Let’s all join hands to revive our economy GETTING

THERE was welcome news on the economic front recently as the latest figures from StatisticsSA showed that the economy averted slipping into a technical recession in the second quarter. In the three months to June, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) registered a stronger-than-expected expansion of 3.3 percent following a contraction of 1.2 percent in the first quarter when key sectors – manufacturing, mining, transport and agriculture – struggled.

The apparent rebound, undoubtedly, will bring some relief, but its positive effects will be short-lived unless the key stakeholders comprising government, business, labour and civil society redouble their efforts to restore confidence in the economy.

The latest figures, though welcome, do not diminish the fact that we continue to have an economy characterised by performance that is below its true potential.

On the whole, the overall GDP figure for 2016 is still likely to be below 1 percent, according to current forecasts. Even so, there is every opportunity to look for ways to put the economy on a sustainable path.

While there are persistent concerns about the possibility of a credit downgrade, policy uncertainty and the apparent political ructions, there is also reason to be optimistic about the emerging commitment from key stakeholders to work together to shore up the economy.

This week the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), of which I am president, is bringing together key constituencies representing business, government, labour and civil society to devise mechanisms to build trust and strengthen the commitment to work together in solving our growth challenge.

We simply can no longer afford to have a reactive approach to managing the economy, more so when we have access to the necessary resources to build a flourishing one. It is high time that all stakeholders got into a room to share their best ideas, concerns and collective capacity with greater focus towards sustainable implementation.

To reduce unemployment, drive transformation and foster an environment that is conducive to increased levels of investment requires collective effort. These imperatives are not the job of government alone. As business we recognise this fact. Indeed, we have already seen a number of efforts to harmonise the working relationship between business, government, labour and civil society.

However, what has impeded meaningful progress from those initial efforts is a lack of a mechanism to ensure continuous engagement, evaluation and monitoring of the intended outcomes.

As the JCCI, this is what we hope to change. We want to go beyond the exchange of good ideas, and begin a process to optimise consensus building, policy implementation and continuous engagement among all key stakeholders.

As business, we are concerned that the initiatives that are currently under way to create more cohesion between key stakeholders are going to take the back seat once we are past the current sense of urgency. This would be a big mistake, because in reality we cannot afford to lose momentum.

It is important for all stakeholders to ensure that we are not struggling to find each other or battling to speak in one voice, especially when we are all operating in an environment where we all have the same objective – to see the South African economy prosper. To that end, the theme for our conference is very appropriate: “Inclusive Growth Through Stakeholder Partnerships.”

With this week’s conference we are launching a process – not a sprint – that we want sustained for the longest of time.

Ultimately, the challenges we face as a country make it very clear that it is only through strong partnerships that business, government, labour and civil society can be able to create a proactive approach to restore confidence, boost investment, foster entrepreneurship, drive transformation and revive growth.

There is every opportunity to build on the foundation laid by the presidential chief executive initiative, as well as Gauteng Premier David Makhura under the Gauteng Ten Pillars of Radical Transformation Strategy. I am pleased that the premier will be joining us at the conference.