In her last newsletter for the year, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso said there were seven critical areas in which the organisation had worked over the course of the past 12 months year to ensure that South Africa is able to offer a more positive environment for doing business, one that will stimulate investment, employment and growth.  

"Of course, our efforts are complementary to those of many others, including in government and civil society. Part of our mission is to ensure we bring together all stakeholders and work cohesively to build the country we want. So many of our efforts are partnerships,” she said on December 12. 

First, Mavuso said, BLSA worked to support the criminal justice system to enable it to deal with the legacy of State capture.  

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to be able to support the NPA with the technical skills it needs to build its cases and prosecute them. This agreement explicitly ensures the NPA acts completely independently,” she said, noting that the BLSA, with its members, has been able to source and second a project manager, several forensic analysts, financial analysts and data analysts, and is working to identify more people to support the NPA.  

Mavuso said these efforts were helping to build the NPA’s capacity in its critical function of ensuring the rule of law, which is fundamental to the business environment. 

Second, BLSA has been working to deal with the energy crisis.  

“We put much effort into working with policy makers to change the regulations around the private generation of electricity. The fastest way to get new energy capacity up and running is to allow companies to generate it for themselves. This reduces pressure on the grid and ensures companies can operate with less disruption,” Mavuso said.  

She noted that government had agreed by lifting the licensing-exemption threshold for distributed generation projects to 100 MW and then removing the cap altogether. 

Third, Mavuso said BLSA had supported government with the professionalisation of the civil service.  

“Another legacy of State capture is that many parts of government were stripped of their most talented and capable employees. The Presidency has been leading the development of a new framework to ensure appropriate recruitment processes focus on the skills and capabilities of candidates, and not their politics. We have assisted with research to support policy development in this area and will do more as the policy is implemented,” she said. 

Fourth, BLSA worked on the recovery of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), supporting the Presidential State-Owned Enterprises Council (PSEC) by identifying and seconding retirees with deep experience in the SOEs to support the PSEC – work which Mavuso said was ongoing. 

“Fifth, we are supporting the President’s red tape task team. This is one area where I think we will make more progress in 2023. Many aspects of doing business in South Africa are harder and more expensive than they need to be, which needlessly constrains economic activity,” she said. 

Sixth, Mavuso pointed out that the BLSA supported local government, providing interim specialist skills to municipalities who needed engineering and other capacities.  

“We do this alongside partners through the Technical Assistance Mentorship Development programme. This programme identifies and seconds retirees to support municipalities to recover and develop their infrastructure to be able to provide improved services. It also offers mentorship and training to civil servants to ensure long-term sustainability,” she explained. 

Lastly, BLSA worked to support the Operation Vulindlela (OV) unit set up between the Presidency and the National Treasury, tasked with overcoming obstacles to implement agreed policy.  

She said this work had helped to resolve policy blockages over skilled immigrant visas, rural water pricing and the processing of water use applications, all to improve the ability of business to operate and invest.  

“OV has achieved many breakthroughs and is a fine example of effective government in action,” Mavuso said. 

Apart from these seven programmes, BLSA is engaged on multiple fronts on policy development, supporting ethics in business and government, and helping during crises. 

“Much of this happens in partnership with other business organisations, with our members, with government and with civil society . . . As we look forward to 2023, there are many issues we need to roll up our sleeves and work to address,” Mavuso said.