Although President Cyril Ramaphosa is being buffeted by many perspectives from a range of constituencies, the Minerals Council South Africa says it is pleased that he signals clear direction and action on critical issues in the country.

Thursday night’s State of the Nation Address and the National Budget speech on February 26 will provide powerful insight on whether South Africa is serious about addressing the economic and governance crises facing the country, the council states.

Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter says the economy is in an unprecedented economic crisis and the longest economic downswing since 1945, with ballooning government debt, a rising unemployment rate and falling fixed investments.

The council will be looking for signals from Ramaphosa around critical action and decisions to turn State-owned enterprises (SOEs) around, or dispose of them where there is no strategic reason for their continued State ownership.

The council adds that it would like to hear the President opening the way to a conservative 2020 National Budget, including the reining in of public service wages and wasteful expenditure.

“There should be no more bailouts of any SOEs unless strict conditions are set that would remedy governance and efficiency shortcomings.”

The council further says that, while it would be improper for the President to interfere in the work of the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA), it is critical that he signal that government, like most citizens, is anxious to see prosecutions being brought against not only those involved in State capture, but also the private sector leaders involved in high-profile instances of alleged fraud.

“It is unnecessary to wait for the Zondo Commission to complete its work. To empower the NPA to move rapidly, Ramaphosa should direct Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to allocate an extra R1-billion to the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute these cases,” the Minerals Council states.

As part of a growth strategy and re-establishing confidence, the President needs to indicate that government is to allow private concessions in key areas of economic infrastructure, such as electricity, rail and ports – including, of course, self-power generation – and materially reduce red-tape for business, the council recommends.

Finally, given the unprecedented deterioration in the security situation facing the mining sector, the Minerals Council looks forward to hearing about specific measures to establish a specialised mining police task force to tackle the serious crime affecting the mining sector.

For example, some gold mines have been targets of armed robberies, including at Gold Fields’ South Deep mine earlier this week, where 15 attackers reportedly took hostages and plundered the smelting plant to the tune of $500 000.

Sibanye-Stillwater’s Cooke mine was also attacked two weeks ago, while there were almost 20 attacks on gold facilities last year.

“The Minerals Council is hoping for and looking forward to a new era of decisively addressing the country’s myriad challenges. South Africa cannot afford otherwise. It has to be action, action and action,” says Baxter.