Source: President of South Africa –
Ministers,
Business leaders,
Chief executives of State-owned enterprises,
Directors-General,
Representatives of labour and civil society,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
We gather today not merely to extend the Government-Business Partnership, but to raise its level of ambition.
This partnership was born at a moment of crisis. Since then, it has become an instrument of inclusive growth and economic transformation. This partnership has gone through a number of distinct but interlinked and interrelated phases.
Phase One was about stabilisation.
Phase Two was about reform.
Phase Three must be about growth.
The Partnership must be about converting the progress we have made into investment, productive activity and jobs.
It must be about ensuring that economic recovery is felt not only in improved balance sheets, stronger markets and favourable economic indicators, but in the lives of the South African people.
This partnership was established in 2023 at a moment of great difficulty for our country.
Rolling load shedding was causing immense damage to businesses, households and public institutions.
The deteriorating performance of our railways and ports was constraining exports, disrupting supply chains and weakening our competitiveness.
South Africa’s grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force exposed serious weaknesses in our systems for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Confidence in the country’s economic prospects was under severe strain.
Government and business therefore came together around a common purpose: to address the most immediate constraints on growth and to restore confidence in South Africa’s future.
This partnership was founded on a simple but powerful principle.
There are challenges that government must lead in resolving. There are investments and capabilities that only business can mobilise. There are reforms that require the support of labour and the participation of communities.
And there are national challenges that none of us can overcome on our own.
This partnership does not transfer the responsibilities of government to business.
It does not blur the distinction between public authority and private interest.
Rather, it brings together the respective capabilities of government and business in pursuit of clearly defined national objectives.
It recognises that the state must govern, regulate and deliver.
It recognises that business must invest, innovate, produce and create employment.
And it recognises that both government and business have a shared responsibility to build a more inclusive economy and a more equal society.
We have learned through this partnership that when we agree on the problem, establish clear priorities, mobilise the necessary expertise and hold each other accountable, we can make meaningful progress.
This lesson has relevance beyond our borders.
Last week, South Africa hosted the 46th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government.
The Summit focused on the actions needed to deepen regional integration, advance industrialisation, expand trade and create employment.
Southern Africa faces substantial challenges.
These include the growing impact of climate change on food and water security, constrained economic growth, high youth unemployment and the continuing threat of disease outbreaks and pandemics.
Yet ours is also a region of immense promise.
We possess extensive agricultural land, abundant renewable energy resources, significant reserves of critical minerals and a young and increasingly connected population.
Southern Africa is well positioned to benefit from the green energy transition, the digital revolution and the reorganisation of global production and trade.
But potential does not become prosperity by itself.
It requires sound policy, capable institutions, efficient infrastructure, regional value chains and investment on a far greater scale.
No country can sustain prosperity within a region that is stagnant.
Our national economic recovery must therefore contribute to the industrial development and economic integration of the entire Southern African region.
This is another reason why partnerships between governments and business are so important.
Over the last three years, the Government-Business Partnership has demonstrated what focused collaboration can achieve.
In energy, government established the Energy Action Plan and the National Energy Crisis Committee to restore energy security and reform the electricity sector.
Business mobilised technical expertise and resources in support of Eskom, while investing substantially in new generation capacity.
South Africa has now gone for more than a year without load shedding.
Power station performance has improved, and a substantial pipeline of private investment in new generation has been established.
Important steps have also been taken towards the creation of a competitive electricity market.
These include granting a Market Operator Licence to the National Transmission Company South Africa and approving new Grid Capacity Allocation Rules.
These achievements are significant.
But we must not confuse the absence of load shedding with the completion of energy reform.
We still need to expand the transmission grid, bring new generation capacity online, address the crisis in municipal electricity distribution and ensure that electricity remains affordable for households and businesses.
In freight logistics, government established the National Logistics Crisis Committee and adopted the Freight Logistics Roadmap.
The decline in rail and port performance has been arrested, and freight volumes are beginning to recover.
