Delivering fixes, not growth

STRIDES: TURNAROUNDS AT ESKOM AND TRANSNET NOT YET SHOWING IN GDP FIGURES

- Ciaran Ryan

IMPROVEMENTS. B4SA's envisaged end state for Transnet sees the SOE competing with private operators for operational improvements in ports and rail.

(Bloomberg)

The B4SA Business Government Partnership, a collaboration between business and government, has made some impressive strides in reversing the slide at Eskom and Transnet, but there's no sign of this yet in SA's GDP figures.

At a progress update briefing last week, Discovery CEO and B4SA steering committee member Adrian Gore pointed to economic models showing a growth rate of 3% or higher will uplift 10 million people by 2030.

That's still a long way from the current sub-1% growth contributing feverishly to unemployment.

One interesting revelation during the press briefing was that the partnership is considering adding Joburg to its existing four priority work streams - namely energy, transport and logistics, crime and corruption, and youth employment.

The decay in Africa's most industrialised city moved President Cyril Ramaphosa to bemoan the decline in the state of services and infrastructure, with host city Joburg coming under international scrutiny leading up to the G20 meeting later this year.