SA’s top CEOs on how to fix SA now

Each day that goes past, South Africa needs to borrow an extra R2bn just to pay its debt, says Purple Group chair and former Post Office boss Mark Barnes. It’s a visceral reminder that, with its fiscal rope increasingly frayed, the country needs quick interventions to change the trajectory and upend the narrative of failure. 

As Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala puts it, our troubles are far less unusual than we think — “we are neither the exalted ‘rainbow nation’ nor a doomed ‘failing state’”.

Tshabalala is one of the 23 CEOs and power brokers who gave the FM their thoughts: first, on what Band-Aids could be applied immediately and, second, on what could be done over a year. 

As Tshabalala says, it would be nice to assume there’s a magic wand to dissolve roadblocks, but in reality “there are no shortcuts — South Africa’s current predicaments have taken decades to develop; they will take at least as long to resolve”.

As true as that is, there are some interventions that could be made within weeks that could shift the dial. Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso speaks for many when she lists three actions that could be taken, but adds the caveat: “There’s nothing that can be done in three months to fix South Africa, given the mess that we are in.”

Still, these proposals are valuable, not least because of the importance in shifting sentiment. As former Absa CEO Maria Ramos puts it: “Restoring hope requires action, not speeches, more policies, directives and the like. It requires clarity about priorities, allocation of responsibilities and accountability, targets, timelines and consequences.”

Restoring hope requires action, not speeches, more policies, directives and the like

—  Maria Ramos

Accountability, or the lack of it, is a key theme. As Ramos points out, more lives are lost to violence in South Africa than in countries at war, yet “no-one has been fired, stepped down, or held accountable”.

Most proposals focused on Eskom. 

Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater, proposes a “fast-track administrative process” for new electricity-generating projects. Investec CEO Fani Titi says South Africa must “deploy experienced engineers and technicians” to Eskom because its biggest problems are about “inappropriately skilled staff and outsize corruption” — not ageing power plants.

There are other encouraging ideas.

EOH CEO Stephen van Coller proposes that mining companies be allowed to rather spend the royalties they pay to the government in the communities where they operate to supply water, electricity, education and health care. Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, suggests opening hospitals and schools to bring in retired health-care professionals and teachers.

Tshabalala suggests allowing any business to hire any foreigner with a university degree, while BSG chair Mteto Nyati proposes investing R1.7bn in digital skills to yield 10,000 sustainable new jobs in two years, contributing R3bn to the economy. 

Some ideas, while fiscally prudent, are more controversial. FirstRand founder Paul Harris says the government has to drop the idea of National Health Insurance, and ensure the minimum wage doesn’t apply to anyone under the age of 25.

These are bold and innovative ideas, premised on ensuring South Africa gets better bang for each rand it spends. But is a government that hasn’t shown much of an inclination for boldness, or action, keen to listen? 

SIM TSHABALALA: Bring in the skills

Over three months

Radically reform the skilled migration system. One simple option would be to follow the example of countries such as the Netherlands and allow businesses to hire any foreigner with a university degree or advanced technical diploma — as long as they can show the SA Revenue Service that the immigrant is being paid above a very high threshold. 

Speed up the concessioning of South Africa’s ports and major freight rail lines.

It is difficult to say this, but at its current growth rate, South Africa, unfortunately, cannot afford to maintain the social relief of distress grant, nor can it realistically contemplate implementing National Health Insurance until GDP growth reaches the 3%-5% range. We should set up an expert panel, with a non-negotiable three-month deadline, to come back with ideas for a comprehensive modernisation of the labour market and the social security system. 

Over one year

We need much clearer rules about how coalitions are constructed, managed and maintained. In Germany, for example, coalitions are set up in terms of detailed formal agreements that include dispute resolution mechanisms.

South Africa needs a much more decentralised and diverse approach to tackling corruption and other forms of crime. The country needs fully independent versions of the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks, plus autonomous provincial and metro police forces.

