Views
3 years ago

Opportunity Issue 95

  • Text
  • Invest
  • Business
  • Investment
  • Transportation
  • Ports
  • Africa
  • Africa
  • Opportunity
  • Engineering
  • African
  • Transit
  • Global
  • Economic
  • Namdock
  • Mining
  • Infrastructure
  • Strategic

FOREWORD We don’t

FOREWORD We don’t know, what we don’t know How does South Africa come out of the three evils of a recession, a ratings agency downgrade and the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown? As we ended 2019, the business community had laid plans for the New Year ahead, not knowing what was coming. Covid-19 laid bare our forecasting and plans for the road ahead. Within months South Africa would experience an unprecedented loss of jobs, businesses closing and austerity measures that cut to the very bone of economic activity. Social distancing became a norm, wearing masks and sanitising surfaces and hands is now a legal obligation in public spaces. Who would have thought this was coming just months earlier? Over the past eight months, SACCI has witnessed the damage within its own ranks. Our Trade Conditions Survey, which has for many years served as a barometer of the business community, lost some of the participants to the severe economic climate. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey Quarter 2 released by Statistics South Africa on 29 September 2020, the South African economy shed 2,2-million jobs. Against this background, SACCI had to do something to turn things around. We cannot rely on government to pull the country out of this malaise so the SACCI Board gave a directive that SACCI must filter this down to grassroots level by implementing programmes of action to assist our business sectors on a trajectory towards economic growth and sustainability. ___ __ ___ __ _ _ We cannot rely on government to pull the country out of this malaise so the SACCI Board gave a directive that SACCI must filter this down to grassroots level ___ __ ___ __ _ _ 6 | www.opportunityonline.co.za

FOREWORD While we know that this is no easy task ahead, SACCI decided that it is the only way in assisting government to bring the economy back on stream and create jobs. The SACCI Board decided that 11 work streams should be created. The three fundamental areas raised in the formulation of an action plan must be centred on: Inclusivity Innovation Collaboration Significant among these action programmes are small business, mining, construction, manufacturing and agriculture. The Terms of References were developed, and support functions engineered from within SACCI’s own membership and the SACCI team. Leading experts from various business sectors, institutions and academia have volunteered to give of their time and expertise to help the country get back on its feet. This is a giant task but not impossible to achieve as the commitment is solid, and the involvement has been forthcoming as the people involved see this as impacting at a granular level and hence they are keen to participate. ▲ ▲ ▲ ___ ___ __ _ _ The road ahead will take us all on a path where hard decisions will need to be made ___ __ ___ __ _ _ The directive is that milestones will be set and reviewed regularly to track progress and ensure that the various workstreams remain on track. The road ahead will take us all on a path where hard decisions will need to be made. But, with the quality of people committed to this project, and the gravitas that these people carry, we are confident that changes will be made to stimulate the economy and our business community will work together with government, labour and civil society. These partnerships will ensure that the country’s economy grows from a solid platform and will be more resilient to the shocks of the past and future. By charting a roadmap, we will ensure a positive path, and produce gains in the sectors affected. SACCI further believes that this will build the confidence in the country to the extent that investors will review their strategies and return to South Africa as an investment destination. We conclude with an extension of our encouragement to government to remain firm in its commitment to root out and deal with corruption that has blighted our public sector and our business community. SACCI believes these workstreams have the opportunity to raise the hopes of all South Africans for a brighter future and together we can turn our economy around. Alan Mukoki, SACCI CEO www.opportunityonline.co.za | 7

Other recent publications by Global Africa Network: