SONA offers businesses an opportunity to step up

“We all know that government doesn’t create jobs. Business creates jobs.” With these words, President Cyril Ramaphosa became the first South African president to give an unequivocal and public signal that the state’s role is to “create an environment in which the private sector can invest and unleash the dynamism of the economy”.

The opportunity is clear: there’s an open door and, as business, we need to step in and step up.

But how do we do so?

The story of Business for South Africa (B4SA) is a case study of an extraordinary public-private partnership set up to marshal business resources and capacity to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and support the national vaccination rollout. There are some key lessons from this historic and unique initiative that can inform our response to the opportunities presented by the SONA.

Briefly: in March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, B4SA was established by business organisations to assist and support government, including securing personal protective equipment and pharmaceuticals for the country, devising social and economic interventions to support small businesses and others negatively impacted by the crisis, and supporting the vaccine rollout.

Indeed, the achievements are many and world-class: private sites administer 31% of all vaccines (for both insured and uninsured); we have a more-than-sufficient vaccine supply (70 million doses); 42% of all adults are fully vaccinated; and the Unemployment Insurance Fund/Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme paid out more than R64 billion to help businesses survive the pandemic.

Business, and in particular the private healthcare sector, made an immense contribution to saving hundreds of thousands of lives and accelerating the country’s economic recovery.

We have learned some critical lessons that we can apply going forward:

1. Shared sense of purpose: in spite of their differences about how best to solve inequalities in access to and quality of healthcare in South Africa, leaders from the private healthcare sector and health department worked exceptionally well together in teams focused on specific deliverables. This wasn’t the place for ideological debate;
2. The best and the brightest: companies and professional firms (law, accounting, consulting) seconded pro-bono resources, and many others volunteered – at the peak, more than 450 individuals and 100 companies. All were of exceptional calibre. Egos didn’t feature. Energy and smarts were key;
3. Clear targets and timeframes: each workstream had targets, such as vaccinating 300 000 per day by August 2021. Targets focus activity on what matters and drive work rate. In fact, behavioural science motivates for both vision and goal setting. Ironically, we are doubly motivated by what we have to lose – loss aversion – rather than what we have to gain.

The last point is particularly profound, because as a country, we suffer from declinism – we believe our country is on an irreversible downward trajectory and we seek out negative signals to affirm our world view.

The latest global Ipsos “What worries the world” poll highlights that 81% of South Africans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction (versus the global average of 65%). South Africa tops the poll in terms of worries about unemployment and financial and political corruption – six in 10 people are concerned, and South Africa comes second out of the 28 countries on worries about crime and violence.

The central questions are twofold: first, are we in decline, and if yes, what do we do about it? The data is instructive. Before 2010, we experienced progress – for example, between 2006 and 2011, poverty levels reduced from 66.6% to 53.2%. However, since then, poverty has increased and our unemployment levels are at a record high of 34.9% according to the narrow definition. We also have visceral experience of decline: loadshedding, poor infrastructure, lack of progress on prosecuting those responsible for corruption and violence, and in the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic. We experience poorer services which cost more: in the past decade, municipal rates and taxes have increased 118%. As Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse put it, “The City of Joburg is in ruins.”

So, if we’re in decline, how do we choose to respond?

Again, behavioural economics is instructive: we can either choose to leave (flight) or stay and fight for a better country. The SONA provides us with an opportunity to do this. Again, we can be cynical, say it’s more of the same, and retreat further from the public sphere, or we can change our narrative and step up. From my involvement in business leadership organisations, I know that there’s a real desire in the presidency and many government departments to collaborate with the private sector. B4SA was a spectacularly successful example, as demonstrated above.

As South Africans and as Jews, we have an amazing capacity to solve problems. We’re entrepreneurial and have a can-do culture. We don’t rely on others for our success, nor do we see our problems as intractable. Small initiatives can produce tangible results. In 9.5 months, Pothole Patrol by Discovery and Dial Direct has filled more than 79 000 potholes using 27 workers and five trucks. Imagine replicating this and fixing our cities. Wouldn’t this make us feel happier and more positive? More like we have something to lose, and more like we have something to fight for?

What we need right now is more of this positivity and the confidence that we can address our challenges. Attitude can change fundamentals, not the other way around.

Of course, the government has to stick to its side of the bargain and rapidly begin to deliver on and implement already agreed policies. This includes fixing the failing state-owned enterprises, moving decisively on crime and corruption, improving the business environment for all companies, and implementing structural reforms. If not, the flight response to decline will become more appealing.

However, for now, the upside of our many problems is the opportunities they create for entrepreneurs to build, and the freedom individuals have to genuinely make a difference. Let’s use this opportunity of the SONA to continue to lead, to fight for and build a country we don’t want to lose.

• Lisa Klein is a member of the Business for South Africa steering committee, a director of the SA SME Fund, and works with Business Unity South Africa’s leadership.