In business, you cannot afford to be late. And yet, South Africans are often late. Not only does this show bad manners, it shows that that have a total lack of respect for the person you are seeing.
You have to plan ahead and allow time for the 101 things that could go wrong. There will be times when you cannot be on time, no matter how had you plan. Those times are unaviodable but will happen infrequently if you are in the habit of planning.
When a customer arrives late for an appoitment, do they believe that their business is so important that you have to grovel and accept their lack of manners. Actually. it tells me what to expect from them from them when it comes to getting information to me on time and to paying on time at the end of a project.
Remember, to be on time and avoid problems.