Source: President of South Africa –
Programme Director,
Chairperson of the National Business Initiative, Mr Cas Coovadia,
CEO of the National Business Initiative, Ms Shameela Soobramoney,
Members of the NBI Executive Committee,
Members of the business community,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening,
It is truly a privilege to pay tribute to an organisation that has been instrumental in shaping South Africa’s democratic journey.
For the past thirty years, the National Business Initiative has been a respected voice of responsible business action and a powerful agent for change.
It was launched in 1995, at a time when all of society was being called upon to step forward to build a new nation.
The formation of the NBI signalled that progressive South African business was ready to be active partners in nation-building and to help define the contours of a new, inclusive economy and society.
This vision continues to guide the work of the NBI today.
To fully appreciate the NBI’s contribution to the democratic project, one has to go back to the late 1980s, to the early talks between organised business and the liberation movements in exile.
As one researcher put it, it was during this period that the beginnings of a transformed corporate paradigm were initiated.
Both sides recognised the need for partnership.
These engagements culminated in formation of the Consultative Business Movement, the forerunner to the NBI.
The Consultative Business Movement would go on to play a formative role in the pre-1994 transition period by helping open channels of dialogue between business and the government in waiting, and by actively supporting the peace negotiations.
The Consultative Business Movement provided the secretariat and administrative support to the CODESA processes that began in December 1991 and later to the Mult-Party Negotiating Forum.
It actively supported the work of the Independent Electoral Commission and mobilised private sector support for the Reconstruction and Development Programme.
When the Consultative Business Movement merged with the Urban Foundation in 1995 to form the NBI, it represented rebirth but also continuity.
The organisation had already cemented its reputation as a credible, non-partisan and pragmatic partner in the cause of building a new South Africa.
The NBI has been able to respond to the complexities and changing dynamics of our society.
The NBI has pioneered initiatives in support of transformation, improved service delivery, training and skills development, job creation, safety and security and many others.
Whether through the formation of Business against Crime, the Education Quality Improvement Partnerships, support to the Youth Employment Service or the groundbreaking CEO Initiative, the NBI has been at the forefront of innovation.
The NBI has a proud history of supporting pathways for employment. The organisation’s Skills and Youth Employability programme has become even more critical at a time when we have to urgently align the skills being produced by our institutions of higher learning with those needed by the economy of the future.
This pathfinding work is anchored in a deep appreciation that creating a sustainable, equitable and thriving economy relies on collective action.
As the Government of National Unity, our apex priorities are driving inclusive growth and job creation, addressing poverty and the high cost of living, and building a capable, ethical and developmental state.
We strive to do so in a challenging context, in which we have had to confront the effects of state capture, an energy crisis, crime and corruption, and service delivery failures.
Overcoming these challenges will require of us the mettle that helped dismantle apartheid.
It will require the spirit of collectivism that defined our transition.
We do so at a time when our economy is showing promising signs of recovery.
Growth is improving, investment is expanding and more jobs are being created.
National debt has stabilised and our sovereign outlook has improved.
The reform agenda being driven through Operation Vulindlela has gained significant momentum, enabling growing confidence in our economic trajectory.
We have restored sound governance to a number of our state-owned enterprises, including to Eskom, that last year returned to profitability for the first time in eight years.
The energy crisis is largely behind us, and we are laying the groundwork for a transformed, competitive and sustainable electricity market.
We are also seeing marked improvement in the performance of our rail and port systems.
We have just held a successful sixth South Africa Investment Conference, where we secured a record R890 billion in investment pledges, with a substantial share of these being domestic in origin.
The state has announced plans to embark on a R1 trillion infrastructure build over the next three years. This is the largest infrastructure build programme in our country’s history.
As investors look to South Africa with renewed interest as favourable destination, we remain committed to a structural reform agenda that is institutionalised, that is making measurable progress, and that it is supported by a strong regulatory architecture.
Although we are greatly concerned by the economic and social impact of the uncertain global environment, we are firmly on course to overcome remaining challenges with logistics, to deal decisively with crime and corruption, to reform and transform the water sector, and, most critically, to fix local government.
I would like to use this opportunity to welcome the NBI’s Technical Assistance and Mentorship Development unit to Operation Vulindlela Phase 2, where it will be lending critical support to our efforts to strengthen municipal service delivery.
Our foremost task at this time is to stay the course, to focus on implementation, and to do so at scale.
Our task is to deepen our collaboration in pursuit of the shared future we envisioned back in 1994.
It is to achieve change that both improves the business environment and benefits all of society, knowing as we do that these are not mutually exclusive.
In his State of the Nation Address in February 1996, President Mandela spoke of a new patriotism having taken root across the land and of the importance of partnership to addressing and overcoming society’s most pressing challenges.
The NBI was born of this spirit and actively embraced it.
Three decades on, the NBI with its deep institutional memory and sterling track record of implementation, continues as it has done since 1995.
It has carried its mandate through moments of hope and of strain.
The journey of economic transformation has been longer, more complex and at times more contested than anticipated.
As the structural reforms take root, as investor confidence returns and the green shoots of growth break ground, there can be no better time to seize this window of opportunity.
As a bridge-builder during the political transition, we call on the NBI to help us complete the bridge we set out to build in 1994. The bridge from the promise of our Constitution to meaningful and tangible economic transformation.
We thank you for your enduring contribution to South Africa’s democratic journey.
May you continue to build, to convene and to lead for many years to come.
I thank you.
