Amid the fiscal constraints facing South Africa, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are key in driving development, said  State-owned utility Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati at this year’s Business Process Enabling South Africa, or BPESA, Global Business Services and Business Process Outsourcing conference, on November 14.

During his presentation, he highlighted South Africa’s potential and the importance of addressing challenges in areas such as leadership, advocating for the Government of National Unity (GNU) as a positive structure to embrace diversity and foster inclusive growth.

“Today, our country is facing huge challenges. We need to be focusing on driving inclusive growth. In order to achieve that inclusive growth, we need people who are not just looking at this thing from one lens.

“You need people who are looking at this problem from different lenses, different perspectives, to be able to come up with solutions that can be delivered; solutions that are practical,” he said.

“I believe the GNU is that structure . . . that we need to help us move forward,” he added.

Nyati cited the progress and conscious effort made by employees of Eskom in addressing loadshedding. He argued that the lessons learned at Eskom were transferable to many of the other State-owned entities, such as Transnet, as well as municipalities.

“We need to understand the value of leadership.”

Hence, he noted the importance of PPPs, especially as the country continued its shift towards increased renewable-energy generation.

“We have realised that we cannot do this all by ourselves. We have to work very closely with the private sector.”

Further, Nyati also noted the importance of digital skills and the opportunity that digital skills brought with regard to addressing challenges of high unemployment in the country.

“If we were to just transcend those differences, it's amazing the great things that we can be able to achieve just by transcending and working together . . . We need to embrace one another.

“Let's focus on what is common, because if we do that, this country certainly will achieve its greatness that we are destined to have,” he expressed.