Business to float water crisis as new focus for government partnership

The partnership between business and government to lift SA’s economic growth rate could look at adding the looming water crisis to its list of three focal areas, as it prepares for their first meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa and new cabinet ministers since the government of national unity was formed.

New ministers are expected to bring fresh energy to the partnership, which was forged in June 2023 when Business for SA (B4SA) agreed with Ramaphosa on a formal collaboration to address the crises in electricity and logistics, and crime and corruption, which are holding back SA’s economy.

More than 150 leading CEOs pledged support for the partnership, which has seen business mobilise R180m to provide the public sector with resources and expertise needed to address the crises in electricity, and transport and logistics.

The business and government partners will brief Ramaphosa and his team on their progress at a three-hour meeting on Tuesday. They committed to update him every six to eight weeks, but the elections interrupted the schedule since the last meeting in early May.

They will be able to report progress in electricity, where targeted initiatives have helped to halt load-shedding for almost four months, as well as in transport and logistics, and in crime. They are expected to discuss the lessons learnt so far as well as to flag the next set of priority issues that need to be tackled.

A joint statement said senior cabinet members, senior business leaders and technical experts from government and business would attend Tuesday’s meeting, which would “discuss a new era of collaboration for a partnership launched over a year ago to address barriers to growth in SA”.

B4SA steering committee chair Martin Kingston expects the two sides to recommit to the partnership on Tuesday.

“Business is fully committed. We’ve seen the benefit that accrues to it and believe it creates a level of momentum and confidence in the business community which is essential,” he said. “The only way we address SA’s challenges is by mobilising all the skills and resources in the country in a co-ordinated way.”

There has been pressure from both sides to bring additional areas of focus in for consideration. Water is one, and the partners are thinking about whether the model they have established would make sense in the water sector. Municipalities and infrastructure have also been mooted as focus areas.

Kingston said the partnership was resource-constrained and was not going to do anything that would diminish the level of commitment or focus on what it was already doing, but would see if it could bring some of its experience, skills and insights to bear in other areas.

There has long been pressure to add employment to the list of focal areas. The partnership has declined to do so, but it is looking at how youth unemployment can be addressed in a scaled-up and integrated manner. There is a joint effort to co-ordinate and scale up existing youth employment initiatives such as the presidential employment and youth unemployment schemes and this is expected to report back at Tuesday’s meeting.

The high-level meetings with the president are generally attended from government’s side by about 10 cabinet ministers, including those responsible for the electricity, transport and law enforcement sectors, as well as the CEOs of Eskom and Transnet. The executives in charge of each of the partnership’s three focal areas will report back to the meeting on progress and on challenges.

joffeh@businesslive.co.za