{"id":867052,"date":"2026-07-25T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867052"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:29:07","slug":"the-one-group-that-can-fix-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/867052\/the-one-group-that-can-fix-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The one group that can fix South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa needs to empower its private sector to boost economic performance and reduce unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has struggled with a stagnating economy for more than a decade, with the GDP growing by 1.1% in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growth is modest compared to other emerging economies, such as China and Brazil, which averaged 3.7% growth in the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists are optimistic about the future, predicting that South Africa’s GDP growth could reach 1.6% in 2026, but this rise is still far below what is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poor economic performance has also led to high unemployment in South Africa, with the rate reaching 32.7% in the first three months of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unemployment rate has been rising, as South Africa struggles to accommodate its growing workforce into its economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficient Wealth said these issues can be alleviated if the country\u2019s government is willing to empower its private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private businesses are a major driver of economic growth and job creation, but weak investor confidence has made it difficult for them to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without investment, businesses cannot expand their operations or hire new employees, limiting job opportunities and contributing to the rising unemployment rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, some global companies have expanded into enormous operations, outgrowing some countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies such as SpaceX and Microsoft have tremendous value and boost the United States’ economy by strengthening investor confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investment in these companies enables them to grow at a tremendous rate, creating jobs and infrastructure that support the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This boost could occur in South Africa, but the country’s private sector has not grown at the same rate as in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficient Wealth said this lack of investment in South Africa might not be due to business failures but to a lack of confidence in the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the country\u2019s businesses may be capable of growing and competing on a global stage, but national failures could be holding them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No long-term solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To support its population, South Africa relies on social welfare schemes, but these initiatives will not create long-term growth, the investment experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, roughly 40% of South African households relied on some form of social grant, including unemployment or pension schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These initiatives help soften the economic hardships faced by many of the country\u2019s citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the social welfare programs are also costly, with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) being allocated a budget of R292.8 billion for the 2027 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficient Wealth said the heavy reliance on social grants is not creating long-term opportunities, as key failures are not being addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey cannot create sustainable prosperity when economic growth is weak, investment is hesitant, infrastructure is failing, and unemployment remains extraordinarily high,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said South Africa needs to find ways to create more wealth in the country, instead of looking for different ways to divide the current wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key reason for the lack of growth in the private sector is unreliable, deteriorating public infrastructure, such as the country\u2019s electricity grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has famously struggled to meet the country\u2019s energy demands, leading to widespread loadshedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Load shedding has not been used in over a year, and its effect on businesses has been noticeable, with investor confidence rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shows how investment in public infrastructure can support job creation and create economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficient Wealth said other systems, such as fintech, can further support the private sector by reducing reliance on traditional payment systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fintech can lower costs for many small businesses and promote independence from traditional structures and government control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would allow freedom for businesses, leading to growth in the private sector and ultimately a healthier economic outlook for the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa needs to empower a single major sector to boost economic performance and reduce unemployment rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":867057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080971580608225747","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17329,169,785,853,2660,3651],"class_list":["post-867052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-efficient-wealth","tag-microsoft","tag-sassa","tag-south-africa","tag-spacex","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867052"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867075,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867052\/revisions\/867075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}