In her weekly letter, business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has welcomed the appointment of Business Unity South Africa (Busa) incoming president Bonang Mohale and deputy president Adrian Gore, during what she calls a “crucial time”.

They take up the seats that have been held by Sipho Pityana and Martin Kingston.

Mavuso says the country’s economy has been through a dramatic period and, with the vaccine programme now entrenched, it can start to look towards driving a recovery and ensuring that business is able to grow, invest and create much-needed jobs.

“But it will take hard work with all the social partners to build the right environment to deliver on that potential,” she emphasises.

Mavuso says organised business needs to have the right ideas to put on the table and then the courage to advocate for them; and needs to build relationships with social partners including government, civil society and labour.

“This is the project that BLSA will support Busa in delivering and I look forward to working with Bonang and Adrian,” she comments.

At the Busa annual general meeting during which Mohale and Gore were elected, new Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana gave a speech focused on the importance of the relationship between business and government, noting that these will have different views from time to time but “have an obligation to find one another and stay the course”.

He noted that government and business share a commitment to achieve higher levels of economic growth, reduce unemployment and poverty and reduce inequality.

“I wholeheartedly concur with the Minister. He referred to the central role that infrastructure investment must play in driving the recovery, a theme I’ve written about often.

“BLSA has an active programme under way to support the government in improving the environment for infrastructure investment, contributing research and skills to key institutions to support project development and policy formation,” highlights Mavuso.

Godongwana also spoke of the important structural reforms being driven by government, noting that the Communications and Digital Technologies Minister is moving with speed to unblock the auction of digital spectrum.

Mavuso says the BLSA is actively supporting government in driving this effort.

“It is exciting to have so much alignment between government and business on the key reforms needed to unlock our economy. The new leadership of Busa will play a key role in delivering through this alignment.

“I look forward to working with them and the Minister to ensure we can bring our resources and ideas together to develop a thriving South Africa,” she enthuses.

Mavuso posits that the country’s labour regulations need to be reviewed.

“The regulations have protected the rights of employees but have also made it more expensive and harder for small businesses to hire new workers.

“Changing some labour regulations will have the effect of curbing retrenchments and changing the mindset in favour of creating new jobs, especially if other big-ticket reforms are undertaken,” she states.