Latest news with #OperationVulindlelaPhaseII
The Citizen
21-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Ramaphosa slams opposition parties' criticism of economic reform
A progress report on Operation Vulindlela was released last week to show the progress on economic reform. President Cyril Ramaphosa has slammed opposition parties who claim the economic reforms in the country represent a 'form of privatisation'. Ramaphosa said South Africa is making steady progress on economic reform to combat an unreliable energy supply, inefficient rail and ports, high data costs and a visa system that has deterred investors and tourists. Progress report Last week Pretoria released a progress report on Operation Vulindlela, a government-wide initiative to accelerate progress on economic reform. Established in the aftermath of Covid in October 2020, the joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury was formed with the aim of driving rapid and inclusive economic growth and job creation through structural reforms. The first phase of Operation Vulindlela focused on tackling issues in five areas – energy, logistics, water, telecommunications and the visa system. ALSO READ: 'Operation Vulindlela update provides detailed progress' – Presidency 'Baseless claims' Writing in his weekly newsletter on Monday, he said South Africa has made progress despite criticism from opposition parties. 'The claims by some opposition parties that these reforms represent a form of privatisation are baseless and misguided. The measures we are taking are common sense reforms that will preserve public ownership of key infrastructure while introducing greater competition, dynamism and investment. 'A number of our peer countries introduced similar reforms, which have powered their economies to higher levels of growth,' Ramaphosa said. Steady progress Ramaphosa said the Operation Vulindlela report showed that the economic reform programme is making steady progress, opening the way to more rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth and job creation. 'We have made significant progress since then in clearing these obstacles with a clear view to enhance economic growth. The reduction in load shedding over the past year was supported by the reforms that we introduced to unlock private investment in electricity generation, while reforms in the telecommunications sector have brought down the cost of mobile data. 'We have reduced the turnaround times for approval processes for water use licences and energy projects, made great progress in clearing the visa application backlog, and expanding the eVisa scheme,' Ramaphosa said. ALSO READ: Ramaphosa defends police commission of inquiry Next phase Ramaphosa said the next phase of Operation Vulindlela, which was initiated in April this year, builds on 'these successes'. 'As part of Operation Vulindlela Phase II, we are also reforming the local government system to ensure that basic services such as water and electricity – which are essential for economic growth – are delivered efficiently and reliably.' Ramaphosa said all of these reforms are 'designed to boost economic growth and create jobs for South Africans'. ALSO READ: 'Ramaphosa will go down in history as one of the most useless presidents' – analyst
IOL News
24-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
South Africa's tourism jobs at risk as foreign arrivals decline
Despite a rise in accommodation spending, South Africa faces a worrying decline in international visitors. Image: Pexels/Nappy Although tourists spent more on accommodation in April when compared with a year ago, the volume of international visitors to our shores declined in May when compared to the previous month. Lara Hodes, Investec economist, said in a note that she expects the June figures to likely be lower due to 'an escalation in geopolitical tensions'. On Tuesday, Statistics South Africa's figures showed that overall tourism to and from international destinations, both by local and global tourists, declined 3.4% in May when compared with April – although this figure was up 22.2% year-on-year. 'Despite current challenges, however, the domestic tourism sector remains a key conduit for growth and employment and is a significant focus area of government. One of the priorities of Operation Vulindlela Phase II launched last month is to streamline the visa system to increase tourism and attract investment,' said Hodes. South Africa's tourism sector employs around 1.5 million people both directly and indirectly. The agency also noted that a comparison between the movements in April 2025 and May 2025 indicates that the volume of arrivals decreased for South African residents but increased for foreign travellers. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading In terms of money spent on accommodation while in South Africa, there was a 14.8% year-on-year increase in income in April. This was mostly driven by a category called 'other' – up 21.2% - and hotels, which gained 11.1%. This 'other' category includes lodges, bed-and-breakfast establishments, and self-catering establishments. Statistics South Africa said in its Tuesday print that the gain was also the result of a 4.5% increase in the number of stay unit nights sold and a 9.9% increase in the average income per stay unit night sold. The gain on income, which strips out restaurant and bar sales, followed a 5.7% year-on-year increase in March, Hodes noted. Hodes added that, when measured on a quarter on quarter seasonally adjusted basis in real terms however, income from accommodation declined in April. She pointed to the most recent Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Other Services survey, which showed that confidence among respondents in the hotel and restaurant subsector decreased markedly in the second quarter of the year alongside significant declines in both business conditions and business volumes. IOL Business
