop scheme in place and pay for it themselves. The Chamber has taken the issue to the SA Local Government Association (SALGA) at a public stakeholder meeting on March 15 but the only response has been a request for more information. One of the problems […]

Featured Item Press Releases
15 May
Bus strikes ends with no real winners

Bus strikes ends with no real winners

The national bus strike has been a disaster and it has left behind only losers and no winners. If the unions had accepted the employers initial offer of a seven percent increase the workers would be better off than they are today. Instead the unions started a strike and settled for a nine percent increase, but the workers lost nearly a month’s pay because of the no-work-no-pay rule. It will take a year of higher wages to wipe out their losses and pay back the loans many of them needed to put food on the table for their families. They are worse off now than they were before the strike and a lot worse off than they would have been if they had accepted the initial seven percent offer and continued working and earning. Employers had also lost money as they were not allowed to operate and therefore had no income. Worst hit were the bus passengers who had to pay higher travelling costs to get to work as most of them were forced to use taxis. Employers also lost out as a result of higher absentee rates, workers arriving late often making it impossible to start production lines and […]

Featured Item Press Releases
15 May
City drastically reduced the proposed increases in water tariffs

City drastically reduced the proposed increases in water tariffs

The Chamber welcomes the City’s decision to drastically reduce the proposed increases in water tariffs in the draft budget, but belies the City can do even better. According to a statement by the Acting Mayor, Ian Nielson, the overall increase in water tariffs has been reduced from 26.9% to 19.9% after complaints in a record 40 000 “comments” on the budget from the public. What we cannot understand is how the City could ever have contemplated imposing these tariff increases on a population that has done an incredible job in saving water and investing in water-saving equipment, grey water systems and rainwater tanks to ensure future savings. I think this shows that both officials and councillors are out of touch with the paying public. The draft budget proposed a 55.16% increase in the tariffs for people using less than 6 kl (six cubic metres) of water a month. This has now been reduced to 10.1%. If the city can do this now, why did it not do so in the draft budget? We can only speculate that they did not try hard enough and that is a shocking indictment of both officials and councillors. They are simply too focused on extracting […]

Featured Item Press Releases
2 May
Small Business Development Expo – FREE to the public

Small Business Development Expo – FREE to the public

The Cape Chamber, with support from ABSA, will once again be hosting the landmark Small Business Development Expo. If you’re a current or potential small business owner in the Western Cape, you can’t afford to miss this. Running a small business has unique challenges and opportunities, and this expo explores them all. This is a landmark event where delegates can connect with the business community that empowers small business – including civil society, private enterprise and government. This platform will not only give small business a better idea of all the opportunities available to them, but also allows delegates to network among their peers and be left with the most important ingredient for success: inspiration. Entrance is free and the expo runs from 10 am to 3 pm on Thursday the 10th May at the River Club in Observatory. For enquiries, contact Denise  or Chantal at the Cape Chamber on 021 402 4300 or denise@capechamber.co.za or chantal@capechamber.co.za, alternatively you can book online here.

Featured Item Press Releases
25 Apr
City needs to gain control of it’s staff costs

City needs to gain control of it’s staff costs

Unless the City Council can gain control of its staff costs, Cape Town is headed for serious financial problems. In a detailed examination of the draft budget for this year we found that provision has been made for pay increases of 17 and 18 percent for the top executives, turning them all into multi-millionaires. Senior managers are set for a 13.8 percentage increase. According to the draft budget, the municipal manager will earn a total package of R4 064 276 a year or R339 000 a month. The chief finance officer is set to earn about R3.8 million. The executive director of the Mayor’s office will see his salary rise by 18 percent to nearly R3.3 million. Others in the R3.3 million bracket (R274 000 a month) include the executive directors for corporate services, informal settlements, water and waste services, safety and security, social services, transport and urban development. The Executive director for energy gets a 10 percent increase and moves up to R2.3 million a year. By contrast the Mayor and Deputy Mayor earn R1.45m and R1.2 m. When the unions see increases of 18 percent and multi-million rand packages for other senior staff, their demands will rocket. Negotiating in these […]

