Unlocking the potential of the South African economy to create much-needed employment and tax revenue is one of the urgent tasks identified in the recently delivered State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Growing the economy, however, requires business investment.
Business confidence has been very low in South Africa since the pre-Covid period due to a failure to supply reliable electricity, water, telecommunications and transport logistics to move goods and people.
These network industries are important in reducing the cost of doing business and living in South Africa by lowering production costs, thus making South Africa attractive for investment.
The implementation of structural reforms to unleash South Africa’s economic growth potential has been very slow. As a result, the government has put together Operation Vulindlela – a joint initiative of the National Treasury and President’s office to unlock economic growth and transformation.
The current coronavirus situation worsened the economic crisis, which shows itself in high levels of unemployment, poverty and an impending fiscal crisis, which has the potential to precipitate the implementation of structural reforms and transformation.
There are some reforms, such as the restructuring of Eskom, that are progressing well, and we are focusing our attention on…