Brand South Africa hosted the forum, and among the audience were ministers and deputy ministers; the chairperson of the board of Brand SA, its chief executive officer and board members; captains of industry and government representatives.
Motlanthe said, “First of all I wish to congratulate Brand South Africa on taking this step to bring captains of industry, organised labour and civil society under one roof to discuss the promotion of South Africa’s competitiveness in the global markets. As a first of its kind in South Africa, this forum will give leaders from all spheres a platform for debating our country’s competitiveness, as well as arriving at common understanding of how to improve the competitiveness of our economy.”
He said that over the years, the country had made strides in positioning the country as a stable democracy with the necessary institutions and mechanisms for providing an attractive and friendly investor environment. “All the same, we have also fallen short of the development trajectory necessary to place us on par with many of our competitors.”
He said that in recognising threats to stability, the government was continuing to improve the social wage through a raft of measures that aimed at drastically improving training and skills sets; lessening the burden of disease; increasing access to productive resources; and generally trying to improve the standards of living for all.
“We must pay more attention to producing a capable generation of young people armed with requisite skills pool geared to the needs of the economy.”
However, he said that education alone would not in the short-term reduce inequalities and unemployment. “We must therefore, in the short- to medium-term, implement measures that will lead to more rapid growth and creation of jobs. Using state levers, we need to support growth and development through sound macro-economic policy, strong industrial policy plans and cultivating an investment-friendly environment.”
He pointed to the aftermath of the economic downturn in 2008 and said that the country’s growth was stunted as investment slowed down, and said the country continued to face challenges of low savings, a high current account deficit and increasing debt levels. He encouraged more people to think about this while they aim to improve the country’s competitiveness.
