The positive sentiment sparked by the Government of National Unity is consolidating, helped by more encouraging news this week. There were some good indicators of how corruption could be targeted, with the new minister of public works going public with news that the department has suffered cyber-related theft of over R300m. The new minister Dean Macpherson revealed details from an investigation launched by his predecessor Sihle Zikalala. The minister and the former minister, now deputy minister, have tackled the problem swiftly, with employees suspended and laptops seized.

There was also real progress on the appalling VBS bank looting with the jailing of its former chairman Tshifhiwa Matodzi for 15 years and his agreement to support the state’s prosecution of others who are implicated. This should aid the National Prosecuting Authority’s efforts to bring to book all those who allegedly benefitted from the R2.2bn theft, many of whom were and are in senior political positions.

Even the bad news brought some positive indicators. A report by the World Bank and S&P Global determined that Cape Town was the worst-performing port in the world in 2023. This was a marked deterioration from the year before. The Port of Ngqura ranked second worst. Durban and Port Elizabeth were also in the bottom 20 out of 405 ports ranked. This is of course an indicator of the serious logistics crisis that has gripped the economy, with firms struggling to get goods to and from ports. The Cape Town port has been a particular headache for agriculture, with fruit exporters having to reroute containers to Walvis Bay in Namibia and other local ports.

But with the bad news came indicators that things have already improved, with Transnet noting that at Durban, since the study was conducted, it has removed 30,000 containers from the backlog and the vessel anchoring times have reduced from 18 days in
October to four days in January this year. New equipment is also on the way. There has been some progress in a fundamental restructuring of how ports are operated, with Grindrod having been announced as the preferred bidder for a concession to develop and manage a container terminal at Richard’s Bay port, and a process underway to concession the Durban container terminal (albeit one tied up in court challenges). As we implement the Freight Logistics Roadmap that was drawn up by the National Logistics Crisis Committee between business and government, we should hope the performance of South African ports starts to improve in such rankings. We should aspire to operate the most efficient ports in Africa; currently Morrocco’s Tanger Med port is the highest-ranking African port and is considered fourth best in the world.

The new minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has also done well announcing an extension of visas for those who are waiting for decisions on their applications for visas. These are people who entered the country legally but have faced the huge backlog of processing visa applications by the department. That backlog is a major headache for business, which needs to draw on foreign skills to get things done. I have heard too many stories about investments delayed or cancelled simply because companies have not been able to bring the needed people into the country to make them happen. I hope that Minister Schreiber will turn his attention to the backlog and tackle it with new energy so that there does not need to be any further extensions.

It is also positive that the first cabinet meeting of the GNU kicked off on Saturday. The meeting was slated to set out an agenda for the cabinet of the seventh administration. I hope we will all hear of success in that effort, which would be an encouraging signal that the new cabinet, drawn out of multiple political parties, is working effectively. The meeting is set to inform the President’s speech at the opening of Parliament on Thursday, which could well herald the beginning of a new era for Parliament, as it seeks to hold the administration accountable.

Of course, there is inevitably going to be bad news amid the good. We can only hope that the dial shifts more in favour of the good, particularly when it comes to improving the functioning and capacity of the state. A positive trajectory will have its setbacks but can still maintain an upward path overall. Already bond yields have dramatically fallen, and the government can now borrow at rates 10% lower than before the election, a reflection that shows investors are expecting an improvement in government finances. It will take some time to see data reflecting the trend in business sentiment, but having shifted lower in advance of the election, I expect we will see an upward move in response to the consolidation of the GNU and the formation of a coherent agenda for reform. The outcome of the first cabinet meeting and the opening of Parliament will be critical to maintaining the upward momentum.

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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.