President Cyril Ramaphosa, together with business leaders from across the country, has launched phase two of the Government Business Partnership with more determination to tackle South Africa’s challenges.

The partnership was launched just over a year ago in a bid to work together to resolve issues, including electricity supply, logistics and crime and corruption.

Speaking at the launch on Tuesday evening, President Ramaphosa reflected on some of the achievements of the partnership.

‘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 also made real progress in strengthening our law enforcement agencies and reversing the effects of state capture. We are working together to rebuild the investigative and prosecutorial capabilities of
the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority,’ the President said.

At least 130 company CEOs have committed to the partnership and over the past year, more than 350 experts have worked with Eskom and Transnet to resolve challenges.

The partnership has also zoned in on unemployment – particularly youth unemployment.

‘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.

‘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.

‘[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,’ President Ramaphosa said.

He acknowledged that although much has been achieved, there remains ‘a lot of 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,’ he said.

Government of National Unity

The President told th
e business leaders that the second phase of the partnership is launched ‘with a Government of National Unity [GNU] that represents the strength of our diversity as South Africans’.

‘[The GNU] represents how, indeed, working together, we can do much more than when we work on our own in our little silos. 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 GNU is fully committed to following through on the reform agenda and achieving more rapid and inclusive economic growth. Economic growth is the glue that has brought us all together. Everyone in the government that I lead is motivated to make sure that…the next five years, we can turn the plans that we have and the plans that we put together into real action.

‘We have a unique opportunity to work together through this partnership to place our country on a new trajectory,’ he said.

He called on those not
yet part of the initiative to join in ‘seizing this moment and unlocking South Africa’s true potential’.

‘Government and business have both undertaken to commit greater resources to achieve our national goal…and we have a window of opportunity to make real and rapid advances.

‘I do believe that South Africa’s star is rising. It is the star that will lead this country to a much better place,’ the President said.

Source: South African Government News Agency