Back in November 2014, SABMiller, before being bought out by AB InBev, Coca-Cola and the successful Gutsche family, announced it had agreed to combine the non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink bottling operations in Southern and East Africa to form Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. This also created the company's South African operations, which would trade as Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, or CCBSA. Like similar transactions, the deal required regulatory approval by competition authorities and the government. This week, I attended the launch of the R400-million-strong Mintirho Foundation, established by CCBSA to support black farmers. As I listened to hard-working Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, and CCBSA MD Velaphi "Bra V" Ratshefola, I appreciated the energy in the room as a welcome, though overdue, signal that perhaps we were starting to dispel the myth that the government and business are inherent enemies. "In the relationship between government and business, we need two thing...
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