JOHANNESBURG - The 3rd Southern African Metals and Engineering Indaba at
the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) kicked off on Thursday at conference
centre in Johannesburg.
Answering the question of whether the political leadership
in South Africa advances or hampers economic growth, Joel Netshitenzhe, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategy
Reflection (MISTRA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said business, labour and
other social partners should work together to punish those involved in
corruption and state capture,
Netshitenzhe said: “If you looked at the National Industrial
Policy Framework, the Industrial Policy Action Plan and the outcome of the
recent ANC policy conference, you will find that there are very rational ideas
about how to ignite growth, how to eliminate weaknesses in state-owned
enterprises, how to ensure close cooperation among social partners and how to
punish those who are involved in corruption and state capture.
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In the South African context, there is no shortage of visions,
policies and rational articulation on what needs to be done. The challenge is
with implementation.”
Netshitenzhe said there were numerous deficits in political
leadership in South Africa
and across the region and this applied to state capacity and political
legitimacy.
“We need to pose the question – in instances where the state
is weak, where government has got serious deficits, what should business,
labour and other social partners do? It would be wrong in my view of us to
throw our hands up in despair. Rather we need to soldier on and pursue what is
in the best interest of our companies, sectors and the economy as a whole.
By doing so, we will be strengthening the healthy forces in
government and making life difficult and uncomfortable for those who are bent
on illicit accumulation. South
Africa is fortunate because we have got a
noisy civil society and an independent and autonomous private sector,” he said.
African National Congress (ANC) member of Parliament Makhosi
Khoza called for a brutally honest engagement about the problems facing South Africa especially with regard to the
restoration of human dignity and unemployment in South Africa.
Khoza said the extent to which local industries were
protected and the content of trade agreements depended to a large extent on
political leadership.
“Political leadership matters because behind the
unemployment statistics are people. There is no way our people can have their
restored for as long as long as they are unemployed. There is no dignity in unemployment,”
Khoza said. She said the country’s political leadership was indifferent about
the plight of the unemployed.
She said South
Africa should go back to some of the trade
agreements and ponder if these were in the interest of South Africans. “Are
they serving the interest of our people?” She said.
Commenting on the influx of cheap imports mainly from China, Khoza
said local entrepreneurs felt let down by authorities. “We do not seem to
understand the extent of the impact of the Chinese imports,” she said.
Mamphele Ramphele, Independent Director of Companies said: “I
would like to suggest that business leader’s look inside them and move away
from being spectators of wrong doings and ask a question of how they have let
the country down.
“BEE in a country that is predominately black is not logic.
If you want to succeed as business person, you want to be able to have a large
market, customer base and you can’t do that by empowering the majority in the
narrow sense.”
“You do that by making sure that the way we do business is
different from the way it has been done so that we can have an inclusive, innovative,
productive economy that brings everybody into the form so that human potential
is harnessed to build our prosperous democracy,” she said.
-BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE