By Johnathan Paoli
The second phase of the partnership between government and business to tackle South Africa’s electricity, logistics and crime crises, has been launched under the Government of National Unity.
Its immediate goal is to increase growth to over 3% from 2025.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, government officials and business leaders met in Johannesburg on Tuesday night to foster collaboration and address critical challenges facing the nation.
Ramaphosa told the gathering that the partnership, which started a year ago, had been critical in harnessing collective skills, expertise and goodwill to stimulate economic growth and job creation.
He said just one example was how they had dealt with the electricity crisis.
“Thanks to the work that has been underway, drawing on the efforts of all social partners, a new era of hope and promise is emerging. After several years of debilitating load-shedding, we are finally turning a corner on the energy crisis.
“As a result of the steps that we have taken through the Energy Action Plan, we have experienced over 180 days without load-shedding. Reforms in the energy sector have unlocked hundreds of billions of Rand in investment, helping to address the long-standing shortfall in our electricity supply,” the president said.
He reiterated that “economic growth lies at the heart of everything else that we seek to achieve as a society”, noting that increased growth could lead to reduced poverty and expanded public services.
Ramaphosa highlighted the ongoing reforms initiated through Operation Vulindlela, which was aimed at overcoming obstacles hindering economic advancement.
He also discussed progress made through the National Logistics Crisis Committee, which was stabilising and improving the logistics system to support key export industries.
“We have embarked on a process of fundamental reform through the Freight Logistics Roadmap, enabling open access to the freight logistics network and introducing private sector participation in container terminals for the first time,” he said.
There had also been real progress in strengthening law enforcement agencies and reversing the effects of state capture.
This work was helping entrench the rule of law and creating a predictable environment for investment.
“We have doubled our efforts to remove our country from the FATF greylist. We are working together to rebuild the investigative and prosecutorial capabilities of the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority.”
Ramaphosa said that in the past few months he had signed several Acts into law to advance these reforms.
They included the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, the Economic Regulation of Transport Act and the NPA Amendment Act.
“What these shifts demonstrate is that the actions we have taken as a country over the past five years are making a difference,” he said.
Ramaphosa celebrated the success of the Youth Employment Service programme, which has created over 155,000 work placements for unemployed young South Africans, with nearly half transitioning to full-time employment.
He called on more companies to engage with this initiative and contribute to alleviating youth unemployment.
With more than five million young people registered on the SA Youth network, Ramaphosa urged businesses to post available job opportunities, reinforcing the importance of collaboration in creating a skilled workforce.
As he launched the next phase of the partnership, the president acknowledged that there were still challenges.
They included the freight logistics system, transmission network constraints, high rates of violent crime and unsustainable unemployment levels.
However, he expressed confidence in the nation’s capacity to tackle these issues through collaborative action and reform.
“We have built credibility and trust by turning plans into action,” Ramaphosa said.
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