Featured Item Press Releases
5 Apr
Total ban on scrap copper exports

Total ban on scrap copper exports

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a total ban on the export of scrap copper, most of which is stolen. In a letter to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, we’ve said that a new approach was needed as copper theft was destroying the infrastructure of the country. The disruption to the Metrorail suburban train system in Cape Town is an example of the economic damage caused by metal thieves. One of our members reports that if 20 or 30 people are late for work, the rest of the 250 staff on the floor cannot work until Metrorail has delivered enough workers to reopen the production line. Others point out that if a thief steals an item worth R1 000 the loss is R1 000, but if R1 000 worth of copper is stolen from the railway signalling system, the loss can run to many millions of rands.” Most of the stolen copper is exported and this is the big problem as the international market has an insatiable demand for scrap copper that could never be satisfied. We can therefore expect copper theft to continue with increasing damage to the infrastructure of the country. […]

Featured Item Press Releases
4 Apr
City has budgeted for another three years of above-inflation rate tariff increases

City has budgeted for another three years of above-inflation rate tariff increases

At a presentation of the City Council’s draft budget it became clear that we will all be giving the City of Cape Town a lot more money in future. Projections of budget and tariff increases up to 2021 all feature increases above the expected inflation rate. Only the increase in refuse tariffs for 2018/19 matches the predicted inflation rate of 5.7%. This comes after decade of increases above the CPI. The biggest increases are for water and if any consumer uses more than 10.5 cubic metres (10.5 kilolitres) he will pay R127.13 per cubic metre. Commercial and industrial water users will pay a basic rate of R45,75 a cubic metre but they will have the option of buying recycled water for as little as R5.90 per cubic metre. Before the drought, Commerce bought water for just under R19 a cubic metre. These tariffs are based on level six water restrictions and if we have good rains they will come down, but not to pre-drought levels. In addition, fixed charges for all water consumers have been introduced. These are based on the size of the water meter. For most people they will be either R56 a month or R100. There will […]

Featured Item Press Releases
30 Mar
Provincial fuel levy an outdated concept

Provincial fuel levy an outdated concept

The idea of a provincial fuel levy is not new but it is rapidly becoming an outdated concept. The idea was proposed and approved by the Treasury 13 years ago when the ANC ran the provincial government, but it was never implemented and a lot of things have changed since then. In the present circumstances it will be unfair and hard on the poor. Cars have changed a lot in the last 13 years. Modern diesel and turbo-charged petrol vehicles have become a great deal more fuel efficient, but the poor mainly drive older cars which are not fuel efficient. That means they will be paying more than the people who can afford new cars. The Province predicted it will be four or five years before the levy, if approved, will be introduced and by that time there would be further changes to cars. In five years we can expect to see more electric cars on the road and in 10 years there will be a lot of electric cars. A fuel levy will look pretty silly then. Another way to avoid the levy would be to run cars on LPG which would avoid the fuel levy altogether. In Europe cars are available […]

Featured Item Press Releases
29 Mar
Tariffs continue to increase above inflation rate

Tariffs continue to increase above inflation rate

The businesses and the residents of Cape Town will be paying a high price for the drought and the lack of preparation for it by the City Council. The first thing we noticed in the Mayor’s budget speech was the 26.9% increase in water and sanitation tariffs. This comes after a decade of water tariff increases well above the inflation rate, and in some cases double the CPI. The Mayor’s speech was short on detail but it was clear that more than R1.4 billion would be spent on developing aquifers and upgrading treatment plants to recycle more water. This is a good thing. We have been calling for greater reuse of water for years but little was done and now we are paying for it. A lot of this work should have been done and financed by the steep increases in water tariffs we have seen over the last decade. The upgrading of water treatment works will cost more than R720m and that includes R500 m for the Zanvliet water re-use plant. Property rates will go up by 7.2%, electricity by 8.1% and refuse tariffs by 5.7%. The tariff increases are obviously averages and we have yet to see how […]

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ABOUT CAPE CHAMBER

Established in 1804, the Cape Chamber of Commerce is the oldest member-based organisation in Africa. The Chamber has remained contemporary and relevant with a wide range of services, including information, training, networking, trade facilitation and robust advocacy on behalf of our members. We are the voice of business.

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