Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) says the country’s reform agenda remains on a positive trajectory, showing measurable progress across economic, criminal justice and governance streams.
The overall reform score has risen to 23.7% from May 2024, following a 2.3% increase for the quarter between September 2025 and December 2025. The tracker went live in March 2024.
BLSA, an umbrella body representing most of SA’s largest listed companies, launched the reform tracker in August 2025 to monitor progress in the implementation of critical reforms, which business said had been effective over the past 12 months.
The tracker monitors 245 reform deliverables across criminal justice, governance and economic categories. Of these, 34 have been completed, 19 have been halted and 192 remain in progress.
The government launched Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative between the Presidency and the Treasury, in October 2020, in a bid to accelerate structural reforms to drive rapid, inclusive economic growth, job creation and improved service delivery.
Speaking during the reform tracker’s quarterly review in Johannesburg on Thursday, BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso said the broad trajectory remained positive as SA’s reform agenda was delivering measurable results.
“However, the reversal in electricity sector reforms is deeply concerning. The approved unbundling strategy represents a step backwards from the independent transmission system operator model that Operation Vulindlela, Necom (National Energy Crisis Committee) and National Treasury have been working towards,” Mavuso said.
The reform tracker showed the electricity sector’s score declining over two consecutive periods, dropping from 73.2 points at end-May 2025 to 71.4 at end-December 2025.
The review stated the energy reforms had advanced slowly, noting, however, that Eskom’s generation performance seemed to be turning the corner after years of load-shedding that crippled the economy.
“Having limited load-shedding to just 13 days in 2025, the utility is now focusing on sustaining the progress. Its unbundling strategy has not moved at all, but late last year, Eskom and the department of electricity and energy issued separate statements indicating that a revised unbundling strategy is now being followed, but questions remain on the independence of future subsidiaries.”
According to the tracker, a small number of reforms are moving in the wrong direction and need attention. “Electricity is the most significant, where the approved unbundling strategy represents a step back from the independent TSO (transmission system operator) model.”
While the momentum of reform implementation has slowed, “we expect an acceleration in the early part of 2026 when numerous important deliverables are due, particularly in the energy sector but also in water, local government and public sector reforms”.
Mavuso said it was difficult for business to thrive in an environment where policy announcements “remain unimplemented, where promised reforms stall in bureaucratic processes, or where progress is measured by speeches rather than outcomes”.
She noted, however, that half of BLSA members “say reforms have been effective or highly effective over the past 12 months, with another quarter saying they have been neutral”.
“The outlook is even more positive, with 63% of responding members expecting reforms to have a positive impact in the next 12 months.”
The members were surveyed in December and January.
Despite the energy setback, other economic reforms showed significant gains, with the freight logistics sector achieving 73.9 points (from 67.6) as the turnaround plans showed progress, with market reforms gaining traction and the private-sector participation initiative advancing.
The water sector also showed improvement, clocking 61.2 points from 59.1, while visa reforms accounted for 80.9 points from 78.8 due to strong progress in clearing backlogs.
Financial sector reforms rose from 82.7 points to 83.9.
The criminal justice category saw the final completion of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reforms (from 90 points to 100), “with South Africa’s formal removal from the grey list in the latest period”.
In the governance reforms, public services slightly increased from 57.3 points to 58.3, with the improvement driven largely by electoral reform, “with the IEC’s conclusion of the public consultation process on e-voting. However, publication of the public consultation findings is behind schedule”.
“Other governance categories remain flat, with ‘structure of government’ the lowest-scoring of all tracker reforms, as the initiative to reduce the size of government has been stalled to facilitate the government of national unity.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to publish the performance contracts of ministers in the seventh administration: “Although he indicated in 2024 that these agreements would be signed after the Medium-Term Development Plan was approved in February 2025, this now appears to have slipped down the list of priorities.”
Mavuso said she continued to worry about water challenges in Johannesburg, SA’s economic and financial hub, as 71% of SA’s business offices were located here.
“BLSA will continue to work closely with the government on these reforms. We provide technical expertise, we mobilise private sector capacity and resources, and we advocate loudly when reforms veer off course,” she said.
“But we also measure progress systematically and report it transparently. That is our commitment to South Africa. The question before us is not whether reform is happening — the data confirms that it is.
“The question is whether we can maintain focus, remove the blockages that slow progress, and resist the political compromises that undermine structural change. South Africa’s economic future depends on getting this right.”
Business Day
