Oscar Mabuyane opened his own Premier’s Round Table, in East London on Thursday, with a frank admission.
He said perhaps it was a mistake not to have invited labour representatives to be central figures in the presentations and on the panels.
“Labour, land and capital are the key elements for production and growth,” the premier said.
The aim of the conference was “Crafting a way forward for Eastern Cape’s recovery and reconstruction”.
Though Mabuyane might have left out labour, he still had several heavy hitters to give him the advice that he demanded.
On the panels were several professors, sector professionals, MECs, economists, recent graduates and a heavy sprinkling of provincial and municipal employees, plus business chamber delegates and company owners.
Mabuyane said his aim when selecting the panellists was to strike a balance between theory and practice.
What the province needed, he said, was a crucial voice that focused on scientific sustainability.
“Please do not massage us,” he said to the two panels.
“We need you to tell us what we should be doing.”
Hamlet Hlomendlini, an agricultural economist and senior agriculture specialist in Absa’s agribusiness unit, offered hard-hitting advice and his no-holds barred assessment of the problems was exactly what Mabuyane asked for.
“What will drive economic recovery in the short and medium term?” Hlomendlini asked.
“You cannot follow a regular approach in Eastern Cape because the province is unique”.
He said the major problem was an unequal society that favoured one group above the others.
The never-ending discussions on this topic were often fruitless, going nowhere.
He said though infrastructure development was part of the solution, three questions should be asked and answered before projects got the green light.
What were the projects, and the logistics and supply chains? Where would infrastructure development happen? What was the ultimate purpose and who would be the major beneficiaries?
The bulk of projects must benefit small, medium and micro enterprises, because they drove the economy, specifically agriculture and tourism.
Hlomendlini advised Mabuyane to build an inclusive economy, without restricting anyone from entry.
Walter Sisulu University economics department professor Thobeka Ncanywa said she would soon be calling on the premier’s office to get funding for a graduate project.
She needed money to support a project to train village people in the art of entrepreneurship.
Her suggestion of involving the youth directly in rural economies fell directly in line with Mabuyane’s aims of assisting graduates who were struggling to get their final certificates because of unpaid fees.
The premier said he wanted to give students every economic advantage possible but he felt a lot should depend on them passing exams and halting “fees must fall protests”.
He cautioned people to expect major disruptions due to the latest pandemic surge in China, which had moved swiftly, leading to a harsh lockdown, far worse than in the first wave.
SA must realise that when China sneezed the world caught a cold, and the global supply chain was largely driven by “made in China” products.
Any disruption would be felt in the Eastern Cape, the premier said.
Adding his own advice to that of the panellists, he agreed that agriculture had to be a growth catalyst, because the Eastern Cape was a rural province that had all the ingredients for farming, including five large rivers.
Other suggestions from panellists were:
• Not allowing the province to be a raw materials producer but instead to focus on up- and downstream beneficiation.
• Innovative thinking and fast solutions were urgently needed to counter the effects of the recent pandemic shocks, which had hammered the job market, closing companies which would never reopen.
• A focus on fostering rural economies, including the “green gold” from Pondoland, was needed because people were leaving villages flocking to cities.
Mabuyane said though the Eastern Cape might often be accused of being “outside the periphery” it was “the centre of the outside”.
For the province to succeed, he said, “we have to talk less and do more”.
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