We need much better returns on our national investment in education. South Africa could start building more powerful inspectorates (as in countries such as China), increase the influence of parents on school performance (as we see in private and “model C” schools), and widen the range of educational options available by offering parents a choice between places at state schools and education vouchers that could be redeemed at private schools, as in Chile and parts of the US.

As my use of international examples has implied, South Africa is far less unusual than many people think. We are neither the exalted “rainbow nation” nor a doomed “failing state”.

The reforms we need are well understood and — as many countries have shown — they are perfectly achievable.

* Tshabalala is CEO of Standard Bank 

MARIA RAMOS: Stop talking 

The key is to restore hope. To do that, we need to stop talking, and start doing. 

Over three months

In terms of security: more lives are lost to violent crimes and gender-based violence in our country than in countries at war. It is shocking and unacceptable, yet no-one has been fired, has stepped down or has been held accountable. The state is responsible for protecting citizens and it is failing. We need a radical plan of action that includes a change in the senior leadership of the police and immediate changes to personnel, systems technology and training. Targets and outcomes should be published monthly. Community policing forums must be established, resourced and used to monitor performance against these commitments.

Our tourism growth potential is huge and so are the jobs it brings. But it’s constrained by the home affairs processes for visas and the tardiness of many officials at consulates and immigration points. Shift managers must walk the floor; every desk at arrivals and departures at all our ports of entry should be open at peak times; every officer should be trained; shift changes should happen outside peak times; and targets for processing travellers must be set. Accountability rests with the leadership of the department.

Local government is in a shocking state. This can’t be resolved in three months, but a number of interventions are possible: the politics should be resolved; lenders must be firm about the risks they will accept; and the systemic risks of failing municipalities and metros must be discussed in parliament. City managers and councillors must produce a monthly schedule of planned work and report on delivery on a weekly basis. Targets must be published, as part of performance management and compensation of city managers. Joburg is in a shocking state and no-one has been fired.

Over one year

Cut consultants’ budgets by a minimum of 50%; shrink the cabinet significantly and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication.

Focus on strategic outcomes and delivery against commitments. Who will lose their job if they don’t deliver? The focus must be on Eskom and Transnet.

Forget about a Brics currency — rather use the Brics to learn from India’s “Digital India” programme and roll out digital infrastructure. Create e-platforms for government services, from social payments to hospital services. These can also be used to monitor procurement, thereby reducing corruption. Getting a digital ID to every citizen would be transformative.

Communicate the challenges consistently and back the tough decisions. Confidence is about the ability to look beyond the elections. 

*Ramos is the former CEO of Absa and National Treasury director-general

MTETO NYATI: Intervene to create digital jobs

It is estimated that there are more than 60,000 vacancies in our economy for specific digital jobs. Average entry-level earnings for these jobs range from R240,000 to R300,000 a year. If South Africa were to become truly demand-led and invested in these in-demand digital skills, we could easily add 10,000 net new jobs to the economy every two years just by filling the vacancies that exist right now.

So, for a relatively small investment by the country of R1.7bn in these skills, we could create 10,000 brand-new high-earning opportunities, which would add about R3bn a year in earning potential to our economy. Put another way, that’s a return on investment of 70% in just 24 months.

We understand which skills we need, and this can be financed if business and government work together to redirect existing skills spend towards in-demand jobs.

* Nyati is the chair of BSG

STEPHEN VAN COLLER: Help whistle-blowers, free data and divert mining royalties

Implement a white-labelled, whistle-blowing app such as ExposeIT for all members of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and any other companies that want to participate. The app is free and available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Advertisements should be taken out by BLSA to make all people aware of the app. BLSA can pay for the hosting, and the companies will pay a fee based on how many reports are sent to them and the level of investigation performed on their behalf. The app will report to BLSA on the classification of reports per company or sector, and each company needs to submit an audited report on the number of reports received, how many were closed, how many prosecutions, warnings, firings and the like were carried out, and how many are overdue. Much like Uber, we can have peer pressure/public transparency on what is actually going on. Involving government departments as well would be the icing on the cake.

Communications regulator Icasa should allocate free spectrum to mobile network operators in return for free data. The free data could then be used for educational apps and, whistle-blowing apps, and maybe, like electricity, the whole population could be given 500MB free every months with pupils getting 1GB free for homework.

