THE RECENT downward revision of our economic growth to 1.4 percent by International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be a cause for concern. We need to unlock all the constraints to high, sustainable and inclusive job-rich growth to unleash the economy’s full potential.
The constraints to growth are well known. They don’t require further analysis. They require workable and practical plans of action. We also need to reinvent a paradigm shift with a view to ensure the right sense of urgency in prioritising execution over endless analysis.
This requires a capable, productive and delivering state. We need to prioritise the improvement of the capabilities of our state and private sector institutions. We should ensure that we employ, develop and retain the best and productive talent in our institutions that are key to the growth and development of our economy and society.
Countries like Singapore, Japan, the US and Germany have a pervasive culture of excellence in both the private and public institutions. Without a strong and effective public sector, the private sector cannot flourish to its maximum potential. Without a progressive and aligned private sector, the ability of the public sector to effectively deliver on its mandate will be impaired.
There is, therefore, a need for joint talent development programmes between the private and public sectors at all levels. This will ensure the country has a world class cadre of private and public sector professionals who have similar professional grounding and share the same strategic concept and objective on how their capabilities can coalesce to grow the economy and society.
It is in enlightened self interest of business to have a world class civil service that underpins a world class and capable state. On the other hand, it is the national interest of the state to have a globally competitive private sector that plays a key and central role in advancing the national interest in general and the national economic interest in particular.
Countries are as good as their companies and institutions. Companies and institutions are as good as their people. It makes strategic sense for government and business to align and co-ordinate their approaches to talent development and deployment to power companies and government instructions with the best brains available.
Talent is one of the constraints that undermine the extent to which the full potential of our economy can be unleashed. This is easier to fix. It requires bold strategic interventions at the highest levels of both government and business, as well civil society. Talent matters. South Africa has world class global companies and public sector institutions that can and must be leveraged to maximise the quality and quantity of the nation’s talent pool.
President Jacob Zuma’s administration needs to be commended for building two additional universities, which will further expand access to higher education to communities that hitherto had limited access.
Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande is also a vociferous and passionate champion of Further Education and Training colleges (FETs). He must be commended for that, as FETs, if properly run and managed, can play a crucial role in producing the skills needed by the economy in massive numbers.
The other major constraint to growth that is known to us all, is energy. Energy security is an indispensable prerequisite for growth. Without energy we might as well kiss all our growth ambitions goodbye. That is why it is important Eskom succeeds. We need Medupi and Kusile to come on stream without delays, as we have to further plan for more energy capacity to underpin a growing economy.
We also need to diversify our energy mix to mitigate and reduce the adverse impact on climate change caused by fossil fuels, which are the traditional sources of energy. That is why ramping up our renewal energy content is crucial. South Africa is one of the top 10 countries in the world that has been actively rolling out their renewal energy build programmes.
The country needs to continue to do more to enhance the green content of its economy, especially given our historic reliance on cheap and dirty coal as an energy source. Water security is another key area without which our economy cannot grow.
The recent water crisis in Gauteng – Africa’s fourth largest economy – underscored the strategic importance of water, if it was ever in doubt. Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane did a good job in managing the crisis.
There is more work that still remains to be done and the private sector needs to play a constructive and productive role in working with the government to ensure water security for the economy and society.
Water is another area that has been starved of capital investment for a long time. The maintenance backlog in our water infrastructure is also huge and requires a sense of urgency second to none to get things in the right shape. The country has world class engineering skills to tackle our energy and water challenges. We need the discipline to collaborate and deploy those capabilities effectively.
This requires bold and visionary leadership that puts the interests of our economy and society above all else. It is encouraging that the National Development Plan (NDP) championed by Zuma’s administration provides a good road map on these issues.
What is now required is the discipline to execute the NDP and turn around our economic and development fortunes for generations. This requires business leaders to ask not what South Africa can do for their companies, but what they and their companies can and are doing for South Africa.
We all have a role to play and we need to leverage the platforms we have to the maximum to grow and develop our economy and society in ways that deliver a better life for all. The key is to move beyond talking past each other to doing the real things that deliver real positive results to real people on the ground.
Kuseni Dlamini is the chairman of Massmart and was a panelist at last week’s EY Strategic Growth Forum in Sandton City