EASE OF
DOING
BUSINESS
E
veryone welcomed the
announcement in President Cyril
Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation
Address (SONA) that his administration
would focus on making it easier to do
business in South Africa. It was supported
by many business groups in South Africa,
including Aspasa and Consulting Engineers
Southern Africa (CESA). The fact that the
government has set a target of ensuring that
South Africa moves up from position 82
on the World Bank’s annual Doing Business
Report to within the top 50, indicates that it
has a vision for business in South Africa.
The president has recognised the role
that small and medium enterprises play in
the economy and launched some positive
initiatives to help them grow, particularly
by pledging to expand government’s small-
business incubation programme. Reducing
the red tape that small businesses face and
improving the ease of doing business, is
one of the best ways to promote a more
inclusive, entrepreneurial, and diverse
economy.
Many quarries are small, family-owned
businesses that could do with a hand in
this direction, as they currently have to
comply with the type of draconian mining
legislation meant for massive mines.
President Ramaphosa’s focus on growing
South African exports as part of a strategy
to revive the economy is also good news.
However, as the Business article (page
12) in this issue suggests, state-owned
enterprises (SOEs) such as Transnet are
seemingly doing everything in their power
to inhibit exports.
www.quarryonline.co.za
Many small quarry owners will be
delighted to hear that the Employment Tax
Incentive will be extended for another 10
years. That is a great initiative that helps to
create work for the youth, while rewarding
entrepreneurs for being job creators.
Nico Pienaar, director of Aspasa,
comments on SONA: “The speech covered
the issue of infrastructure development,
which for us as Aspasa is good news. This
means more building and construction,
which means more use of building material
and aggregate, sand, and cement. Last
year no work was given out by Sanral for
road-building so the industry has suffered.
Another positive aspect was the increased
focus on education. We as Aspasa support
this as we have now ventured into more
training of workers in the industry.
“Then a big plus is the issue of clamping
down on corruption in all sectors, public
and private. The mining industry has been
severely affected by corruption, not so
much into our industry but more into coal,
in the case of the Guptas. The problem was
that some of the regulators’ staff became
part of this — though the new minister
intervened and suspended the work of
regional offices. The previous practice does
leave a bad taste in the mouth. The mining
industry has been requested to report
any deeds of officials that are linked to
dishonesty to the minister’s office. Aspasa
has similarly asked its members to help
report these incidents,” says Pienaar.
In February, CESA issued a statement
that it is in full support of President
Ramaphosa’s 2019 SONA. “We welcome
COMMENT
Eamonn Ryan, editor
[email protected]
the president’s ‘Brave new world’. I think
that his call for collective engagement
is fundamental to achieve a successful
future for South Africa. It is heartening
that technical competence in government
will be increased and that infrastructure
promotion will be driven further through
the Infrastructure Fund. These are positive
steps that CESA supports and is willing
to become active participants in,” states
Neresh Pather, CESA president.
The organisation commends President
Ramaphosa for stating that infrastructure
investment is key to growing the economy.
CESA welcomes the interventions that are
decisively stabilising and revitalising SOEs
as well as dealing with those implicated in
state capture.
Finally, it is highly encouraging that the
elections will be held as early as 8 May
2019 as announced by the president. This
means that government can get on with the
business of getting a new team in place and
the urgent need to start implementing the
infrastructure development programmes
required for economic growth and job
creation.
In summary, this was one of the most
business-friendly presidential addresses we
have heard in a long while, with a vision
for how government and the private sector
can join hands in growing the economy,
creating jobs, and promoting social
cohesion.
QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2019_1