Alternatively, network operators could deduct the wholesale cost of data used on certain zero-rated educational sites from their skills levy. This will give rise to a number of entrepreneurial educational sites for schoolchildren and university students, allowing them to access teaching/lectures. You could have a private school video every class which could be put online to earn a regulated extra income, potentially based on eyeballs. Taking it a step further, some state schools short of teachers can just have adult minders looking after the pupils and stream classes live into remote classrooms (maybe using the free data).

Mining companies could divert the money they pay in royalties to supply water, electricity, education and health-care services to the communities they operate in. This aligns the mining company and the community perfectly as the mining company can educate, upskill and ensure a healthy community to provide the skills it needs to be successful. Community members share in the success of the mine, they don’t have travel costs, and they can set up longer-term businesses to ensure sustainability. Also, the public sector then becomes an inspector and level-setter, rather than having to deliver a service.

* Van Coller is the CEO of EOH

IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN: Bring back the grey hairs

Fixing South Africa can be done one way only: the government and corporates, private and public sector, working hand in hand, with no agendas and no ego.

Over three months

Open all hospitals and schools to allow retired health-care professionals and teachers to come in and assist immediately. We have a shortage of doctors, nurses, teachers and special-needs teachers. There are hundreds wanting to assist. The government has frozen posts and does not have funding to pay for additional, urgently required manpower. This support is free and can be implemented immediately.

Open up the energy space without restriction for more independent power producers to assist with energy production. Don’t focus on selling energy back to Eskom as we don’t have the infrastructure or the finance for that. Rather, get more people off the grid — and they must not be charged any fee for that by municipalities.

Municipalities must be open to receive help on how to improve governance, management, financial controls and service delivery. There are large numbers of highly skilled, qualified experts wanting to provide this for free.

Over one year

Set aside R1bn for recurrent disasters. The National Treasury must invest the money, and use only the returns, not the investment. When our finances improve, top up the capital amount every six months.

Offer K9s (canine units) to the police. Dogs cannot be corrupted and play an incredible role in crime-fighting. Gift of the Givers has offered the government 60 dogs for crime-fighting and search and rescue, and another 50 for border security control as there is a move now to strengthen our control at our borders. In principle the first 60 have been agreed upon. 

Many medical companies have redundant medical supplies and equipment to donate to the health system for free. These are quality items with long expiry dates, but the government always turns down the offer. This would make such an impact on health services.

Increase the tax rebate on corporate social investment to 7%. This will automatically increase spending. Due to the total loss of trust in the government, this is an indirect way of using taxes directly for the benefit of the poor. 

* Sooliman is the founder of Gift of the Givers

PAUL HARRIS: Open up the tenders

Over three months

Scrap the minimum wage for anyone under 25 and make it easier to hire and fire. 

At present, people get the social grant without working, but the youth can’t enter the job market by voluntarily working for less than the minimum wage. The outcome of minimum wages has been more unemployment and fewer viable SMMEs; they employ fewer people and more go bust. The government should stand up in support of the unemployed — they haven’t got a union.

For all tenders, the criteria have to be, first, whether the tenderer can demonstrate it has the expertise and resources to do the job. Second, if more than one tenderer complies, then the lowest price wins. Third, if prices are in the same ballpark, then use the BEE scorecard. Skills and enterprise development are used to enable more BEE companies to win tenders based on these criteria.

Publish a cut-off date for submission of a tender and a date the result will be made known. Then allow anyone interested to attend the “opening of the envelopes”. If there are any challenges, they must be with reference to the criteria above.

Over one year

Define and publish job specs and the skills and experience required to do key jobs in state-owned entities and municipalities (for example, for finance heads, engineers, planning), and have an independent panel to select executives, based on the job spec. 

Involve the private sector in reforming and managing health-care facilities and hospitals, and drop the idea of National Health Insurance as currently envisaged. Universal health care will not be achieved without co-opting the private sector.

