The events that unfolded at Thursday’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) by President Jacob Zuma, are of serious concern and undermine the country’s progress in and towards open, transparent and constructive dialogue, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Friday.

“Democracy depends on mutual civility and on avoidance of violence and militarisation. As a country, we need to do everything we can to showcase ourselves as a democracy, in a country which is playing a key role as an emerging market, in respect of Africa, the Brics economic grouping and other comparable economies,” Busa president Jabu Mabuza said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the organisation welcomed the core messages in Sona, agreeing that current participation in the economy was insufficient and required significant realignment with imperatives in the country.

“This includes the participation of society at large to ensure that we are able to achieve inclusive growth on a sustainable basis. Busa acknowledges that effective and comprehensive transformation is a critical component to achieving inclusive growth,” it stated.

Mabuza further said the current “struggling economy” did not provide the foundation to address the fundamental challenges that South Africa faces in terms of unemployment, inequality and poverty, but that the organisation remained committed to identifying ways in which it could address all of these challenges in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. 

Busa CEO Tanya Cohen added that South Africa’s core economic priority should be ensuring an enabling environment for investment and inclusive economic growth. “All role-players need to work together to achieve fundamental improvements in levels of employment, productivity, income distribution and poverty reduction. The country must build on this to strengthen the economy and drive economic inclusion.”

Busa also welcomed the labour relations and national minimum wage agreements that are “testament to our ability as social partners to work together to find solutions on difficult challenges facing the country”, Cohen said.

She added that the role of small and medium-sized businesses was a fundamental driver for any successful economy, noting that Busa was fully engaged in ensuring that this would achieve the attention that it deserves. “In this regard, we welcome the commitments to address red tape.”

Busa, however, would have wanted to see more in the Sona about State-owned enterprise reform and measures to restore the credibility of the National Prosecution Authority and the South African Police Service in the context of the President’s statement and recognition that rooting out corruption is a key objective for the country.