South Africa’s business sector can provide the country’s people with hope for the future, retired Exxaro Resources CEO Mxolisi Mgojo told the 2023 SAPICS Conference in Cape Town on Monday. (SAPICS originally stood for the South African Production and Inventory Control Society, but that full title has fallen into disuse.)

“South Africans do desperately need a beacon of hope,” he affirmed in a ringing (but not a keynote) address. There was despair in the country, he noted. “We need a guiding light!” And business could provide that hope, and lead the country to a better future, a future of inclusivity and growth.

Although the current time was “very deeply concerning” for the country, “I passionately believe in the future of South Africa,” he asserted, making a point of reiterating the word “passionately”.

He reported that the government had put some robust interventions in place, but key State institutions and agencies had been “hollowed out”. That was why business had had to step in.

It was very encouraging, he observed, that business and government had met on June 6 to work together, urgently, to address the country’s economic problems. The President [Cyril Ramaphosa] would be briefed every six weeks on the progress being made. “We’re committed to providing significant skills and resources.”

Business had made a serious pledge to government and the country, to contribute to inclusive growth. The three big themes being jointly addressed by business and government were energy, crime and corruption, and logistics. These all went “hand-in-hand”, pointed out Mgojo. Nevertheless, “we will succeed!”.

He cautioned that the problems facing the country had been “many years in the making”. While it might appear that nothing was happening, people were indeed working behind the scenes to restore things.

He stressed that, as had been the case during the Covid-19 pandemic (which, he stressed, provided a previous example of highly successful business and government collaboration to benefit the country), public communication was an essential part of the process. Transparency would win public trust.

The country had to “drive” for a “reset” that was necessary, for a repair that was “so desperately needed”.