JEREMY MAGGS: Well, let’s start with this. The South African government and organised business have agreed to urgently work together, their words, in partnership to remove obstacles to inclusive economic growth and job creation. Three immediate priority interventions have been agreed to. They are energy, transport and logistics, as well as crime and corruption. So can this initiative work. Political and economic commentator, Daniel Silke, is with us now.
I think these factions within the ANC themselves will be somewhat sceptical about Ramaphosa’s movement towards the business sector to try and alleviate the crisis that we are in. DANIEL SILKE: I think there’s political desperation from the side of the ANC certainly, and I think the polling for the ANC is concerning. But I do think that in general, Jeremy, we should be having joint work streams between the private sector and the state. I would like to see this somehow codified into the broader policy and performance structure of governance within South Africa.
JEREMY MAGGS: I wonder how much pressure the business community is willing to apply on government, though? DANIEL SILKE: Well, I think so, just from an immediate point of view, we know that you can’t do much when the lights go out and we know the mounting losses in the private sector, reporting on a daily basis from South Africa’s big retailers, in just about every aspect of South African business it contributes to unemployment and, of course, to a lack of foreign direct investment and negative perception. So it is the basis of it all.
The scepticism for business, the scepticism for Ramaphosa within the ANC, can that be somehow put aside so that those who are going to cooperate with business from the side of the state are given unfettered leeway in order to engage in that cooperation.