The government needs to work with businesses to enable progress
GOVERNMENT cannot achieve economic freedom on its own.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba in the PIC Annual Report 2017 said: “For South Africa to ensure that the targets set out in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Sustainable Development Goals are implemented by 2030, we need as Government to work hand in hand with business to address the negative features of our economy and to enable progress towards a more inclusive economy. Some of our structural constraints include the following:
the economy is highly unequal with huge concentrations of wealth amongst a relatively small proportion of the population;
the economy is highly carbon-incentive, based on the extraction and exporting of raw minerals while we import finished goods. This is de-industrialising; and
the economy consists of monopolies and oligopolistic industries, with low competition and high barriers to entry. Only a small number of companies dominate the market with negative consequences for the consumer in the form of limited choices and, in some instances, exorbitant prices and products and services of low quality. Prospective market entrants also find it difficult to enter these markets as dominant companies enjoy the advantages of scale and relationships with existing customers”