{"id":776696,"date":"2024-06-13T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=776696"},"modified":"2024-06-13T15:28:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T13:28:46","slug":"5-things-south-africa-urgently-has-to-get-right-and-the-clock-is-ticking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/776696\/5-things-south-africa-urgently-has-to-get-right-and-the-clock-is-ticking\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things South Africa urgently has to get right – and the clock is ticking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once the seventh democratic government has been established, there are broadly five urgent priority areas that it needs to focus on in its first 180 days in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Fixing the state;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Driving growth and development by freeing up markets and competition;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Building a new approach to mass inclusion;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Dealing with the fiscal crisis; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Strengthening the rule of law.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This is according to independent policy research and advocacy organisation, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), who identified these priorities as part of a new project called ‘AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa\u2019s New Government’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The CDE said that over the past six months, it has collaborated with experts, business leaders and others across society on identifying what a new government might do to address the country’s many crises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ann Bernstein, executive director of CDE, said at the launch of the project that \u201cnegotiating a new governing arrangement for South Africa should not just be about power, politics and positions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “These discussions need to go beyond what a new government will look like and include what this new government will do once in office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe state is collapsing around us, with skills, firms and capital leaving our shores in great numbers \u2013 [thus] the parties negotiating a new governing arrangement need to agree on an urgent reform programme centred on dealing with the country\u2019s most pressing challenges,\u201d said Bernstein.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    \"\"
    CDE executive director Ann Bernstein.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Below is a brief overview of the CDE’s findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Fix the state<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The CDE said that fixing the state starts with a “reorganisation of the Cabinet and the Presidency, and getting the right people into the right positions at senior levels in the state.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe new President should resist the urge to create more positions than is required to ensure a stable coalition Cabinet,” said Bernstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This means a “Presidency with a smaller, fit-for-purpose Cabinet characterised by excellence and commitment to a deepened reform agenda,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    Time to axe ministers in South Africa<\/a><\/blockquote>