Busi Mavuso highlights the global model of collaboration between South African businesses and government.

Last week, we had a highly productive meeting with the president and a senior government team to provide updates and discuss the agenda for our government/business partnership in 2025, facilitated through Business for South Africa.

The goal of phase 2 of this partnership is to achieve a 3% economic growth by the end of this year—an ambitious target that both business and government are dedicated to realizing.

This level of growth not only fosters job creation but also generates a positive, self-reinforcing sentiment that further encourages economic expansion.

However, we must act swiftly if we are to achieve that ambition. While we have successfully ended load shedding, it’s essential to expand our electricity capacity by enhancing the grid and adding an additional 4,000 MW this year.

Additionally, we need to improve rail capacity recovery, enabling 193 million tons to be transported through our rail system, up from 152 million tons last year. It’s crucial that we also remove ourselves from the FATF grey list.

We aim to unlock R100 billion in investment this year.

We must persist in our efforts to revitalize the criminal justice system, particularly in enhancing the investigation and prosecution of complex white-collar crimes.

The partnership has already seen significant achievements, especially regarding energy security.

Continuous efforts are necessary to keep reforming and ensure we follow through on delivering the growth we require.

The President’s message was unequivocal: he wants to see an acceleration in our efforts.

As the President emphasized last week, these initiatives must ultimately lead to job creation, particularly for our youth.

Our partnership initiatives need to consider the employment effects of various options to ensure that every opportunity for job creation is seized.

This is indeed the intended outcome of the reforms that will facilitate growth.

With growth comes expansion, as businesses invest to take advantage of new opportunities.

Investment drives increased economic capacity, generating jobs at scale.

The partnership serves as a global example of how an emerging economy can address its challenges.

What business and government have achieved together is, in many respects, unprecedented.

We can celebrate both the milestones of our partnership and the partnership itself, which strengthens the business case for SA Inc.

We are establishing what could be a model for the global economy—demonstrating how public and private sectors can collaborate effectively towards mutual goals.

This week, we will present the case for SA Inc at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where we will highlight our hosting of the G20 and B20 this year.

Recently, government and business convened to synchronize our agenda for Davos, working together to deliver a unified message.

There was significant alignment between us and a clear understanding of our objectives.

This year, we can highlight notable achievements such as the end of load shedding, as well as the progress made by the government in reversing state capture, illustrated by the rebuilding of SARS into a leading institution and the conduct of last year’s elections.

I believe this year’s WEF marks the first time that business and government have been so closely aligned as Team SA.

The partnership between business and government will be prominently showcased.

Team SA has a comprehensive program that discusses our progress through events ranging from climate change and our energy transition to tasting South African beer and wine.

The launch of our B20 South Africa presidency will be marked by a lunch that gathers global leaders, featuring BUSA president Mxolisi Mgojo and BLSA chairman Nonkululeko Nyembezi.

Much of our activities will revolve around the official program, allowing us to engage directly with business and political leaders from around the globe to advocate for South Africa.

As I have mentioned previously, this year is our chance to communicate to the world that South Africa is back in business and deserving of investment attention.

Last week’s discussions were encouraging, as our engagements with the president and preparations for Davos showed that our leaders are keen to present South Africa as a country that is making significant progress.

This year could be a turning point for us as a nation, reminiscent of 2010, the boom years before the financial crisis, and the early post-democracy era when substantial institutional reforms were put in place for economic growth.

We are in the process of rebuilding, gaining momentum, and accelerating reforms, all while making a compelling case for SA Inc.

This week promises to be exhilarating, and the coming year is filled with opportunities to effect meaningful change for our country and our people.

*This column was first published in the Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) weekly newsletter. The author Busisiwe “Busi” Mavuso, is the CEO of BLSA.

*The views Busi Mavuso expresses in this column are not necessarily those of The Bulrushes.