Change competition regulations obsessed with breaking up large companies. Large companies use scale to reduce prices for the benefit of many, but breaking them up leads to higher prices. These are spread over lots of people so they are not felt acutely enough by anyone to raise objections, and the benefits accrue to the few.

* Harris is the former CEO of FirstRand and chair of telecoms group rain 

FANI TITI: Hold poor performers accountable

For any economy to turn around, private fixed investment has to speed up. This requires higher business confidence, which, in turn, requires more effective government. Immediate reforms should focus on cutting red tape, simplifying administration and getting the basics right — from ensuring children are in school to providing reliable electricity and water and putting criminals behind bars.

Over three months

Experienced engineers and technicians who are underutilised should be deployed to Eskom — and in great numbers. Data shows that the age of the utility’s coal-fired power stations is not the primary cause of breakdowns and unreliability; rather, inappropriately skilled staff and outsize corruption are to blame. This is aggravated by the fact that little action is taken against poor performers.

Transnet is similarly throttled by a lack of skills, capacity and capability. Its underperformance last year cost South Africa an estimated 6% of GDP. It’s vital that lost skills return to the business immediately.

Over one year

Greater support must be provided for the speedy build and rollout of renewable energy and transmission lines. Having access to the National Treasury’s debt relief programme obliges Eskom to concession all power stations (transfer ownership and operational control to private companies), with clear targets for the electricity availability factor and operations.

When it comes to crime, every effort should be made to increase capable policing. Corruption cannot be tolerated, and transparent performance criteria must be put in place to hold individuals to account.

* Titi is CEO of Investec

ROBBIE BROZIN: Resuscitate SA’s economic heart

Focus on the symbolic heart and the engine room of the South African economy: the Joburg CBD, through the lens of our magnificent constitution. Let’s relove, reimagine and renovate this creative city from the inside out, creating a movement, led by creatives, that has an “ode to the city” as its heartbeat.

So, where do we start?

Symbolically, let’s start by fixing the Nelson Mandela bridge, ensuring that it deserves its name. It was the pride of the city; let’s renovate that pride again. Doing this will restore confidence that the city managers and the people of Jozi can collaborate with trust and competence. It will ensure safety and security for students and commuters crossing the bridge during load-shedding and at night. It will bring Braamfontein and the CBD back to a “group hug”, ensuring that educational hubs can thrive in the city, and it will bring dignity back to the gateway to the city.

* Brozin is a co-founder of Nando’s

RALPH MUPITA: Get skills into the metros 

Over three months

Capacitate the metros (especially Joburg), using private sector skills, to arrest the decline in service delivery. 

The medium-term budget review in October will be about fiscal constraints and the need for belt-tightening. But care must be taken not to disproportionately cut in areas that directly affect service delivery to the poor.

Again, within the context of the medium-term budget review, there should be no signal about new taxes that may speed up emigration, particularly among the young and skilled.

Over one year

The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, recently introduced to parliament, is key to the unbundling of Eskom. That bill must be passed before the elections. This is possible, as the government recently processed legislative amendments within six or seven months to try to avert greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force.

In terms of logistics, the new Transnet board and management must resolve the challenges crippling our rail and logistics network, as we’re operating well below our capacity to export.

Review regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act. Allowing pension funds to invest up to 45% of their assets offshore, up from 30%, was well intended. But could a review show us that this has had material negative effects on our equity markets? If our domestic flows are going out of the country, why should we expect to see foreign equity portfolio flows increase to the JSE or AltX?

* Mupita is CEO of MTN

WAYNE DUVENAGE: Ban the middleman

Over three months

The government should apply zero VAT and import duties on inverters, batteries, solar panels and all portable household power banks. 

All towns and cities need to implement a plan for municipal police to man all intersections during load-shedding hours to alleviate traffic congestion.

Make it compulsory for procurement tenders for all government departments (at local and national level) to be transparently placed on a link on their websites, so that members of society can see and follow the tenders’ progress.

Over one year

The National Treasury should use its weight to provide zero grant funding support to municipalities unless they obtain an unqualified audit status from the auditor-general, reduce expenditure on consultants by 50%, and increase spending on maintenance and repairs to meet 8% of the carrying value of assets.

