Operation Vulindlela unlocks R500 billion investments, turns to second phase

By Thebe Mabanga

Operation Vulindlela, government’s economic reform programme launched in October 2020, has unlocked R500 billion in investments and will now focus on the water sector, local government and digitisation.  

This emerged at a technical briefing hosted by National Treasury ahead of the launch of the second phase of the reforms by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.

“When Operation Vulindlela was launched in 2020, South Africa was already facing a decade of economic stagnation, deep institutional erosion and growing fiscal pressure,” Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse told reporters in Pretoria.

“And when the pandemic came along, it merely accelerated the urgency for reform. It became clear that without targeted and coordinated structural reforms, our prospects for meaningful growth, job creation and investment would remain out of reach.”

At the official launch, Ramaphosa emphasised this point, noting: “The pandemic arrived just as we were emerging from more than a decade