This interview was originally aired on RSG Geldsake and has been translated into English in this transcript.
JANNIE DURAND: Good evening, Ryk. This emanated from the Business South Africa Leadership group that said there was an impending crisis. I think the requests came more from our side, but it was received by the president. He saw us. In those areas we can work together, but we will create our own structures. There are various fragmented structures in the private sector where you see many people are doing monitoring. We have big private security companies that do the monitoring, and we have an opportunity to come together as Business South Africa and integrate and coordinate many of these things. In that way one collects a great deal of information that we can share with the police and so on.
You’ve just said you are involved in combating crime and with the corruption committee, and that is one of our biggest problems. It’s not only the economic impact of those issues, but it also has an impact on South Africa’s psyche. What exactly are you planning, and how can the private sector help in that regard?
RYK VAN NIEKERK: So you think this is more that just lip service, because the president can be very charismatic and invite people to help. I, for one, am very sceptical that when a crisis committee is created about energy, that may not be that effective because there are already so many people overseeing Eskom and putting plans on the table to try and solve the problems.
JANNIE DURAND: I think we are already do a lot of work that government should do. Just look at private security, private hospitals, private schools. So many of these tasks are already being done. This is just a next step in that direction, with even more for the private sector to do. Many of our businesses are being impacted by crime and corruption, and hopefully we can get the cooperation of government.