Durban - Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has called on business to play an
active role in addressing inequality in the country, saying one of the ways to
achieve this is to cap executive remuneration.
“The same challenge needs to be raised for our state
owned enterprises so that executive remuneration does not exceed remuneration
of all other workers in a way that forces those at the lower ranks to demand
more remuneration which may and has proven at times to be unsustainable”.
Gigaba was speaking on Thursday morning at the Brand
South Africa though leadership breakfast which explored the role of business in
ensuring inclusive growth is achieved.
Gigaba told the meeting that business has to demonstrate
that people come before profits saying the most marginalised are the ones who
bear the brunt of unscrupulous boardroom activities like collusion and price
fixing.
Gigaba said collusion has undermined the government’s
ability to roll out the national infrastructure plan as the government relies
on the private sector for the efficient delivery of infrastructure.
Poor infrastructure continues to undermine the intra-continental trade in Africa, Gigaba said adding that Africa’s infrastructure
backlog is estimated at $100 billion a year, while available finance covers
only half of this
“The combination of years of underinvestment and
exploitation has meant that African roads and railways were mainly designed and
built to facilitate transportation of raw materials to markets outside the continent”.