Poor Gaba Tabane. It must have been difficult enough working in the shadow of Jimmy Manyi - and now that shadow is about to get even bigger.

Tabane's resignation as managing director of the Black Management Forum comes, according to the Mail & Guardian, amid discussions to make suspended labour director-general Manyi's position as BMF president full time and to extend the BMF president's term.

One could be forgiven for thinking that Manyi's position is being entrenched while he bides his time under suspension from his day job in government.

Members of the BMF must be furious knowing that time is being spent on leadership tussles rather than on representing black management.

But is this not the primary role of the BMF, whose core occupation seems to be the courting of controversy?

A slice of the Chinese pie doesn't come cheap

Hundreds of businessmen flocked to China at the heels of President Jacob Zuma to make sure they got a piece of the hottest bit of corporate action in the world today: trade with China.

For most businesses, Beijing is the route to riches. China's rapidly growing economy and hundreds of millions of increasingly wealthy inhabitants are prompting everyone to rush to do business with the country, irrespective of the consequences.

Companies from Standard Bank to Wesizwe are happily handing over big chunks of their business just to be associated with the Chinese. The University of Cape Town is offering free Chinese language and culture courses to its students and many people in business are wading through Mandarin phrase books and a growing number of self-help books on doing business in China.

We should not forget the potential cost. China's interest in Africa is its resources, and with that interest comes fear of the plundering of natural assets and the threat of cheap imports on local business.

SA's clothing and textile industry has already been a casualty of China's growing business in Africa. This week, textile company Da Gama was retrenching 761 workers, or 60% of its workforce, as a direct result of higher operational costs and cheap foreign imports.

This is but one of numerous retrenchment exercises over the years at Da Gama and other such manufacturers, ever since the local industry first began to feel the effects of cheap Chinese imports.

The (almost) eternal cost of SAA folly

SAA will be paying for the follies of its former CEOs for years to come. As more details of alleged excesses emerge, ranging from wasteful spending to misuse of funds by former boss Khaya Ngqula, the cost to the airline, and ultimately us (the taxpayers), mounts.

Cheryl Carolus, in her new job as SAA chairman, should be applauded for taking on Ngqula. Yet if you add the money he squandered, and the increasing amount of money it is costing to find it, then we are going to continue to pay for it for a very long time.

When will we ever learn the small-cap lesson?

Had you seen the names of these companies a few years back, they would have been associated with the latest high-flyers to hit the JSE - mostly small companies with big plans and massive potential.

But this week, Brikor, African Dawn, Labat Africa, Total Client Services, Blue Financial Services, Kairos Industrial Holdings and Pinnacle Point were all named by the JSE for failing to submit annual reports within six months of their financial year-end.

They all face suspension and possible termination.

The next time we see a small-cap listings boom, we should be able to count the months until the next bust. But we won't, of course - we will be rushing to invest in the next batch of small companies with big plans and massive potential.

• kleinm@sundaytimes.co.za