Business has much to contend with, including the new wave of Covid infections; ongoing load-shedding; the Russia-Ukraine war that is disrupting global supply chains; and extreme weather events leading to destruction like the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, and through this, must manage as best it can, supporting each other and dependent stakeholders, business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso says in her weekly newsletter.

She emphasises that business needs the best possible environment in which to operate for it to deliver value in the form of jobs and taxes.

“That environment is heavily influenced by government policy and the services that government delivers. We are partners and have to work together. This is often successful – the Solidarity Fund and the various rapid interventions that have been put together to relieve the distress in KwaZulu-Natal is but one recent example.

“But of course, there are also challenges and disappointments, most obviously the ongoing struggle to achieve energy security,” Mavuso says.

She notes that, in the short term, the country is once again experiencing a National State of Disaster, in addition to a potential new wave of Covid-19 infections.

However, this time, the two are not linked – the State of Disaster is underpinning the rapid deployment of resources to KwaZulu-Natal, while a new Covid wave will instead be managed under new regulations.

Th country is also in a 30-day transition period from the State of Disaster Covid regulations that came to an end on April 5 before new National Health Act regulations become the new way of managing responses to the pandemic.

Mavuso points out that the fifth wave will be the first test of these regulations.

“I hope that will prove more effective than their predecessors in balancing the need to restrict the transmission of the virus with the need to have minimal disruption of the economy and our lives.

“There is some risk here – the previous waves saw many variations of restrictions as we tried as a country to calibrate our response. There were clear missteps that we have learned from. That learning must be fully absorbed into how we use the new regulations to deal with the pandemic,” she emphasises.

Mavuso says the levels of immunity have changed and highlights vaccines as the most important defence and says it continues to be important to get as many people as possible to be vaccinated.

Here, she says, business can play an important role through vaccine mandates; however, she notes that clear policy from government on this would help.

Further to vaccines, Mavuso says the high rate of previous infections affords further levels of protection.

Estimates for the prevalence of antibodies in the population range from 56% for those under 12 having never been vaccinated to 93% of those over 50 who have been vaccinated, she points out.

She adds that this high level of protection has been credited with the relatively low impact of the Omicron wave in terms of deaths and hospitalisations.

Therefore, Mavuso says that, in determining what measures are needed to fight a new wave, the country can assume it will be less impactful than earlier waves and therefore, the country can avoid measures that damage economic recovery.

“The previous waves have proven that we can find the best balance in managing the pandemic and the economy if there is full consultation so that the consequences of regulations can be understood and planned for. I look forward to engaging our public sector counterparts to find that balance,” she states.

“In the Covid battle, the recovery from the KwaZulu-Natal floods and our striving for energy security, we are most effective when business and government work together.

“Business can do much to deliver solutions to the challenges, but we need open and honest dialogue and a willingness to follow through with actions by both sides. I will continue to push for greater follow through from government, while rallying business to be effective partners,” Mavuso emphasises.