Pass a law that declares the payment of middleman fees in all procurement transactions between business and the government an act of corruption (as has been done in Canada and other countries). 

Introduce a law granting powers to an organised civil society structure to select 60% of all board members appointed to oversee state-owned companies.

* Duvenage is CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse

BUSI MAVUSO: Table the ERA Bill

There’s nothing that can be done in three months to fix South Africa, given the intensity of our challenges and the huge mess we are in. But here are three things we can do in the next year:

• Table the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill. It’s central to the creation of an electricity transmission system to manage the grid and procure electricity from a competitive market;

• The National Treasury needs to hold the line in the upcoming medium-term budget policy statement and not give in to pressure to continue the R350 social relief of distress grant; and

• We need to empower the Investigating Directorate, and table and approve the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill.

* Mavuso is CEO of Business Leadership South Africa

MCEBISI JONAS: It’s about power

Over three months

The main growth-killer is load-shedding. Our grid infrastructure cannot accommodate new renewable supply at the scale required, which is why 3,200MW of wind projects weren’t approved as part of bid window 6.

We lost a lot of experience, particularly at Eskom and Transnet, through voluntary severance packages and state capture. We need to implement a model to bring back the requisite skills (and new skills), as well as a mentorship programme for skills transfer.

The backlog for permits, licences (for water, say) and approvals must be tackled as an emergency measure to reduce response time from government departments.

Follow India’s lead and announce no corporate tax on profits for three years for tech start-ups. Forgoing taxes in the current fiscal climate may seem retrogressive but it is what the country needs to stop the bleed of innovators and tech entrepreneurs to tech hubs abroad.

Over one year

Create a R100bn fund of funds for SMMEs by syndicating development funding (development finance institutions), institutional funding (the Public Investment Corp), banking, venture capital and impact investment funding. This could de-risk other funds, making the pot even bigger. 

Establish 50 new incubators to equip start-ups with skills and acumen in the digital and green economies.

Develop practical models for public-private partnerships, particularly for Eskom and Transnet. We need to move beyond backward ideological impediments and use state assets strategically to draw private-sector investment. This will also help to reduce bailouts of state-owned companies, currently sitting at close to 1.2% of GDP, and free up resources for productive investment.

* Jonas is MTN chair and former deputy finance minister

HENDRIK DU TOIT: Sell ‘Vision 2035’ to all South Africans

It’s time to stop blaming the past for our problems; we urgently need to restore business and investor confidence. This will be achieved only if the president puts country before party. Sell “Vision 2035” to all South Africans and make a competitive economy the national project.

Over three months 

The government should incentivise investment by offering a tax exemption for discretionary investment in the debt or the equity of designated strategic infrastructure projects.

Privatise state-owned entities, including Transnet and Eskom, with speed and purpose. Outsource this process. Invest the proceeds in debt reduction and security for critical infrastructure. Free up the energy market. 

Restore law and order — refresh leadership of the security cluster. Bring in foreign expertise. Divert wasteful military expenditure to domestic policing.

Over one year

Break the stranglehold of unions in education and devolve control to parents and local communities. Provide free broadband to disadvantaged areas.

End cadre deployment and shrink the bloated public sector. Take control of failing municipalities and restore financial discipline in these.

*Du Toit is CEO of Ninety One 

SIPHO NKOSI: Encourage the diaspora to invest

Over three months

• Encourage the South African diaspora to view this country as their home. Make it easier for them to bring hard currency to South Africa and invest;
• Make it easy for the informal sector to operate freely within determined parameters, as this is the breeding ground for future businesses, small and large; and
• Create business hubs or corridors closer to rural communities.

Over one year

• The arts, if supported well and incentivised, have the potential to absorb many young aspirants. South Africans are good at this;
• Focus on making farming an attractive industry; and
• Encourage South Africans to travel to other countries. It is surprising how many opportunities could be identified through this initiative.

