DUNCAN WANBLAD: Fixing graft, energy and logistics will enable miners to boost growth

Businesses form the backbone of most economies. But they cannot succeed alone. Governments are accountable for — and have the most critical role to play in — setting the environment that enables people, businesses and society to flourish.

The recipe for success lies in partnership. Government and business must be willing and committed to working together to put in place the parameters that allow and incentivise a thriving economy in which everyone benefits — from the very large companies to the microbusinesses. When that balance is found, governments can more easily deliver growth and jobs because businesses are set up to thrive and create jobs, and society prospers.

SA starts with an enviable and sizeable advantage. In just less than three decades the country has built a robust set of democratic institutions, from an independent media to the judiciary, which has kept our country in check and defended the rule of law. This is also a country with a well-developed financial infrastructure and a range of competitive industries, all built by world-class people.

But SA is fast allowing its head start to be badly eroded, risking its competitive advantage across Southern Africa and missing out on the economic miracle that was promised. We have to stop scoring own goals.

It is easy to list the three primary challenges to fix urgently: corruption, energy and logistics. Were these to be fixed they would dramatically improve SA’s economy and its prospects. This is fundamental to the fight against poverty and social inequality.

Solutions do not come from criticism, or indeed hope; they come from action. The time for bold and collaborative action is now.

Step up

The lives and livelihoods of 60-million people who call this country home depend on us coming together to begin a new chapter in SA’s story.

The mining industry can play an instrumental role in unlocking value and unblocking the constraints that hinder economic progress. We do it every day at a municipal level, and now we need to step up to a different scale.

A good place to start is strengthening the capacity of the state to address corruption and the crime that stems from it by improving crime intelligence and detection, while also allowing the justice system to do its work.

Where critical infrastructure failures constrain the entire economy — power, rail, ports, and roads — we must accept the reality that real collaboration is required. It is beyond time to put outdated paradigms to one side and to do the right thing and fix this. We need a new spirit of pragmatism: partnerships and proven models that can quickly transform and unlock so much inclusive growth.

This is about working to create practical, implementable solutions — not just talk. Failure to do so is existential — fundamentally affecting the extent to which countries such as SA can sustain their economies, let alone grow and prosper.

The opportunity to capitalise on all that rich mineral endowments can offer has existed for a long time. But there cannot be a more urgent need than now to take that opportunity and make sure SA does not miss out yet again.

Renewable energy

As a proud South African I want to see the country succeed, and it is certainly not all doom and gloom. I am very encouraged by some of the changes we’ve started to see, but we have to move far more quickly before we reach the cliff edge.

Government’s move to remove bureaucracy, liberalise and reset regulation to encourage private investment in renewables, has allowed us and many others to invest and move forward at pace with renewable energy investment.

This was impossible just two years ago, again demonstrating the value of constructive engagement with government and others’ belief in SA’s potential.

So, the wheels of state can and do turn — but the country needs them to turn much faster to help provide the certainty that industries such as ours need to invest and to be the economic engine that enables the new opportunities that the energy transition offers the African continent, and nowhere more so than in SA.

There is a window of enormous opportunity; let it not close.

Wanblad is CEO of Anglo American.