Rail access agreements have been concluded with 11 private train-operating companies.
This marks an important step towards a more competitive freight rail system, in which public infrastructure is strengthened through additional investment and operating capacity.
Here too, the work is far from complete.
Our mines, farms and factories depend on railways and ports that operate efficiently, reliably and at globally competitive cost.
In the fight against crime and corruption, government established an intergovernmental task team to address the weaknesses identified by the Financial Action Task Force.
The removal of South Africa from the FATF grey list in October 2025 was a major achievement.
It strengthened the integrity of our financial system and sent an important signal to investors and international partners.
The establishment of Digital Forensics South Africa is another important development.
It will help strengthen the capacity of the state to investigate complex financial crimes and corruption using modern technology and specialised expertise.
Our work in this area must now move beyond compliance.
We must increase the investigation and successful prosecution of serious commercial crimes, recover stolen assets and dismantle the criminal networks that are damaging our institutions and our economy.
In Phase Two, the partnership expanded its focus to youth employment.
This recognised that unemployment—and particularly youth unemployment—is the greatest social and economic crisis confronting our country.
Government and business worked together to expand access to the SA Youth platform and the Youth Employment Service.
The backlog in the Global Business Services incentive was addressed, contributing to the creation of more than 26,000 jobs in that sector in 2025 alone.
The partnership also focused on employment-intensive sectors such as tourism and the digital economy.
These interventions have opened opportunities for many young people.
But they have not yet reached the scale demanded by the crisis we face.
We must be honest about the distance we still have to travel.
Despite the progress made in energy, logistics, crime and corruption, and youth employment, our economy continues to grow below the level required to reduce unemployment on a sustained basis.
For the millions of South Africans who cannot find work, economic recovery remains an abstract idea.
For a young person who has never held a job, progress must mean an opportunity to work.
For a small business struggling to survive, reform must mean reliable electricity, efficient municipal services and access to finance and markets.
For a farmer, progress must mean water security, functioning roads and railways, effective biosecurity and access to domestic and international markets.
For workers and communities, growth must mean rising incomes, greater security and a fair share in the country’s prosperity.
The true measure of reform is not the number of policies we announce.
It is the change that reform produces in people’s lives.
There are encouraging indications that our economy is moving in the right direction.
South Africa has received sovereign credit-rating upgrades.
Bond yields have improved, the rand has strengthened and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has performed well.
These developments reflect growing confidence in the direction of our reform programme.
But confidence is not an end in itself.
Confidence must lead to investment.
Investment must lead to production.
Production must lead to jobs.
And jobs must lead to better lives.
Government has placed economic growth at the centre of its programme.
We are implementing the Plan for Growth and Inclusion and the Industrial Development Strategy of 2026.
We have set a new ambition to mobilise R3 trillion in investment.
Through Operation Vulindlela, we are accelerating structural reform in electricity, freight logistics, water, telecommunications and the visa system.
These measures are establishing the foundations for stronger growth.
Phase Three of the Government-Business Partnership must now build upon these foundations.
Its central framework is Inclusive Growth, Jobs and Confidence.
Our immediate objective is to lift economic growth above 3 per cent.
But growth of 3 per cent cannot be the summit of our ambition.
It is a necessary threshold from which we must advance towards higher, sustained and more inclusive growth.
The composition of growth matters as much as its rate.
We need growth that is labour-intensive.
We need growth that expands our industrial capacity.
We need growth that supports small and medium enterprises, black industrialists, women-owned businesses and businesses owned by young people.
We need growth that reaches rural communities, townships and smaller towns.
For this reason, Phase Three should expand the partnership’s work into tourism, agriculture and agro-processing, and mining.
These sectors have been selected because they have significant potential to attract investment, earn foreign revenue, strengthen localisation and create employment at scale.
Tourism is one of the fastest ways to generate jobs across a wide range of skills. Every additional visitor supports employment in accommodation, transport, food services, entertainment, retail and the creative industries.
