Johannesburg, 29 November 2023 – President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday convened the bi-monthly mee7ng with members of Cabinet and senior business leaders for an update on progress to address key challenges across the South African economy, with a par7cular focus on energy, transport and logis7cs, crime and corrup7on.

President Ramaphosa, key Cabinet ministers and other government officials are working in close collabora7on with business, via Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and its implementa7on plaForm, Business for South Africa (B4SA), to unlock South Africa’s economic poten7al.

President Ramaphosa said: “Since we began, we have made significant progress in establishing structures and ways of working, mobilising resources and driving implementa7on of key ac7ons. We see this partnership as evidence of the business community’s commitment to building our country and overcoming the challenges that we face.”

BUSA President Adrian Gore, co-convener of the business delega7on, said: “In the last six months we have made some real progress and our collabora7on structures have been bedded down and are increasingly well-capacitated.”

Some of the other early tangible successes include adding 2×800 MWs of power genera7on capacity, edging closer to the collec7ve goal of ending load shedding by the end of 2024; establishing the Rail Infrastructure Manager for Transnet, paving the way for third party train operators in 2024; and establishing a digital and financial Forensic Analysis Centre.

“Despite these ini7al successes” said Gore, “the pace of delivery across the ini7a7ve seems to be plateauing, mainly as a result of delays in regulatory and other approvals, as well as slippage on the implementa7on of strategic plans, and the alignment of these to workable funding solu7ons. We’ve agreed with the President that delays will be given urgent aYen7on and we will all ensure that momentum is maintained, key decisions are made, and policies implemented in line with agreed 7melines.”

“We need to act with a greater sense of urgency and determina7on to confront these challenges, given their severe impact on the economy as a whole. We have made strides in implemen7ng reforms that will set our economy on a higher growth trajectory going forward.

Several important pieces of legisla7on, including the Electricity Regula7on Amendment Bill, the Economic Regula7on of Transport Bill and the NPA Amendment Bill, are being priori7sed by the relevant commiYees in Parliament,” said President Ramaphosa.

Over and above the current resources in place, business has made a commitment to look at providing addi7onal resources over the 2024 year to deliver addi7onal progress in the cri7cal areas.

In the Energy workstream, the meeting agreed that areas requiring additional effort and focus include releasing Bid Window 7 of the renewable energy programme and the RFPs for battery storage and gas power, which are critical to developing additional new generation capacity. Grid access rules and the wheeling framework will need to be clarified urgently to ensure private producers have more certainty.

The mee7ng also agreed that the deteriora7on of the country’s transport and logis7cs network needs to be addressed as a maYer of extreme urgency. The Freight Logis7cs Roadmap has been finalised through an extensive process of consulta7on, and outlines a clear path to reforming our logis7cs system for greater efficiency and compe77veness. The alignment between the Transnet Recovery Plan and the FLR will unlock public and private sector funding.

Permanent leadership appointments within Transnet are important for stabilising the en7ty and providing confidence in its Recovery Plan.

Some early signs of progress include opera7onal performance enhancements iden7fied across the Corridor Recovery Teams, resul7ng in improvements such as faster border processing 7mes at Lebombo. Addi7onally, the interim Rail Infrastructure Manager and the appointment of the Na7onal Ports Authority Board have been successfully finalised, and addi7onal private sector security resources have been confirmed.

Within the Crime and Corrup7on focal area, the establishment of the Joint Ini7a7ve against Crime and Corrup7on (JICC) has been slow, but the commiYee has now met and will focus on delivering against a few key priority interven7ons, including infrastructure crime and capacita7ng inves7ga7ve and prosecutorial capabili7es. Progress has also been made on the establishment of a Forensic Analysis Centre.

A key impera7ve between business and government is to enhance the current law enforcement and opera7onal response. A pilot project for the 10111 Centre modernisa7on and enhanced opera7on response plan is being ini7ated with the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The promulga7on of the Na7onal Prosecu7ng Authority (NPA) Amendment Bill, which is currently before Parliament, will make the NPA’s Inves7ga7ng Directorate (ID) permanent and strengthen its ability to inves7gate and prosecute major criminal syndicates. Once the Bill is passed, work will begin in earnest to set up a Digital Forensics Unit that will support the work of the ID.

As previously reported, research commissioned to establish a common baseline for South Africa’s employment status highlighted that 300 000 jobs could be created if we are successful in reaching the objec7ves set in the business-government partnership. It is thus cri7cally important that we focus on speed of delivery to ensure our objec7ves are achieved by end 2024. The Presidency, Department of Employment and Labour and BUSA have established an ini7a7ve to scale exis7ng successful job crea7ng ini7a7ves between business and government.

The mee7ng agreed that whilst progress has been made, urgent ac7on is needed to ensure we sustain the momentum over the next 12 months. This is cri7cal to bolster investor and public confidence in the reforms being implemented. Success achieved within the focal areas could contribute around 3% GDP growth in the medium term and 5% GDP growth in the longer-term. It is therefore essen7al that business

and government con7nue to support the implementa7on of the Energy Ac7on Plan, accelerate the freight logis7cs sector reform, and strengthen law enforcement.

A further mee7ng will be held in early 2024 to assess progress on the three focal areas and agree an ac7on plan for the year ahead.

ENDS

Note to editors:

About Business Unity South Africa (BUSA): BUSA is a leading business organisation that represents the interests of South African business, covering major sectors and industrial groupings. BUSA aims to create an enabling environment for business success and economic growth in the country by engaging with government, labour unions, and civil society.

About Business for South Africa (B4SA): B4SA is a BUSA platform, bringing together key South African business leaders to address urgent national challenges and drive economic recovery. B4SA focuses on key priority areas and works in close collaboration with government counterparts to find innovative solutions and create a positive impact for all South Africans.