There's nothing quite as likely to spook shareholder meetings as the reminder of the collapse of Enron and Andersen, and the suggestion that there might be some similarities in the current situation.
And you could almost sense the bristling of board members when this suggestion was made at yesterday's meeting of Nampak shareholders.
To the untrained eye, namely one that is not in the employ of one of the four major audit firms, it is certainly difficult to imagine how Deloitte could be described as independent in the context of Nampak. Through one or other of its various operations Deloitte receives considerable fee income from Africa's biggest packaging group.
It does seem that in the big corporate world people are often able to cope with potential conflicts of interest that might put the rest of us in a bit of a tizz.
And it seems the way they do this is to deny that there are any conflicts, much as Thys Visser is happy to describe himself as an independent non-executive director of Nampak despite being the chief executive of Remgro, which has a 14 percent stake in Nampak.
Nampak is not a newcomer to the corporate world. It has several high-profile directors on its board who have been around a long time and should know corporate governance guidelines off by heart. Surely, either we all pretend to take these guidelines seriously or we all decide to ignore them.
Yesterday's Nampak meeting heard how Deloitte had this month described Purple Capital's proposed empowerment transaction as unfair but reasonable because the investment group was not able to quantify the benefits to shareholders.
The Nampak deal, it seems, is fair and reasonable because these benefits were quantified. However, they were quantified by Deloitte only in discussions with the board and will not be made known to the shareholders, who must therefore put their trust in the independence of Deloitte. This seems neither fair nor reasonable. AC
After the turbulent times experienced by this standardisation organisation in the not too distant past, it is reassuring to see the statutory body is getting its act together.
Whereas previously its relationship with many industries was confrontational, the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) is now, under the guidance of chief executive Martin Kuscus, the former North West finance MEC, responding to the concerns of industries, while still looking after the interests of consumers.
A good example is the tender that the SABS has issued for the provision of an accredited tyre-testing service to its regulatory division.
This is a response to the action taken last July by the SA Tyre Manufacturers' Conference (SATMC), which suspended payment of statutory levies to the SABS for the second time in 18 months.
The major beef of the industry body, which represents the four local tyre manufacturers, was that the SABS did not have a system in place to guarantee that a tyre had been homologated at the time of its entry into the country.
The SABS was using the test facilities of SATMC, which led to tyre importers questioning the independence of its tests. Instead of addressing the issue, the previous SABS management initially responded by threatening to suspend tyre sales to protect public safety.
The SABS and the tyre industry have now resolved their differences, as the tender shows. This was a vital step, because the SABS needs to work together with the industry sectors to sort out any problem areas if the economy is to become more competitive. RC
This region used to be avoided, but local telecommunications and information technology (IT) firms are now eager to tap into its market.
One analyst said the Middle East should be seen as a hub of business opportunities, boosted, particularly right now, by its oil-rich status. Dimension Data (Didata) moved swiftly this week to gain a foothold in the region's IT market.
It has partnered with iNet, a Saudi managed network services provider, in that firm's home market. Analysts gave Didata's decision to partner with a local player the thumbs up, but cautioned that it might take a while for the venture to realise a return since the IT market in the region was small.
MTN, which is also eager to crack it in the Middle East, is yet to partner with an influential local group. It has lost out on several contracts in the region and is now crossing fingers that it will get a shot at Irancell.
With large and sometimes wealthy populations, the Middle East could be to these companies what Nigeria has been to MTN: very lucrative. TM
Developments at this KwaZulu-Natal port, along with plans to upgrade railway networks and facilities at other ports, are heartening news for local exporters and importers.
In total the government is spending R100 billion in the energy sector, and R40 billion over five years on ports and rail. These, as public enterprises minister Alec Erwin recently said, are "the largest investment programmes this economy has seen since the 1970s".
The investment in Richards Bay amounts to well over R5 billion and is particularly encouraging for the city's industrial development zone.
The zone, which expects a licence before the end of the year, is negotiating 21 projects worth R6.3 billion, which are expected to provide about 1 300 jobs.
These are export-orientated businesses, which need an efficient and well-resourced harbour to move goods.
The cost effectiveness of the Richards Bay port was questioned recently after Swedish forestry group Sodra pulled out of Pulp United, a joint venture set up with NCT Forestry Co-op to build a pulp mill. Sodra cited high harbour costs as one of the reasons the project, in its view, was no longer viable.
Although some in Richards Bay business circles have expressed concern, others have shrugged it off.
Sodra's decision to withdraw was also due to the fact that the whole investment scenario had changed. It had as much to do with rand strength, changes in the pulp market and Sodra's priorities as it did with high port costs.
If port costs are an issue, it stands to reason that better equipped harbours attracting significantly more cargo should reduce costs for port users down the line.
This is something business can expect and demand in the future because both the government and Transnet are on record as saying that their aim is to reduce the cost of doing business. SE