{"id":870419,"date":"2026-08-17T08:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T06:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870419"},"modified":"2026-08-17T09:52:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:52:40","slug":"south-africas-biggest-flaw-is-back-and-risks-sending-investors-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/870419\/south-africas-biggest-flaw-is-back-and-risks-sending-investors-running\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s worst habit is back, and risks sending investors running"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s historic penchant for dragging its feet on critical reforms is rearing its ugly head once again, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) head, Busi Mavuso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the national power utility, Eskom, and unions pushing back against the unbundling and reform of the energy sector, the wrong signal is being sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mavuso, the recent unemployment data published by Stats SA points to a worsening jobs crisis in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data showed that South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of the year, with youth unemployment at shocking levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BLSA lead said the figures are a sign of failure to get South Africa’s economy growing at a pace that creates jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The causes are not mysterious\u2014from logistics to the energy system, investors are waiting for implementation so that they can start investing<\/strong>,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, instead of demonstrating a national commitment to implementing the reforms that will unlock investor confidence, “there are too many signs of a lack of urgency and commitment to follow through,” Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eskom board’s resistance to the unbundling of transmission assets into an independent system operator (ITSO) is one of the clearest examples, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Union of Mineworkers going to court to block these reforms is another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso said the unbundling of Eskom’s transmission assets is complex, particularly for the group’s lenders, who have put up billions of rands to invest in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom argues that moving the assets to an independent company would compromise the utility’s financial position, causing issues for its lenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the BLSA said that the utility is weaponising the process’s complexity to slow it down\u2014potentially in hopes that political will to follow through on the plan fades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Respect for the rights of lenders and other investors is paramount in the process. But the bankers and lenders I speak to are clear that they are open to the conversation,” Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It just needs to start. The Eskom board is not starting it. That is the problem. There is a difference between acknowledging complexity and weaponising it to resist change.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa needs to follow through<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso said that South Africa has a reputation for not delivering on its promises\u2014a reputation which only recently started turning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the change is not happening fast enough, she said, noting that it has been almost 20 years of slow collapse that is not yet close to reversing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country needs the economy to grow. President Cyril Ramaphosa has long targeted 3%-plus growth\u2014the country has barely managed to get over 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We forget that South Africa was once a country that delivered on its promises. The result was economic growth of 5% a year, an investment-grade credit rating, and an unemployment rate far lower than today’s,” Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We lost our way after 2008, particularly through the Zuma years. We have been too slow to get back on our feet.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BLSA CEO said that South Africa’s problem isn’t planning or knowing what needs to be done, but doing the job and executing what has already been decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso said that South Africa has the potential to trigger substantial new industries that would create many jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes renewable energy, “which holds huge promise,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But we are at risk of fundamentally undermining investor confidence by not following through on already-agreed policy,” Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What stands between us and their delivery is a small number of actors\u2014in boardrooms, in unions, in government offices\u2014who are content to slow-walk change while millions of South Africans wait for jobs that are not coming.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must reject that with contempt and focus single-mindedly on doing what is necessary to get this economy growing again.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s poor reputation among investors is starting to crop up again, says BLSA lead Busi Mavuso.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":829872,"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":"2089239314500649457","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2178596552960744","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18406012387092698","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15351,17507,1164],"class_list":["post-870419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-blsa","tag-busi-mavuso","tag-eskom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870419","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=870419"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870456,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870419\/revisions\/870456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}