In July 1988, the Development Society of South Africa held its third biennial conference at the University of Durban-Westville. The event, which was hosted and organised by the department of Geography, attracted delegates from all over the country. One of the guest speakers was Mr RSK Tucker, managing director of the SA Permanent Building Society, who created considerable discussion with his address, 'The challenge of third world development for the South African business sector'. He pointed out that apartheid is a politico-socio-economic system, and that to change the political policy only would not solve South Africa's problems. He maintained that the legislature, which tends to be reactive, should be far more pro- active towards the country's many urgent needs, and he called for the business sector to see the economy as a single, integrated whole, rather than compartmentalised into first and third world segments. The danger exists that South Africa will become one of the world's backwaters, he argued, and drastic steps must be taken to motivate the entire economically active population and make it more effective. The required transformation depends on freedom to be enterprising and also on the development of a community that is based on love for one's fellow man. The only viable way forward lies in abandoning of self-interest and in affirmative action aimed at inclusion, integration, participation and accommodation. In such a development programme, the business sector must play an interactive and supportive role.