Greater sense of urgency is needed, Mminele says
The chorus of business executives warning SA to revive economic growth or risk becoming a failed state is getting louder.
The continent’s most industrialised nation needs strong and decisive leadership to foster public-private partnerships and tackle high unemployment, poverty and inequality, former central banker Daniel Mminele, a one-time head of the presidential climate finance task team, said on Tuesday.
Mminele, chairpersondesignate of Nedbank Group, joins MTN’s CEO Ralph Mupita in warning against complacency. The country has an unemployment rate of 32.7%, one of the highest globally, according to the IMF, and is struck by an energy crisis that is increasing costs for companies. That is making it difficult to create jobs needed to reduce poverty and inequality.
The country needs a “higher sense of urgency in tackling these issues and much stronger implementation frameworks and stronger accountability frameworks”, Mminele said.
“Otherwise, we are indeed, as many have said, running the risk of becoming a failed state because we’re already on borrowed time.”
The nation is also struggling to resolve the power crisis as state-owned Eskom implements record blackouts, affecting businesses and productivity. The Reserve Bank cut its economic growth outlook for 2023 to 0.2%, while the IMF expects 0.1% in GDP expansion.
“I don’t think it’s too late to fix what we need, but it just means us recommitting ourselves and redoubling our efforts,” Mminele said. Leaders must do “whatever it takes to get growth going again”. Mminele was appointed CEO of Absa after he resigned as the deputy governor at the Bank.