Business leaders discuss SA's pressing issues at The Director's Event 2024

Though SA has made significant strides in creating a more equal society in the post-apartheid era, the country remains challenged by corruption, unemployment, poor education and poverty. Is the new government of national unity an opportunity to embark on a more positive trajectory and ensure a more stable economy? This was one of the important topics discussed at The Directors Event, hosted in association with BCX and the prestigious Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards.

Dubbed SA’s biggest board meeting, The Directors Event is an annual leadership conference which puts the spotlight on the burning issues facing the business sector and suggests possible solutions to the country’s most pressing problems. The 2024 edition was held in Johannesburg and was live-streamed — watch the recoding below.

There can be no denying that SA stands at a critical juncture. In an era that promises greater public-private sector collaboration, businesses have an opportunity to relook at how they work with government and learn from public-private partnerships. It’s also an opportunity to find sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty and youth unemployment. 

In a challenging economic landscape, it was easy to forget the great strides the country had made in the last three decades, including that millions had been lifted out of poverty and were now active economic participants, said BCX CFO Cheryl-Jane Kujenga, who delivered the conference's opening remarks.

While SA had challenges, there were “green shoots”, she said. These included indications that the country was preserving and strengthening its democracy as a means of securing an economic recovery. While SA's two largest political parties had come together as part of a government of national unity, the next step would be to implement sensible economic reforms. 

“SA has a historic opportunity with the government of national unity to make another new start. Encouragingly, business is already collaborating with government to solve multiple crises including in the energy and logistics sectors,” said Kujenga. 

Kujenga called on government to move away from short-termism to focus on value creation rather than short-term financial gain. 

The keynote address, titled How Courageous Leadership Can Impact SA Beyond 2024, was delivered by Mteto Nyati, Eskom chair and the executive chairman of consulting and technology company BSG. SA’s current position, he said, was the result of the choices the country had made. He agreed that the government of national unity was an opportunity to make better choices as we charted a new path for the country. 

Nyati identified five potential interventions for SA that would have the greatest impact in the shortest possible time, including:

1. An inclusive and bold vision;
2. The restoration of law and order;
3. The implementation of a market economy;
4. A firm stance on non-alignment as far as foreign policy is concerned; and
5. Employing only the best person for the job. 

These interventions, he said, would create a sense of belonging for all South Africans, improve safety and security, ensure inclusive growth, prioritise the national interest and develop a high-performance culture.

Nyati's address was followed by three panel discussions. 

Artificial intelligence's (AI) place in SA

The first panel discussion, which included BCX’s Stefan Steffen, UCT’s Prof Deshen Moodley and CSIR chair and CEO of Ilitha Telecommunications Vuyani Jarana, discussed AI’s place in SA.

AI was rapidly becoming an integral part of our lives. However, though government had implemented an AI policy, it was not investing enough in the technology, including in foundational technologies and developing more AI developers. To remain competitive businesses had to invest in AI and digitalisation. It was important that this space was unlocked to deliver the biggest benefits and ensure SA remained globally competitive.

Is it time to redefine public-private partnerships?

The second panel discussion, which included the Black Business Council’s Kganki Matabane, the National Planning Commission’s Ravi Naidoo, Krutham economist Peter Attard Montalto and Business for SA's (B4SA) Martin Kingston, put the spotlight on public-private partnerships. 

Encouragingly, business and government have started to work much more closely, including through B4SA, an alliance of SA business leaders working with government and other social partners to step up, lead and help create and deliver sustainable solutions for SA. B4SA worked collaboratively with government on key interventions in energy, logistics, crime and corruption — with water soon to be added — to implement structural reform and improve operational assets. 

While public-private partnerships were regarded as positive, regulations governing these agreements were too onerous and need to be relooked at, agreed the panel. Simultaneously, government needed to create an enabling environment for small businesses to allow them to prosper, including a different tax dispensation.

The challenge of poverty alleviation

The third panel discussion, which included Tocoblox Development Consultancy’s Phelisa Nkomo, the National Planning Commission’s Makhiba Mollo, the Black Sash’s Rachel Bukasa and the SA Youth Economic Council’s Bonga Makhanya, discussed the challenge of poverty alleviation. The panel agreed that a holistic approach was required to effectively combat structural poverty in SA. 

While SA had a number of plans and initiatives over the years to address poverty alleviation, these all had limitations. Part of the model embedded in development plans was urbanisation which had resulted in a huge growth in demand for service delivery. Rapid urbanisation had also had social consequences including a huge shortage of housing. A failure to develop vibrant rural economies had, among others, lead to dysfunctional families, an increase in child-to-child pregnancies and an increase in gender-based violence. 

SA was unlikely to meet its 2030 development targets or alleviate the triple threats of poverty, inequality and unemployment. This was as a result of incompetence, ineffective execution, a lack of accountability and no real investment in gross capital formation. Poverty, inequality and unemployment was a multilayered problem which required multilayered solutions, including strengthening our institutions, better maintenance of infrastructure and better skills development and education.

One of the biggest takeouts from this year’s Director’s Event was that SA once again stood at a critical juncture. The new government of national unity had an opportunity to put the country’s best interests ahead of narrow self-interest, create a more enabling business environment and rebuild trust between the public and private sector to enable economic growth which would, in turn, alleviate the high rate of unemployment.

What was clear was that no single political party or organisation could solve SA's problems and that it was only by collaborating with all stakeholders to implement bold solutions that SA would be in a position to address its most pressing issues.

This article was sponsored by Arena Events.