SA business leaders are growing increasingly concerned that the government doesn’t have the will or capacity to overcome the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
“My confidence in the government implementing this is very low,” Busi Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership SA, which forms part of B4SA, said in an online briefing with Bloomberg. “I can’t say the government jumped for joy in receiving the plan.” The government could have done a better job in managing the lockdown and the ensuing fallout, Cas Coovadia, CEO of Business Unity SA , another B4SA member, said at the same briefing. Still, he said the business groups had supported the need for a lockdown.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a R500bn package to shore up the economy and support individuals and business that have lost their income, with part of the money to come from redirecting existing budgets. He also aims to galvanise R2.3-trillion in new infrastructure investment over the next decade that could create more than 1.8-million jobs.