The third wave is not here yet but the numbers are telling us that it could be sooner rather than later. While the health sector rushes to roll out vaccinations and ensure that hospitals are ready, business is preparing as well.

Economic growth will remain a pipedream if SA continues to be an unequal society, which it will unless effective interventions are implemented, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso in a Free Market Foundation discussion.

Mavuso says: “We are clear from the business perspective that as a country we have learnt important lessons from the past two waves and now have better clarity on the appropriate interventions to protect lives and livelihoods.

“I don’t think South Africa can afford to make some of the mistakes that it did before where it elevated the health crisis above the economic crisis. We have seen what that has done to the economy. We are sitting in an environment where our economy has contracted by 7% last year, so we cannot have a repeat of that.

“We now have clarity on safe operating procedures that were implemented by business in the first two waves.

“We are cautioning, especially to the government, that the restrictions to be implemented now cannot be ones that further disadvantage the economy, lead to more job losses and put businesses in further jeopardy,” says Mavuso.

Click below for the full interview