* Nkosi is head of the ‘red tape team’ in the presidency

ADRIAN GORE: Change perceptions

To make change quickly, we need to change how people feel about the future — because this determines the future. Quick wins could include:

•  Urgently and credibly communicate the actions needed to end load-shedding and give confidence that they can be achieved. Through our work with the government and Eskom, I believe they can;
• Parliament must, this year, promulgate the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Amendment Bill, to empower the Investigating Directorate. Successful prosecutions of large corruption cases by the NPA will build public confidence;
• Parliament must promulgate the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill to allow a competitive electricity market and establish an independent transmission company; and
• We cannot accept our cities as they are. Business can work with local metros but political will is required for this to succeed. We’ve seen that even a small team can make a difference: our pothole patrol initiative with Avis, in collaboration with the City of Joburg, has filled more than 175,000 potholes since its launch in 2021, saving residents millions in claims.

Making traction, at pace, shouldn’t be underestimated. Progress determines sentiment, and sentiment determines our future.

* Gore is the founder and CEO of Discovery

MIKE BROWN: Fix the parastatals

Over three months

Given that the challenges we face are long term and structural, there is nothing that can be done and implemented in three months that will fundamentally change people’s lives in the short term ... but there are things we can do in the next three months that will be fundamental to changing people’s lives over the medium to longer term. These include:

• Ensuring that all systemically important state-owned enterprises — particularly the monopolies on which business relies for delivery — are overseen by a full complement of suitably qualified and experienced boards and staffed by full-time executives who have both relevant industry experience or qualifications and business leadership and turnaround experience;
• Ensuring a successful Agoa (African Growth & Opportunity Act) summit at which the current benefits South Africa enjoys are not reduced, and our nonaligned stance on the Russia/Ukraine conflict is emphasised and demonstrated by our actions; and 
• Delivering a medium-term budget policy statement that assures investors we have not lost control of government finances and the fiscal deficit, bearing in mind that we now need to borrow about R2bn a day to finance the deficit and meet bond maturities.

The last-mentioned action will reduce the risk premium now discounted into long-term bond rates and would support the economy in  critical ways. First, lower bond rates would reduce the government’s interest bill over time, ultimately freeing funds for critical infrastructure and other social and economic priorities. And second, because long bond rates set the cost of capital used by the private sector as the basis for calculating the hurdle rate for new fixed-investment projects, lower bond rates would reduce the cost of capital and encourage higher levels of fixed investment.

A lower risk premium would prompt a recovery in foreign capital inflows, help stabilise the rand and subdue inflation, creating space for the Reserve Bank to ease monetary policy and set the foundations for structurally lower interest rates.

Over one year

Actions over this period could include the following:

• Delivering a state of the nation address and a subsequent budget that are realistic and capable of delivery within the resources we have — financial and operational. Avoiding any “own goals” in the form of unrealistic and unfundable policy statements;
• Delivering free and fair elections; and 
• Not driving away investors or increasing the cost of capital with policies such as expropriation without compensation or unworkable coalitions in key economic locations.

* Brown is CEO of Nedbank

KETSO GORDHAN: It’s all about small business

We need to supercharge the growth of SMEs and entrepreneurs, as they create jobs and skills and enhance communities. The SA SME Fund has created a model to do this, using partnerships to unlock capital, which is disbursed through intermediaries that have a great track record of lending.

For example, the Gauteng debt fund used R100m in first-loss capital to fund seven intermediaries supporting formal back-room housing, taxis and motorbikes for last-mile delivery.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the government intends to provide a R2.5bn first-loss amount to the fund, which it would gear up three times to establish a R10bn fund. This is a potential game-changer for SMEs, as it can unlock large pools of private capital to be lent.

Unlike many of the more intractable problems in South Africa, directing capital to support SMEs is an achievable target and offers the potential to make a real difference to growing jobs.

* Gordhan is CEO of the SA SME Fund

MARK BARNES: Change the way we raise money 

To determine where public-private partnerships are most suitable, the government needs to focus separately and specifically on capital structures (funding) and operational strategy (execution). To the greatest extent possible, allow state-owned enterprises to raise their own independent debt capital in the market, without recourse to the National Treasury. South Africa pays about R1bn in interest a day, which detracts from its focus on strategic imperatives — and we simply can’t afford it, besides. 

