President Cyril Ramaphosa: Launch of phase 2 of Business and Government Partnership

Ministers, 
Leaders of the business community, 
Partners and friends, 

More than a year ago, we began a journey together to harness the potential of collaboration to address some of the most important challenges facing our country. 

Through this partnership, we have worked to mobilise the skills, talent, expertise and goodwill that exist in our country behind a single task: to grow our economy and create jobs. 

This evening is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made and to recommit ourselves to this joint effort. 

It is true, as Adrian Gore said, that economic growth lies at the heart of everything else that we seek to achieve as a society. 

If we can achieve more rapid growth, we will create jobs and reduce poverty. 

With more rapid growth, we can generate more revenue.

With this revenue, we can build more schools and hospitals.

We can employ more police officers, nurses, teachers and social workers. We can expand support for the most vulnerable in our society. 

During the sixth democratic administration, we initiated a programme of far-reaching economic reform through Operation Vulindlela.

This was a government-wide initiative to accelerate growth and address the binding constraints that have held back our economy. 

We are now seeing the impact of those reforms. 

Thanks to the work that has been underway, drawing on the efforts of all social partners, a new era of hope and promise is emerging. 

After several years of debilitating load shedding, we are finally turning a corner on the energy crisis. 
As a result of the steps that we have taken through the Energy Action Plan, we have experienced over 180 days without load shedding.

Reforms in the energy sector have unlocked hundreds of billions of Rand in investment, helping to address the long-standing shortfall in our electricity supply. 

Through the National Logistics Crisis Committee, we are making progress in stabilising and improving the logistics system to support our key export industries.

We have embarked on a process of fundamental reform through the Freight Logistics Roadmap, enabling open access to the freight logistics network and introducing private sector participation in container terminals for the first time. 

We have also made real progress in strengthening our law enforcement agencies and reversing the effects of state capture.

This work is helping to entrench the rule of law and create a predictable environment for investment. 

We have doubled our efforts to remove our country from the FATF greylist.

We are working together to rebuild the investigative and prosecutorial capabilities of the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority. 

Just in the past few months, I have signed several Acts into law to advance these reforms, including the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, and the NPA Amendment Act.

What these shifts demonstrate is that the actions we have taken as a country over the past five years are making a difference. 

Our partnership with business has played an essential role in supporting and accelerating this agenda for growth and jobs. 

Through Business for South Africa and the Resource Mobilisation Fund, business has provided resources and expertise to support the performance turnaround of key power stations, rail corridors and port terminals. 

We have seen the benefits of meaningful collaboration that brings together the strengths and capabilities of both the public and private sectors.

We have seen the impact of the deployment of engineers and project managers.

We have seen this collaboration in the return of units at Kusile, in the safety improvements on the coal line and in the establishment of a state-of-the-art forensic analysis centre. 

Our collaboration across the focal areas is enabling an environment for sustainable job creation. 

Through existing partnerships with business, such as the YES programme, we have been able to create over 155,000 work placements for unemployed young people.

Significantly, as much as 45 percent of these young people went into full time jobs after their internship. 
Roughly half of the companies represented here this evening have participated in YES. To double the impact of this programme, we call on the other half to participate.

Government has also developed SAYouth.mobi in partnership with Harambee, with strong support from the private sector. 

More than five million young South Africans are now registered on the SA Youth network. We urge companies to list their opportunities for employment and learning on this platform.

Finally, through the SA SME Fund, government and business have partnered to provide billions of Rands in funding to innovative start-ups and SMMEs.

These initiatives show that we can make a dent in our unemployment challenge by working together and leveraging our respective resources and capabilities.

A year into this partnership, we have much to celebrate and much to look forward to. 

We are launching the next phase of this partnership with a Government of National Unity that represents the strength in our diversity. 

As we approach the first 100 days of this seventh administration, the collaborative spirit among political parties and all social partners – and the drive to get things done – has been on full display. 

The Government of National Unity is fully committed to following through on the reform agenda and achieving more rapid and inclusive economic growth. 

We have a unique opportunity to work together through this partnership to place our country on a new trajectory. 

At the same time, we have much work ahead of us. 

The challenges in our freight logistics system continue to undermine economic growth and hinder our competitiveness. 

The constraints in our transmission network present a risk to much-needed investments in renewable energy. 

The rate of violent crime remains unacceptably high. 

Our unemployment rate is unsustainable. 

And yet, despite these challenges, we have never been more confident in our ability to overcome them. 

We have built credibility and trust by turning plans into action.

By turning commitments into reality. 

We must now increase our ambition even further.

We must reach even higher to achieve our shared goal of a growing and prosperous South Africa.

The actions that we are presenting this evening demonstrate the extent of our ambition.

These actions are focused. They are practical. And they are achievable.

This partnership between government and business is part of a broader effort among all social partners to build and transform our economy.

We thank all those who have contributed their time, resources and support to this ground-breaking partnership. 

We call on those who have yet to participate, to join us in seizing this moment and unlocking our country’s true potential. 

Government and business have both undertaken to commit greater resources to achieve our national goal of inclusive growth and job creation. 

We have a window of opportunity to make real and rapid advances. 

That is why we need to ensure that we have the human, financial and other resources we need now to make a meaningful and lasting difference.

South Africa’s star is rising. 

It is up to all of us to ensure that this partnership becomes an essential part of a new era of unity, collaboration and prosperity for all. 

I thank you.