President Jacob Zuma on Thursday reiterated that government was seriously considering a mining-focused Operation Phakisa phase.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe earlier this year, at the Mining Lekgotla, noted that an Operation Phakisa for the mining sector was on its way, with consultations with all stakeholders, including the Chamber of Mines and organised labour, having started.

At the time, Radebe indicated that mining would have a shorter Phakisa horizon of 2025 and a target several times higher than the sector's current contribution to gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, Zuma revealed that government would, next month, launch the second phase of Operation Phakisa, which would specifically focus on building “ideal [health] clinics”.

The President said teams from business, government, labour and academia would, during a six-week retreat on the outskirts of Pretoria, seek to answer the question “What consists an ideal clinic in our health system?”

“At the end of six weeks, we will release their findings to the public,” he added.

Zuma further pointed out that South Africa currently had a potential pipeline of more than R3-trillion worth of infrastructure projects, only a portion of which could be funded by the national fiscus.

“The bulk of this will require external funding,” he said, stating that government had been working with the financial sector to identify and clear blockages to enable the private sector to play a role in the financing of infrastructure.

The President also noted that he had convened a meeting of the Presidential Business Working Group for Friday, where he would receive a progress report on work done thus far on work streams assigned to business and government.

“The task teams have been working on many issues such as the issuing of water licences, environmental regulations, business financing, business registrations and many others that could be an obstacle to economic growth.

“The important factor is that we are talking and that we are looking for solutions together. This is a great achievement for our country in recent times,” Zuma said.