I held back on this post because Ivan didn't want me to post it but that was on the 11th of January - it's been two weeks now.
Ivan van der Merwe has responded to my post on the 31st of December. He responded in bullet points.
- Paul does a good job of highlighting some of the issues in the BEE field.
- He does not seem to see the need for consultants to be organised. One must be half-blind not to see this.
- "NABC has no common agenda and lacks unified leadership": Here's a wake-up call for Paul: Any organisation that is so 'unified' and has such a 'common agenda' is likely to be a lame duck. If we never have differences we can only produce platitudes and generalities. If he had said that the NABC was lame in not protecting its members against a frontal assault by ABVA, I would have agreed.
- My message to Paul: Let's talk again at the end of 2010. The NABC has made serious errors in 2009 and we plan to correct those and take some leadership to correct the warped BEE processes in 2010.
I stand by my comment that you have no common agenda which is very different to having members with differing opinions. This is where ABVA is much stronger than the NABC
- they have a common agenda and that is to verify companies
- they have a single standard to adhere to - R47
- they have SANAS backing
- they exact bigger membership fees
- as shocking as their website is, it's infinitely better than the NABC's
- most importantly - they have the ear of all the main corporates
I will watch the NABC closely this year and if they start talking the same language then I will join.
Thanks for your response Ivan and all the best for your work with the NABC. I've seen many emails coming from you and respect your sentiments.