- \n
- Delays in finalising regulations for the South African wholesale electricity market, which would deliver the genuinely competitive electricity market our economy needs. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Independent power producers are having their production curtailed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Eskom now owes almost R2 billion for electricity not used, undermining investor confidence in independent production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- The unbundling of the independent system operator from Eskom has been delayed despite it being an unambiguous government policy. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Mavuso said that, since the load shedding crisis is over, the political pressure that drove electricity reform has eased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While she acknowledged the improvements, “[these] cannot be allowed to translate into slowed implementation of remaining reforms.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Energy is a critical growth enabler. If the economy is to grow at the rates we need to make a dent in unemployment, current production capacity will be insufficient,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that genuine competition in the sector is needed and that the reform path needs to be followed\u2014not abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Logistics is also at risk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/busi-mavuso-e1743760502785-1024x577.jpeg\")
<\/a>Business Leadership South Africa Chief Executive, Busisiwe Mavuso<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Mavuso said that the same reform slowdown can be seen in the logistics sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like with the electricity sector, rail and ports are performing better, and the sector as a whole is reaching meaningful milestones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there are areas that remain a drag on the economy, such as the Transport Economic Regulator, essential to overseeing a competitive rail market, not yet in operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The unbundling of the rail infrastructure manager from Transnet, to create an independent and neutral provider of rail access to all operators, is going backwards,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Without both, the terms set out in the Network Statement cannot be enforced, and the full benefit of private sector participation will not be realised.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mavuso said that the sector doesn’t need incremental improvement, but needs a step change in performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The kind of transformation that makes our ports rank among the world’s best and ensures miners and manufacturers can move goods reliably and at competitive cost,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The business lead noted that the pattern of slowdown in both electricity and logistics draws from the same source: the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Progress happens where government drives it and holds firm. It stalls where SOEs resist, and ministers allow them to,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mavuso said that as long as the government fails to deliver the reforms, South Africa will be relegated to lower growth, fewer jobs and market failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conversely, where the government steps in and accelerates reforms\u2014which has been seen in the Department of Home Affairs and in Public Service\u2014the country will reap the benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While South Africa is making progress on reforms, critical sectors like electricity and logistics are moving backwards, risking economic growth and jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":865664,"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":"2081658609457311753","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15351,17507],"class_list":["post-867543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-blsa","tag-busi-mavuso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867543","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867547,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867543\/revisions\/867547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The unbundling of the independent system operator from Eskom has been delayed despite it being an unambiguous government policy. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Eskom now owes almost R2 billion for electricity not used, undermining investor confidence in independent production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Independent power producers are having their production curtailed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/busi-mavuso-e1743760502785.jpeg\")
<\/a>