Our task is to remove the barriers holding the sector back.
We must improve air access, modernise visa processing, strengthen destination marketing, enhance tourist safety and expand investment in tourism infrastructure.
We must ensure that the benefits of tourism extend beyond the established destinations to our villages, townships, small towns, heritage sites and national parks.
Agriculture and agro-processing have the potential to create jobs across the country and strengthen our food security.
We must address the constraints relating to water, transport, biosecurity, agricultural finance and access to markets.
We must build competitive agro-processing value chains that enable us to export more processed products rather than only raw agricultural commodities.
We must accelerate land reform in a way that expands production and creates a new generation of successful black commercial farmers.
We must connect smallholder and emerging farmers to finance, technology, extension services, commercial supply chains and export markets.
Mining remains one of the foundations of our economy.
The global transition to cleaner energy is creating unprecedented demand for the critical minerals that South Africa and the broader region possess.
We must take advantage of this opportunity.
This requires a modern, transparent and efficient mining-rights system, reliable electricity, improved rail and port infrastructure, greater exploration and stronger action against illegal mining and organised crime.
It also requires greater beneficiation, meaningful community participation and increased opportunities for junior miners and black-owned mining companies.
The expansion into these sectors does not mean that we will reduce our focus on energy, logistics, crime and corruption, and youth employment.
We cannot declare victory while critical reforms remain incomplete.
In Phase Three, we must deepen implementation, embed the reforms already undertaken and ensure that progress cannot be reversed.
This phase must be defined by disciplined execution.
Every workstream must have clear objectives, measurable targets, firm timelines and accountable leaders.
Progress must be monitored regularly and reported transparently.
Where implementation falls behind, we must intervene rapidly.
Where policies or regulations are holding back investment without serving a legitimate public purpose, they must be reviewed.
Where institutional capacity is weak, it must be strengthened.
And where corruption or vested interests obstruct progress, they must be confronted.
We must maintain the highest standards of governance and public integrity.
The partnership must operate transparently, within the law and in the public interest. There can be no special favours, no privileged access and no weakening of the state’s regulatory responsibilities.
The credibility of this partnership depends not only on what it delivers, but on how it delivers.
Business also has an important responsibility.
As confidence improves, South African businesses must invest.
They must expand production, open new markets, develop local suppliers and create jobs.
They must support transformation not merely as a compliance requirement, but as an economic necessity.
An economy cannot reach its full potential while the majority of its people remain excluded from ownership, opportunity and decision-making.
Companies must invest in skills, support small businesses, pay suppliers on time and open procurement opportunities to new entrants.
They must give young people their first chance to enter the world of work.
Government, for its part, must provide policy certainty, efficient regulation, capable institutions and reliable public infrastructure.
We must improve the ease of doing business while protecting workers, communities and the environment.
We must build a professional and ethical public service and strengthen the rule of law.
Above all, we must act with urgency.
South Africans cannot live on the promise of future growth.
They need to experience progress in the present.
They are looking to us to demonstrate that partnership can produce results, that reform can improve lives and that growth can restore hope.
The establishment of Phase Three is therefore both an expression of confidence and an acceptance of responsibility.
We have shown that we can stabilise.
We have shown that we can reform.
We must now show that we can grow.
We must show that growth can create employment on a scale that changes the prospects of an entire generation.
We must show that transformation and growth are not competing objectives, but mutually reinforcing imperatives.
Government cannot build this economy alone.
Business cannot build it alone.
Labour cannot build it alone.
Civil society cannot build it alone.
But by working together—while respecting our distinct roles and responsibilities—we can build an economy that is more competitive, more inclusive and more resilient.
We can build an economy in which every South African has the opportunity to work, to participate, to prosper and to hold a meaningful stake.
Let us make Phase Three the phase in which confidence becomes investment, investment becomes jobs and growth becomes shared prosperity.
Let us proceed with urgency, discipline and a common purpose.
I thank you.
