Business and the government need to work together to address some of the urgent challenges facing South Africa to spur the country towards sustainable growth.
This is according to Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa.
Mavuso delivered her keynote address at the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s Annual Ladies Breakfast in Gqeberha on Friday.
She said she was encouraged by the current partnership pledge between business and the government, which is driven by more than 100 CEO's from some of the country's top companies.
“We are now seeing businesses stepping up to play a more meaningful societal leadership role to build a more positive national narrative.
"This initiative, whose commitment, stature, and ability to marshal resources, would increase the country’s probability of success, she said.
Touching on the energy crisis, Mavuso said that the government has the policy tools to deal with it, but not the fiscal muscle.
“The recent delays that came to light regarding the processing of the Electricity Regulation Act Amendment Bill, were rather disappointing.
"The bill is an urgent piece of legislation that is central to the joint efforts of business and government to solve the electricity crisis.
"It will allow for the creation of a Transmission System Operator to manage the national grid and procure electricity from a competitive market."
She added that for businesses to continue investing their resources and energy into partnering with the government to resolve the crisis, the government needs to focus on getting its policy environment right.
Mavuso emphasised the need to improve the local operating environment for investors and businesses as it has deteriorated to its weakest level in years.
Chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen said over the past two years, local businesses have been actively embracing the opportunity to collaborate with government to get the city working again.
"Our primary focus has been on finding and implementing innovative solutions to save much-needed investment and jobs in Nelson Mandela Bay.
"These out-of-the-box solutions have ranged from the adoption of sub-stations, schools, and leaks to the roll-out of a 24-hour stage 5+ schedule to mitigate against the risks of load shedding through to the establishment of seven geographic clusters around the Bay and the rollout of a renewable energy cluster.
“As we refine these solutions, we now need to move to the next phase which must be to ensure the sustainability of what we are all doing as a collective."
Van Huyssteen added that she's encouraged by how many business volunteers have stepped up to offer their time and resources for the greater good of our local economy.
