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South Africa’s national finances are in a perilous state and the finance minister will have the difficult task of setting out how they will be managed.

It is up to President Cyril Ramaphosa to reinvigorate and inspire confidence in South Africans from all walks of life in his SONA.

Prescribed assets, on the surface, may seem to be a quick-fix to Eskom’s problems but that would serve only to guarantee poor returns for pensioners. BLSA argues for some hard decisions to be taken now to ensure long-term sustainability of Eskom and other SOEs.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) is saddened by the passing of the business icon, Dr Richard Maponya, who passed away on the morning of the 6th January 2020 after a short illness.

There’s much introspection that we as business need to do, particularly to gauge just where we need to improve our relations with all our stakeholders. This is a conversation that isn’t reserved just for South Africa because of any uniqueness in our history, but one that can increasingly take shape across the globe. While the Ethics Barometer has been acclimatised to our local conditions, the Harvard-developed tool is relevant internationally.

Congratulations on your appointment as CEO of Eskom, which is undoubtedly one of the most challenging and important jobs in the country, as we are sure you are well aware.
As organised business, we see your appointment as a vital step towards stabilising the outlook for energy availability in Africa’s largest electricity company after more than a decade of instability in the institution

SAA and its stakeholders are striking this weekend and the airline will lose about R50m a day, but what we would ask of its shareholder representative that it now back its board and executive in managing its dispute. To intervene now would only strengthen the belief among unions that it is indeed “too big, too fail”, serving to harden positions and in effect hasten SAA’s demise.

Broader macro constraints need to be tackled, such as the implementation of measures that will ensure energy security, stabilising the debt pile and consolidating the fiscus. Unless these are addressed, many participants may continue viewing events like the investment conference simply as mere talk shops.

The MTBPS has brought home how serious our financial predicament is. All social partners, including business, labour and civil society will have to work together to turn around what has become an entrenched low growth trend. BLSA is ready to play its part in developing the solutions needed to put South Africa back onto a growth path that will deliver our people a better future, free of poverty.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO, Busi Mavuso condemns gender-based violence against women and children. Mavuso was interviewed by eNCA following #SandtonShutdown campaign by civil society at the doorsteps of Johannesburg Stocks Exchange demanding that big business fund projects to fight the scourge. Watch the interview