Johnathan Paoli
THE executive has praised the relationship between government and the private sector and said that it has made significant strides in addressing the electricity supply crisis, the severe challenges in freight rail and port operations, as well as crime and corruption.
President Cyril Ramaphosa released his weekly newsletter on Monday and said that since the beginning of the partnership, the private sector has contributed more than R170 million of direct support and has mobilised over 350 technical experts, with more than 130 CEOs of the country’s leading companies pledging their support.
This follows the start of this particular partnership in June last year in order to tackle the challenges that were an obstacle to faster growth and job creation.
The President said that since November, loadshedding has been 61% lower than the same period last year, and that among other things, this has been possible mainly due to the return of the units at Kusile Power Station and the impact of the new generation capacity from rooftop solar and private sector investment.
“Under the leadership of its new Group CEO, Eskom is finalising an agreement with business to deploy additional independent skilled experts to support Eskom,” Ramaphosa said.
The President said that business was supporting a number of work-streams of the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC), providing technical, security and operational expertise to Transnet’s efforts to improve the performance of ports and freight rail.
Ramaphosa confirmed that the country’s transportation utility has achieved a 45% reduction in vessels anchored outside the Port of Durban and a 36% reduction in the waiting time to anchor for container vessels.
In addition, the President said that a major success has been the provision of security by business on the rail network, which has resulted in a 65% reduction in criminal incidents on the Northern Corridor, reducing the number of trains canceled and that work is currently underway to ramp up the deployment of SAPS resources to secure network infrastructure in the longer term.
“Steady progress has been made in the crime and corruption focal area. Through the Joint Initiative on Crime and Corruption (JICC), the private sector is providing business information and resources to assist with the fight against infrastructure crime,” the president said.
Ramaphosa said that following the recent appointment of a permanent executive leadership, Transnet remained focused on rebuilding internal capacity and drawing on private sector technical resources to restore the operational performance of strategic rail corridors.
In relation to the war against crime and corruption, the President said that an important part of the work will be the passage of the NPA Amendment bill, which is expected to strengthen the independence and investigating capacity of the country’s prosecuting agency.
“It will also enable the establishment of additional infrastructure to support the Investigating Directorate as a permanent entity, including a dedicated forensics laboratory. A key focus of the partnership is to secure SA’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list by at least June 2025,” Ramaphosa said.
The President said that the broader work to grow the economy and create jobs drew on the contributions and capabilities of all social partners and stakeholders.
“As we work to rebuild our economy, we will strive to deepen these partnerships and to reach out to all South Africans to be involved in these efforts. By broadening the involvement of all social partners in this work, we will contribute to build durable social compacts that make a real difference in people’s lives,” Ramaphosa said.
In conclusion, the President highlighted the fact that only by working together could progress be achieved, and that the partnership between government and business has shown what is possible when focus and commitment towards the achievement of a common goal was of the highest priority.
Furthermore, the President said that Eskom plant performance had improved, with additional private investment in rooftop solar and large-scale power projects, and connecting projects from previous renewable energy bid windows to the grid.
Following this significant boost to the SA government by the private sector last week, following the disappointing news concerning the country’s GDP growth; the next priority on the agenda of the private sector was the plan to scale up the funding model supporting government, with a growth of 6% to SA’s economy expected by fixing the country’s collapsing ports and rail network.
“We need to capitalise on this momentum and urgently implement the necessary reforms to improve societal and investor confidence in South Africa and grow the economy inclusively,” Discovery Limited CEO Adrian Gore said.
INSIDE POLITICS
