SA’s big business sector is nothing if not persistent. It put huge effort and resources into helping the government manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Without it, SA would have fared a lot worse, yet business seldom gets the credit it is due.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been happy to grant business leaders an audience in his years in the Union Buildings. He listens and frequently agrees when they alert him to the ever more dysfunctional state of the economy and urge specific actions to arrest it. But that doesn’t mean he acts. Frequently nothing happens. Even if it does, as it finally did when the president overrode his ministers on energy reforms, the pace is too slow and the bureaucratic hurdles too rigid to halt the crisis.
Meanwhile, as local municipalities collapse, large businesses have simply stepped in to provide basic services in the communities in which they operate, likes mines do with water and sanitation. Effectively they are allowing the government to outsource its responsibilities on the quiet. But they don’t have a lot of options if they want to keep operating there.
Similarly, many in big business feel they don’t have any other option than to try to assist an ever more dysfunctional government. Nor is it just self-interest on the part of business — it’s in all of our interests to have a growing economy that can create jobs and improve the quality of life. As Business Unity SA’s Cas Coovadia has said, if we do just a few things right it could move the dial on growth quite meaningfully.
On that basis, business in June partnered with the government, under Ramaphosa’s leadership, to tackle three priorities: energy, logistics and crime. Business has offered time, expertise and resources. Joint workstreams have been formed. Work is under way, in some areas more than others. The initiative reported back to the president this week, as it plans to do every six weeks.
Business’ patriotism is as welcome as its persistence; so is its confidence that the economy still has potential. Even so, the partnership is a risky one for business leaders. They need to be alert to its political pitfalls. They may find themselves putting all that effort into working with a reluctant and dysfunctional government whose officials do not necessarily welcome their intervention — so they end up achieving nothing. That would be bad for credibility and would make it even more difficult next time to get business leaders on board to assist when it could make a difference.
The bigger risk, however, is that to the extent that the initiative succeeds, business will effectively have helped to give legitimacy to a failing ANC ahead of the 2024 election. It may even be seen as helping Ramaphosa himself in the political battles within the party.
The business leaders must therefore avoid giving the president and his government the credit for their leadership, as they have done in the past, when things go well. They need to avoid being captured, and to make it clear who is doing the work and providing the resources. And they need to ensure they get a return on their investment.
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