Remove regulatory barriers to investment that create uneven playing fields with international competitors such as enforced BEE shareholdings (there are better ways to achieve real transformation). We already can’t compete with international lowest-cost producers that aren’t hindered by these prescripts.

Speed up the application and execution of the law. South Africa has become the poster child for “justice deferred is justice denied”, rendering consequence management impotent. Devolve final authority to lower courts.

* Barnes is chair of Purple Group

NEAL FRONEMAN: Prosecute the criminals 

Over three months

• Launch prosecutions in three high-profile criminal cases arising from the state capture investigations;
• Introduce a fast-track administrative process for new electricity generating projects and resolve the rules about grid access for new generation projects; and
• Implement a well capacitated independent investigations directorate immune to political influence and which cannot be dismantled.

Over one year

• Introduce targeted tax relief incentives to promote private sector investment in priority industries. 

* Froneman is CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater 

ALAN PULLINGER: Open up the rail lines

Over three months

• Vigorously clamp down on the construction mafia and other such gangs; 
• Require Transnet to publicly agree to, and begin enabling, third-party access to the iron ore and coal railway lines; and
• Remove visa requirements for skilled workers.

Over one year

• Establish mutually beneficial contractual relationships with stable international organisations, agencies, governments and companies to help us resolve our logistics constraints on the export and passenger railway lines, increase energy generation and grid capacity, and invest in water and sanitation infrastructure and services;
• Aggressively cut red tape; and 
• Commit to protecting property rights on par with global best practice.

* Pullinger is CEO of FirstRand 

RICHARD RIVETT-CARNAC: How about some tax incentives?

• Providing new tax incentives would attract investment. In Zambia and Mozambique, tax certainty has been created for capital investments and the government has fixed, or even reduced, excise adjustments for three years to promote investment. A similar three-year outlook in South Africa would help drive growth.
• For businesses to run effectively, the government must stick to its planned load-shedding schedule. For a brewery water supply is a challenge, especially in Limpopo, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Proper infrastructure management to ensure a reliable supply should be prioritised.

* Rivett-Carnac is CEO of South African Breweries

LEILA FOURIE: List SOEs

Over one year

Complete the restructuring of state-owned entities (SOEs). Some of the biggest constraints on growth ultimately link to the performance of our SOEs and the financial and operating predicaments they find themselves in. The solutions could include listing of SOEs, which has been successful in the case of Telkom. 

This could involve either the listing of a subsidiary of an SOE — such as the electricity transmission organisation — or of a project related to SOE work.

The main benefits of a listing would be that it encourages transparency and governance, which would go a long way to address some of the risks of corruption, and that it creates a platform to attract top talent in both the CEO and the board members; these combinations are really vital. Of course, any potential listing would have to be bankable; it would have to have a clean balance sheet, and the appropriate governance structures would have to be put in place — but there are many good examples in this space across the world in India, South America and Australia. 

The government needs to work on reversing South Africa’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylisting. There were two major requirements in the FATF ruling: legislative changes in the nonfinancial market, and evidence of action in addressing corruption via prosecutions and a speeding up of the court process. 

* Fourie is CEO of the JSE Ltd 

THULI MADONSELA: Restoring hope

With Eskom’s rolling blackouts, the aftermath of the Covid lockdown, the Ukraine war and climate change, it is increasingly difficult to muster hope. Yet, this is the single most critical factor in whether South Africa can rebound, socially, economically and psychologically.

So how do we find it?

I draw hope from the invincible spirit of our young people in their diversity. Like farmers, in the midst of drought, many are growing start-ups such as Yoko, Portia M and Bathu Shoes. Some speak fondly of returning to South Africa. Some are throwing their hats in the ring as the next cohort of political leaders, looking to lead in an ethical, purpose-driven, impact-conscious and service-orientated manner.

* Madonsela is the Law Trust Research Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University and Thuma Foundation founder