Author: Busi Mavuso

Last week began with promise for small business reform and ended in policy chaos. It felt like good progress was being made on two fronts – easing the labour law burden on small companies and enabling lending to small businesses. But by the end of the week, the second of those had shockingly been withdrawn despite its obvious benefit to a large part of the economy. Positive reforms are essential to turning around our poor economic growth and tackling our unemployment crisis. Through Nedlac and initiatives like Business For South Africa, we work extensively to help develop proposed policy changes…

South Africa can leverage its G20 hosting role by implementing B20 recommendations domestically, turning global policy insights into immediate economic interventions. The looming loss of 250,000 jobs across supply chains, compounded by US trade pressures, demands urgent government action in areas within our control. Key reforms include using special economic zones to stimulate manufacturing, streamlining regulations, expanding digital infrastructure and creating industry-led skills partnerships with private sector participation. Maintaining the status quo while jobs disappear is the riskiest option – we need decisive implementation of incremental changes rather than endless planning cycles. Last week’s handover of the recommendations of the…

The decision by S&P Global to downgrade Transnet’s credit rating was disappointing news for those of us in business eager to see the utility performing better. This downgrade is not just a reflection of Transnet’s financial distress – it is a damning indictment of years of failed leadership, union militancy and a government that continues to bail out state-owned enterprises without demanding fundamental reform. S&P believes that Transnet is burning cash without the prospect of turning around its operating performance and that Transnet Freight Rail will fail to reach its volume targets. The business has high fixed costs, major capital…

One of the positive features of the government of national unity has been the openness of ministers to engage with business. A better understanding of each other’s needs and objectives can help all of us make progress. Last week we were privileged to host the Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to address our members on the progress of electricity systems reform. Later this month we will host the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau, and his colleague, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola. These ministries, among others, play an important role in…

We had a very positive meeting last week with the president and a senior government team to provide updates and discuss the agenda for our government/business partnership in 2025 that is delivered through Business for South Africa. The ambition of phase 2 of the partnership is to deliver economic growth of 3% by the end of this year – that is a material ambition, but one that both business and government are committed to seeing through. That level of growth leads to job creation and triggers a positive self-reinforcing sentiment that supports growth. But we must act rapidly if we…

It is going to be an interesting year globally, but one that I believe will be positive for South Africa. We have an opportunity to consolidate the reforms made in the past several years. Load-shedding is behind us and other key structural impediments to our economy like the logistics crisis are being addressed. There certainly is still much work to do on reforms to support our economy, but we should start to see the fruits of the work done. Through the hosting of the G20 this year, and the B20-associated business event, South Africa will be on show to the…

I have written before about how we face a “gas cliff” when the supply of gas to industrial users ceases in 2026. This is a crisis for businesses that collectively employ 70,000 people and generate R500bn a year for the economy. It is a crisis that can only be avoided with a coordinated and rapid plan between business and government. So, you might have thought that last week’s draft Gas Master Plan, gazetted by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, would clearly address the looming crisis and table a credible strategy to avoid it. But, while it contains many laudable principles…

The withdrawal last week of proposed new visa regulations that would have eased the way for skilled workers to come to South Africa was an inadvertent illustration of how little public consultations matter in many parts of government. The regulations were withdrawn because the minister of home affairs had inadvertently published them a day before the period was meant to close for public comment on the drafts. This might seem like merely an administrative error, but I think it reveals how little attention policy makers pay to public comment. Clearly, from the minister down, the public commentary simply did not…

The annual Edelman Trust Barometer last week provided some interesting insights into the public’s view of business and government. What stood out in the South African results was the relatively high trust in business compared to government. The gap between the two is the largest in the world. Business has a trust rating of 62 (out of 100) while government is rated at 29. It was also striking that 61% of South Africans believe partnerships between business and government can lead to more trustworthy management of technology-led changes. This perception has rocketed in the last ten years, among the highest…

The water crisis appears to be growing, although it is difficult to get a grip on the extent of delivery failure across the country. That is because water services are a local government responsibility and the degree to which municipalities are meeting their constitutional duty to provide water varies widely. Among the 257 municipalities there are no doubt examples of success and failure, but it is hard to get a consolidated picture of how well they are doing, at least in the short term. But the anecdotes of failing water infrastructure reported in the media are too frequent – from…