Come together to fulfil SA’s potential

THE Goldman Sachs 20-year review of a democratic South Africa that was released this week is useful not so much for telling us something novel and unknown, but for neatly packaging and presenting huge milestones and areas of challenge and improvement.

On the balance of this empirical evidence, the country seems to have done better than it is often given credit for in some circles.

But the Goldman Sachs report also reveals the government’s failure to effectively and proactively communicate its successes. That is inexcusable. Countries that are winning nations tend to be, by and large, effective communicators with their citizens and the world at large.

It is equally clear that there is still more work to be done to expand the economy and extend the liberation dividend to as many people as possible. A sense of urgency to address this country’s challenges is required. This requires bold and decisive action that is result oriented and underpinned by effective execution, especially in the public service.

We need a capable state that treats its citizens as customers whose expectations for service delivery must be met and exceeded.

The Goldman Sachs report comes on the heels of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget statement, which went further than most had expected in setting the tone on belt-tightening. But Gordhan needs to ensure that the government delivers on its side of the bargain to turn around our economic fortunes, and business and labour leaders need to do their best to engage creatively and strategically with the government.

The time for nice-sounding words designed for cheap PR points is over.

We also need to move beyond “holier than thou” finger-pointing tendencies and talking past each other. There is no shortage of diagnosis about what is wrong with our economy and society, and no shortage of views. What is needed is a plan to fix it.

We are edging closer to a national consensus on how to fix the things that are wrong, at least at a rhetorical level. We now need to establish a tangible sense of common purpose to do what is required. It is obvious that South Africa must do better in the next 20 years than it has done over the first 20 years of liberation. The real question is how?

Well, first, there must be a clear commitment by all parties to do their part to expand the economy, attract and retain investors, create decent jobs, improve productivity, turn around the education system, drive innovation and invest in research and development. The government’s main role should be to create an enabling environment for business to flourish. It should not stifle business.

Labour has to come to the party by collaborating with business to improve productivity and ensure a stable industrial relations climate on a continuous basis. Strikes should be a last resort. They should be the exception — not the norm. But where strikes do occur, labour must ensure that they are shorter and peaceful.

Crucially, the police need advance training in dealing with labour unrest. To arm the police during strikes should be unacceptable under normal circumstances.

On the divisive issue of wages and the wage gap between executives and ordinary workers, there is a need for a national consensus on the acceptable minimum that ordinary workers should get and the justifiable maximum top executives should get, given our commitment to a particular vision of the society we want to be.

This can and must be done — as it is in most Scandinavian countries, where the principles of egalitarianism are a basis for the social solidarity and cohesion that are hallmarks of those societies.

The challenges we face are less about having the right policies and more about having the right leadership behaviour across all sectors. The challenges we face are also less about the often cited “lack of leadership in South Africa”. They are more about the ability of leaders across constituencies to work together and, above all else, to be more strategic in their engagement.

Now is the time for South African leaders to stop bickering and do what is right for the economy and society to be rejuvenated. The Goldman Sachs report shows that South Africa has what it takes to be a first-world country within a generation — provided we do what it takes.

Dlamini is chairman of Times Media Group and writes in his personal capacity