The head of one of the nation\u2019s biggest wealth and money-management firms says court rulings and challenges to some of South Africa\u2019s most contested laws are good for South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThere are over 50 challenges to various bits of legislation,\u201d PSG Chief Executive Officer Francois Gouws said in an interview on Thursday. He added that this is good news and could improve business sentiment after years of policy uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good that we\u2019re getting clarity,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthe more these decisions are communicated, the more people can understand what the landscape looks like. That helps people to gain confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, the Constitutional Court struck down a law that would have expanded mandatory preferential-procurement rules, including reserving some state contracts for Black-owned businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court found lawmakers had failed to adequately consult the public before passing the legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Health Insurance Act \u2014 which critics say is unaffordable \u2014 also faces multiple constitutional challenges, with President Cyril Ramaphosa delaying its introduction in February because of litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A legacy of corruption and mismanagement under Ramaphosa\u2019s predecessor, Jacob Zuma, still dogs an economy that\u2019s expanded less than 1% annually for more than a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies have consequently been reluctant to invest, with gross fixed capital formation at about 14% of gross domestic product in 2025, less than half the 30% target set out in a policy plan with a deadline of 2030, the president said in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nation\u2019s expropriation law \u2014 which gives the government the power to take land or property for a public purpose such as to build roads or schools, or in the public interest \u2014 was published in January last year but has yet to take effect as it\u2019s been tested in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislation provoked US President Donald Trump to halt aid to South Africa after he claimed the government was seizing the land of White farmers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the state hasn\u2019t taken any properties without compensation since the end of apartheid in 1994, unlawful occupation of private and state-owned land remains widespread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Official data show that about 12% of households are situated in informal settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gouws expects municipal elections on 4 November will give voters a chance to reassess how cities and towns are managed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president, in February, acknowledged that scores of municipalities were deeply dysfunctional and unable to provide basic services such as water and power consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is an opportunity for the country to reset and for us to reevaluate our position,\u201d Gouws said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela, lost its parliamentary majority in the 2024 general election for the first time since the end of White-minority rule 30 years earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has since governed at the national level in a coalition with smaller rivals and the Democratic Alliance, the second-largest group. South Africa\u2019s next national elections are due to be held in 2029.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recent court rulings are giving businesses more confidence in South Africa, according to the CEO of a major wealth management firm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":870520,"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":"2111049777626390651","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2239022763584789","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17904868251352776","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1293,26828,4671],"class_list":["post-880098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-francois-gouws","tag-psg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880098","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880098"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880131,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880098\/revisions\/880131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}