The private sector holds the key and the public sector must be enabled to use it – to unlock South Africa’s many economic opportunities and open the way for the fiscus to get quick additional taxes. If mining was enabled to unlock existing rail and port opportunities, for example, R150-billion would spurt forth in additional export revenue – and the fiscus would quickly get R27-billion of it.
On the energy front, if mines were allowed to install their own new sun and wind energy, R100-billion worth of investment would roll out at speed. There for the taking, too, is international collaboration on the early adoption of green corridors. All that is needed is a signing of the Clydebank Declaration to signal interest.
Moreover, if the public sector simply aligned its maritime policies with international settings, investment would pour forth. Mineral exploration investment would gather rapid momentum if the public sector simply bought a cadastre off the private sector shelf. Development should be all the private and public sectors be allowed to talk about until South Africa’s huge unemployment is out of the way.