In a recent Business Times article, the former CEO of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), NAME PLEASE exhorts the private sector to take courage and invest some of the cash pile (R4-trillion at last count) that they are sitting on, instead of waiting for government to create the optimal conditions. ’The private sector must take more of a lead’ he adds.
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He then goes on to undercut his argument to a large extent by highlighting the huge gaps in the health and education sectors that the private sector could help close, but then qualifies this by asking once the opportunities have been identified, ‘what are the things we need from government for us to be able to do that’.
Cornerstone
One of these ‘things’ he identifies quite correctly is ‘policy certainty and coherence’. Now if this is not one of the cornerstones of building confidence in an economy, I am not aware of another.
In terms of policy formulation, he also urges the private sector to become more proactive, but again appears to contradict himself by highlighting the inadequacies and failures of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) since its inception.
I have a fundamental problem with his point of view, because he is essentially asking the private sector to ‘take a leap of faith’, and given the history of the current government, they have provided little incentive to the private sector to do so.
Inability
The endemic corruption and mismanagement that pervades the entire machinery of government, and its patent inability to translate the numerous strategies and plans (NDP, IPAP etc.) into meaningful and sustainable action are not in the least bit inspiring.
Without efficient local government, translating lofty words into reality is not going to happen.
Further, while at a high level government might be able to ‘talk the talk’, it is at the local level, be it in large metros like Durban and Johannesburg, or smaller municipalities like ours, where the actual ‘rubber hits the road’ in terms of investment on the ground.
And therein lies the problem: there is no indication that the incapacity and dysfunctionality plaguing the majority of our municipalities is going to improve any time soon.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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