Note to Editors: The full memorandum can be accessed here.
Build One South Africa (BOSA) today held the second leg of its Economic Growth Engagement Tour, a structured series of consultations with South Africa’s leading business, labour, and civil society organisations to advance a shared plan for growth, opportunity and social and economic fairness.
This is a series of engagements with South Africa’s leading role players and voices on how to get our economy growing to 5% and beyond. The engagement process is designed to build broad-based consensus around practical reforms that can inspire investor confidence, improve state performance, and deliver inclusive development. Too often policy is crafted in academic and political bubbles, without substantive engagement with those who interface with its application on a daily basis.
The second engagement took place today with the Black Business Council (BBC), a confederation that represents black professional, business associations and chambers. This follows the engagement with Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) 10 days ago.
Today’s meeting covered last week’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), as well as key aspects of the Plan for Prosperity, including fiscal reform, empowerment, labour market fairness, and the role of the private sector in supporting infrastructure, skills, and job creation.
During the engagement, both parties emphasized the importance of policy certainty, administrative efficiency, and mutual trust between the public and private sectors. They concurred that meaningful economic reform depends on any underlying shared responsibility, with government ensuring policy certainty and infrastructure, while business contributes through investment, skills development and sustainable job creation.
Further engagements will be scheduled with the Business Unity South Africa, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the South African Informal Traders Alliance. These meetings will help refine the Plan for Prosperity’s policy proposals to ensure that they are evidence-based, institutionally feasible, and most importantly aligned with the realities faced by South African enterprises of all sizes.
Plan for Prosperity
The proposed Plan for Prosperity is the blueprint for this endeavour. It’s a comprehensive economic framework aimed at achieving 5% annual growth and expanding employment across all sectors of society.
It presents a clear vision of how South Africa can rebuild an ethical and capable state, drive investment-led growth, and reduce inequality. It calls for sound macroeconomic management, disciplined public expenditure, the elimination of wasteful spending, and the creation of an environment that rewards productivity and innovation.
Following engagements, BOSA will refine the plan into a final document that reflects the inputs from every relevant stakeholder.
Fair Pay Bill
The principle of fairness is woven into the fabric of BOSA’s growth agenda. Without fair rules of the game, the entire legitimacy of the economy and society is called into question. Citizens must be treated fairly and feel like they are being treated fairly. To further this aim, BOSA has tabled the Fair Pay Bill before Parliament.
This bill seeks to strengthen fairness in the labour market by introducing wage transparency, narrowing unjustified pay gaps, and incentivising firms to reward productivity and skills development. It also protects vulnerable workers by enforcing minimum standards and enabling collective bargaining processes that are both fair and efficient.
Key aspects of the Bill are:
- Ending salary history discrimination
- Employers must declare salary range
- Equal pay for equal work
- New right to discuss job offer with other employees
This Monday, 24 November, BOSA is convening a national stakeholder dialogue at Parliament, bringing together representatives of business, labour, academia, and civil society. OUTA, Corruption Watch and the National Employers’ Association of South Africa (NEASA) are part of a diverse group of more than 100 stakeholders confirmed to attend from across business, labour, academia and civil society.
Finally, transparency in public spending remains a critical condition for growth. To restore trust and ensure value for money, BOSA is campaigning for the establishment of a Public Register of All Public Tenders, an online platform that publishes contract awards, suppliers, and values in real time. This will prevent corruption while improving access to, and competition in, procurement.
South Africa’s economy can only grow sustainably when trust is built between the state, business, and citizens. The Economic Growth Engagement Tour represents a commitment by BOSA to lead this process with honesty, openness, and evidence-based solutions. The outcomes of these engagements will inform the version of the Plan for Prosperity that BOSA will present to Parliament and the nation.
Media Enquiries:
Roger Solomons
BOSA Spokesperson
072 299 3551