President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that clear communication is crucial for building trust and ensuring that policies are informed by the realities on the ground, assuring that government remains committed to working with Business Unity South Africa (Busa) to drive economic growth.

Ramaphosa was speaking during Busa’s AGM, where he noted that deepening the partnership between government and business was essential to the growth and progress of the country’s economy.

This is the first Busa AGM since the elections in May and the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU).

Busa is one of the entities that has been vocal about being against the signing of the second Presidential Health Compact, saying it could not support a policy that explicitly endorsed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act in its current form.

Ramaphosa said the success of government and business partnerships depended on active and continuous engagement.

“We must accept that there will, from time to time, be areas on which we may disagree. We should not let this deter us from the work we need to do. Rather we should remain engaged in dialogue with a view to finding solutions that serve the interests of the country,” he said.

Ramaphosa said government and business must continue to work together and leverage their collective resources, expertise and passion for the country's future.

He reflected on a collaboration between government and business launched just over a year ago, highlighting that significant progress had been made in tackling challenges identified in energy, logistics, and crime and corruption.

He pointed out that South Africa had gone five consecutive months without loadshedding, noting the role of business in this achievement, which he said has been extremely valuable.

Business has deployed substantial resources, capacity and expertise to Eskom and government to support the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, he said.

He added that with the assistance of business and other partners, government had improved the performance of the Eskom fleet.

Government and business have worked together through the National Logistics Crisis Committee to deal with inefficiencies in the transport and logistics sectors, with business providing technical support and resources to Transnet Freight Rail and Transnet Port Terminals.

Ramaphosa highlighted that business had also lent its support to the fight against crime and corruption, which he said included working with the National Treasury to remove South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force grey list.

Business had also provided expertise to the National Prosecuting Authority and the Investigating Directorate to manage complex corruption investigations.

“The progress that we have made shows the value of partnership. It also underlines the essential role that Busa continues to play in building our economy and society. As the Government of National Unity, we seek to deepen this partnership so that we can together build a conducive environment for investment, growth and job creation,” he said.