The incoming president of the Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) will use his Eastern Cape roots to grow SA’s industry provincially, nationally and internationally.
Isuzu chief executive Billy Tom, who was elected as the new president of Naamsa on Thursday morning, was speaking at the council’s third Captains of Industry Black Tie Gala Dinner at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
It was the first time the banquet moved out of Gauteng, where the council is based, and the decision to hold it in Gqeberha, the Eastern Cape’s commercial hub, amplified the election of Tom, who was Isuzu’s first black chief executive and is now Naamsa’s first black president.
The glittering event was staged in a marquee on the field of the city’s stadium and included traditional dancers, an opera singer, two of Isuzu’s new D-MAX Arctic range vehicles and a declaration from deputy transport minister Lisa Mangcu that the government would do all it could to help the automotive industry to develop an electric vehicle industry.
Speaking to The Herald before his speech, Tom said he saw his election as recognition for the Eastern Cape.
“I was born and raised here in the small town of Alexandria.
“The Eastern Cape is also the home of SA’s automobile industry
“I have a better understanding of this region and I aim to ensure we have an equal seat at the bigger table.”
Expanding on the genesis of the industry in his speech, he said cars first came to SA in 1896 when a Benz Velo was imported.
“A replica of that model is still available at the entrance foyer of the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant in East London.”
He said the early days of the SA motoring industry were focused on American brands Ford and Chevrolet.
“In 1922, Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford personally visited Port Elizabeth and by 1923 he had started the first assembly plant right here in [the city].
“The automotive industry is the engine of the manufacturing sector in SA, and recently it has shaped much of the country’s future sustainability aspirations.
“The vehicles we produce are not just modes of transport — they are a symbol of progress and SA’s industrial capacity.”
Tom said it was encouraging to see the collaboration between the government and business, with 115 private company chief executives signing a pledge last month to work with the government to counter the challenges facing the country.
“That pledge will undoubtedly help to achieve sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.”
Mangcu said he, too, was originally from the Eastern Cape and consequently, when he received the invitation to attend the banquet, he was happy to cancel his Brics summit commitments in Johannesburg to attend.
He said he was keen to strengthen ties between the transport department and the automotive industry, not least about the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act.
“I would like to have an audience with all the automotive industry CEOs to discuss the implications of the Aarto Act and the affirmation by the Constitutional Court that it is lawful for us to proceed with its implementation.”
More than 12,000 people die on SA’s roads annually and the aim is that the Act will help improve the behaviour of road users.
Addressing the electric vehicle debate, Mangcu said: “The transport department is aware of some of the challenges you have in getting the government to move faster to provide you with policy certainly about our country’s transition to new-energy vehicles.
“There is no reason we can’t work with the industry to amplify their voice and speak to our principals to move with speed so companies can be assured SA remains an investment destination that has progressive policy that protects and grows all their investments.”
HeraldLIVE
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