Cyril asks SA’S top executives to help fix economic crises

President Cyril Ramaphosa has teamed up with executives from the country’s largest companies to form “crisis committees” to address power shortages, inefficient ports and rampant crime, a huge involvement of the private sector that illustrates the weakness of the state.

Ramaphosa said the partnership, formalised at a closed meeting on Tuesday, would build on the success of previous collaborations such as the Covid-19 response, where the state and industry worked in unison to implement a nationwide vaccine rollout.

The initiative is a huge mobilisation of the private sector that shines a harsh spotlight on the capacity of the state to create investor-friendly conditions for business, which is losing patience with Ramaphosa who cruised to election victory in 2019 on promises to revive the economy.

“We are not trying micromanage or take over the role of the state, but support the state,” Business for SA chair Martin Kingston said.

Business has put forward the names of Sasol boss Fleetwood Grobler, Sanlam CEO Paul Hanratty, Sibanye’s Neal Froneman, Anglo American chair Nolitha Fakude and former Exxaro boss Mxolisi Mgojo to form part of the work streams to address record daily load-shedding, inefficient ports and the crime.

Kingston said operational, oversight and technical expertise already had or would soon be sent to power stations to improve operational efficiency. The teams are at Matla, Kriel Majuba and Kendal power stations, which are among the worst performing in terms of output. “If successful we could have an end to load-shedding by the end of 2024,” Kingston said.

On SA’S ports, Kingston said an immediate priority was to send intervention teams to bulk rail corridors and to upgrade equipment for Transnet, which was buckling under a shortage of locomotives, poor maintenance, a lack of spare parts, copper cable theft and vandalism.

On crime, one of the biggest political headaches for Ramaphosa, Business Unity

SA CEO Cas Coovadia said a meeting with the SA Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority would be held to discuss resources needed to “fast track” cases through the justice system.

Coovadia added that the president had made it clear that they had to meet every six weeks and report on their progress.

“What we are offering is private sector participation within the regulations. We have no other agenda but to get SA working,” he said.

Despite a promise to reinvigorate the economy when Ramaphosa took the helm in 2019, he has presided over one that is barely growing, hobbled by record load-shedding and floundering Transnet.

Some business leaders such as MTN CEO Ralph Mupita and Daniel Mminele, Nedbank’s chair-in-waiting, have stopped short of calling for Ramaphosa to resign, saying SA risked spiralling into a failed state.

Less than two months ago, Trevor Manuel, chair of Old Mutual, issued a criticism of SA political leadership, saying there was no doubt that SA’S corruption and lawlessness had worsened because of weak leadership and lack of political will.