The Citizen
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Housing, local gov and digital transformation at the forefront of Operation Vulindlela phase II
Ramaphosa says the initiative has already started to attract private investment. President Cyril Ramaphosa at the launch of Operation Vulindlela Phase II at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 7 May 2025. Picture: @GovernmentZA / X Government has officially launched the second phase of Operation Vulindlela, with spatial inequality, local government and digital transformation at the forefront of the programme's agenda. Established in the aftermath of Covid-19 in October 2020, the joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury was formed with the aim of driving rapid and inclusive economic growth and job creation through structural reforms. The first phase of Operation Vulindlela focused on tackling issues in five areas – energy, logistics, water, telecommunications and the visa system. Need for growth Watch the phase II launch here: Addressing the media during a briefing at the Union Buildings on Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the three new focus areas arose out of the need for growth that serves millions of South Africans who remain unemployed. He said the country also needs growth that improves people's daily lives by fixing the infrastructure that is broken. Spatial inequality 'We will address the apartheid legacy of spatial inequality, which has forced millions of South Africans to live far from economic opportunity,' Ramaphosa said. 'The poorest South Africans spend as much as 40 percent of their income on transport to get to work, more than almost any other country in the world. The structure of our cities has to change to enable people to access work,' he added. The president said this meant changing the country's housing policy to allow people to choose where they want to live through subsidies for home ownership and affordable rentals. ALSO READ: World Bank suggests trade policy reforms for SA – report 'While the millions of homes that we have built since 1994 have given families shelter and dignity on an unprecedented scale, we cannot continue to build houses on the periphery of our cities and towns.' Ramaphosa said the government would accelerate the release of publicly owned land and buildings for affordable housing, with a particular focus on inner cities. In addition, it will clear the backlog of title deeds for affordable housing while making the titling system more accessible and affordable. This, he said, would turn houses into an asset for poor households and enable them to access credit and use the asset to advance themselves. 'Finally, we are going to undertake a comprehensive regulatory review to remove barriers to low-cost housing development and incentivise investment in urban centres as opposed to outlying areas. These reforms will help turn our cities and towns into thriving centres of economic activity.' Improving local government Acknowledging that municipalities are struggling with delivering basic services to homes and businesses, Ramaphosa said the aim of the joint operation is to improve local government's performance. The second area of reform for this phase of Operation Vulindlela is to improve the performance of local government. The agenda is clear, he said, and it starts with improving the delivery of water and electricity services through professional utilities that have the right technical skills, strong regulation and oversight, and full control of their billing and revenue functions. This control would allow them to invest in infrastructure and maintenance. ALSO READ: Economist lauds govt's Operation Vulindlela drive to accelerate structural reform Another key step is to strengthen local government administration by appointing capable, qualified people like municipal managers and chief financial officers, the president said. 'This will be done by extending the mandate of the Public Service Commission to local government and taking action against municipalities that fail to comply with minimum competency standards,' he said. 'National Treasury will review the local government fiscal framework, including the design of conditional grants, to ensure that the revenue of municipalities matches their responsibilities.' Digital transformation Where digital transformation is concerned, Ramaphosa said Cabinet approved a Digital Transformation Roadmap last month to drive the adoption of digital technologies in government and to build digital public infrastructure that can be used by all South Africans. 'This will include a digital identity system, rapid payments to expand financial inclusion, and enabling people to access services like applying for an ID or passport online.' 'Meaningful progress' Giving an update of the five focus areas in the first phase, Ramaphosa said the economy is already starting to reap the benefits of the operation, and changes are attracting private investment. 'I commend in particular the ministers, deputy ministers, directors-general and CEOs that have provided leadership to these efforts,' he said. 'Over the last four years, Operation Vulindlela has become a government-wide initiative. This is meaningful progress, and it will enable higher growth in the years to come.' NOW READ: Steel Federation hopeful Operation Vulindlela will bring change
