· OV’s success has been driven by its focus on resolving blockages to policy reform. In doing so, it has relied extensively on partnerships, including with business.
· OV is only one part of the wider reform effort, which is required across government, often in conjunction with social partners.
· To support government, BLSA will be launching the BLSA Tracker, an online tool that tracks progress on all policy reform areas, providing insights into where progress is being made and where there are blockages.

Operation Vulindlela can take much credit for the strides we’ve made in resolving the electricity crisis, improving the performance of our logistics system, providing visas for skilled workers and much more. So, I was excited to join government and business leaders at the Union Buildings last week for the launch of Operation Vulindlela Phase 2. Business has been a strong partner to OV, and we will continue to be in phase 2.

OV’s success has been driven by its focus on resolving blockages to policy reform. In doing so, it has relied extensively on partnerships, including with business, which enables it to access expertise and resources. Through OV, we were able to assemble the National Electricity Crisis Committee (Necom) that brought together social partners and set out the Presidential Energy Action Plan which has since been restoring electricity stability and remaking the electricity system. A similar process was followed to set up the National Logistics Crisis Committee which has helped improve the performance of our logistics system.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa explained on Wednesday, our economy needs to grow much faster to create the jobs that produce the prosperity we strive for. It is only with more rapid growth that government can spend more money on healthcare, on education, on social grants, on infrastructure and other key areas to improve the lives of our people while maintaining fiscal sustainability.

OV 2 will be focused on some new areas, including local government performance, spatial inequality and digital transformation. These are important to target because, as I’ve written several times in this letter, municipal service delivery is now a serious threat to the economy.

Businesses, their employees and their customers simply can’t function in many of our towns. We’ve risen to the challenge. Organised business has invested in helping municipalities through the Tamdev programme to access skilled retired engineers and other experts to help mentor employees. I’ve seen the results first hand in improved water and sanitation services in communities from schools to businesses.

I look forward to working with OV to help unlock municipal service delivery more widely. Similarly, if we can fix the spatial legacy of our country, which separates where people live from where the jobs are, we can dramatically improve the efficiency of our economy. Digital transformation is also critical – our infrastructure needs to be able to support the economy of the future which will be heavily reliant on data. Already a success of OV 1 was to conclude the long-delayed auction of digital spectrum that has dramatically improved the cost and quality of mobile data.

I’m excited by the opportunities to help deliver OV 2’s agenda in partnership with business and look forward to building on the successes of the first phase. Of course, there is much OV 2 is taking on from the first phase, including advancing logistics and establishment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency which is key to resolving our bulk water infrastructure challenges. Those will remain part of the effort.

OV, as the president says, is key to achieving our growth ambitions for the economy. But it is only one part of the wider reform effort that is required across government, often in conjunction with social partners. Many of our government departments and other public institutions have committed to reforms that need to be followed through, from the police services through to the mining cadastral system. To support government, BLSA will be launching the BLSA Tracker, an online tool that tracks progress on all policy reform areas. Working with research partner Krutham, the team of analysts will provide insights into where progress is being made and where there are blockages. That enables both government and business to understand why progress might be as swift as intended but also rally efforts to unlock future progress.

The Tracker will support our members who will contribute their experiences on the ground of the effectiveness of reforms. Effectiveness is the ultimate test – do we see the impact of changes in the everyday lives of workers, communities and businesses?

We believe the Tracker will be an important contribution to the national effort to achieve our growth ambitions. We’ll provide more details soon and it will go live during the third quarter.

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BLSA is a business organisation that believes in South Africa’s future and shares the values set out in the Constitution. BLSA is committed to playing its part in creating a South Africa of increasing prosperity for all by harnessing the resources and capabilities of business in partnership with government and civil society to deliver economic growth, transformation and inclusion.