After seven months of lockdown, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa tabled an “economic reconstruction and recovery plan” on Thursday in response to the staggering effects of Covid-19 on the country&#8217;s economy.



The president’s plans respond to the immediate economic impact of the pandemic by driving job creation and expanding support for vulnerable households.



“We aim to do this primarily through a major infrastructure program and a large-scale employment stimulus, coupled with an intensive localization drive and industrial expansion,” Ramaphosa said in his address.



Some of Ramaphosa’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan highlighted in Parliament:



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">1. “Create and support over 800,000 work opportunities in the immediate term to respond to job losses”</h4>



In his address to parliament, the president announced that the government has committed an R100 billion fund to create 800,000 public sector jobs in the next three years. This employment stimulus is focused on those interventions that can be rolled out most quickly and have the greatest impact on economic recovery.



“At the heart of the employment stimulus is a new, innovative approach to public employment which harnesses the energies and capabilities of the wider society,” Ramaphosa said.



Of the 800,000 job opportunities, 300,000 would go to unemployed grade 12 pupils to be hired as assistants to public school teachers. The aim is that these matriculants could help teachers with their added Covid-19 related responsibilities like such as ensuring classroom hygiene and daily health screening of pupils.



“We are going to create 300,000 opportunities for young people to be engaged as education and school assistants at schools throughout the country, to help teachers with basic and routine work so that more time is spent on teaching and enabling learners to catch up from time lost because of Covid,” said Ramaphosa.



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">2. “Unlock more than R1 trillion in infrastructure investment over the next four years”</h4>



In his recovery plan, Ramaphosa announced that there is a pipeline of projects in works that will completely transform the landscape of South Africa’s cities, towns, and rural areas.



The president stated that there are several projects that have been prioritized for “immediate implementation with all regulatory processes fast-tracked”. These projects include the 276 catalytic projects, which had an investment value of R2.3 trillion by the end of June 2020. Furthermore, the list of 50 strategic integrated projects and 12 special projects that were gazetted in July 2020.



“Our infrastructure build program will focus on social infrastructures such as schools, water, sanitation, and housing for the benefit of our people. We will focus on critical network infrastructures such as ports, roads, and rail that are key to our economy’s competitiveness,” Ramaphosa said.



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">3. “Achieve sufficient, secure, and reliable energy supply within two years”</h4>



The president said that the government would be accelerating the process of bringing additional energy generation on line. Part of this plan would be implementing the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to provide a substantial increase in the contribution of renewable energy sources, battery storage and gas technology.



“The work of restructuring Eskom into separate entities for generation, transmission, and distribution continues and will enhance competition and ensure the sustainability of independent power producers going forward,” Ramaphosa said.



“To achieve this, a long-term solution to Eskom’s debt burden will be finalized, building on the Social Compact on Energy Security recently agreed to by social partners.”

State Of The Nation 2020 in South Africa

Ramaphosa’s Rescue Plan For South Africa

In the United States, 60% of the country’s employment is said to be created by family-owned businesses, though Ted Clark, the executive director at the Northeastern University Center for Family Business, believes this to be an exaggerated estimate. Despite this, family businesses are significant to job-creation, which is why it is important to understand some of the risks that come with them.
From the golden arches of our local McDonald’s, to the swiveling rims and the muscular lines of the latest BMW, we see some of the manifestations of enduring and pioneering multi-generational family businesses. But, the road to success if often paved with threatening challenges and temporary misfortune. Pitfalls such as financial turmoil, hostile takeovers, fraudulent misdemeanors and corporate scandals often plague family businesses.
Most family businesses dislike the idea of incorporating a formal structure to their business as it grows. Such structures would imply tedious forms of communication that may be placed under scrutiny by non-members of the family. Despite this, such a structure would ensure better organization, the avoidance of miscommunication, more profitability and clearer job tasks. One of the reasons many small family businesses lack structure is because they were founded without a business plan. Maintaining conflicts of interest is another tricky aspect of a family business, especially if it operates with a human resources department. Most family-business consultancies recommend that there be no direct lines of communication between relatives.
Family dynamics and business structure do not necessarily work together. In most cases, disagreements in family business stems from an overlap between family dynamics and the structure and policies of the company. Unresolved issues in a family tend to spill over into the business environment, which may stagnate the growth of, or even the continued existence of, the business. Other causes may be the lack of definitive roles that each member is required to respect. Crossing the boundaries of one’s role and assuming unsolicited authority over areas of the family business may prove detrimental to relationships within the business and unproductive to employees. Another common problem is the lack of transparency for non-family employees regarding payment structure, decision-making and career progression.
According to a report, publically-listed family businesses were found to have performed better than non-family businesses during the recessions in 2001 and 2008. Many family businesses fail to make it to the second generation owing to unresolvable family disputes, resisting or ignoring change, poor succession planning and failing to adapt to the latest business and market trends. What may have worked for the founder of the business, may be damaging for the loyal successor. On the other hand, contrasting and conflicting views on how the business must be run is a common cause of failure. Like in any company, a clear and shared vision is required to ensure that all members are working effectively towards the same goal.
The big N-word that most family businesses hate being associated with is nepotism. This is a word that usually sits at the tip of the tongue of a disgruntled employee who may have been sidestepped for a promotion that was given to a less experienced family member.
In some cases, working in a family-owned business may mean limiting your sights to positions that will never lead you to the coveted position of CEO or chairman, often reserved for the company’s blue bloods. It may be in the best interest of some family businesses take a page from the family that founded the LEGO Group. The company chose to ensure the longevity of their business by promoting the first non-family member to head their eponymous toy dynasty in 2004.
While many family businesses come with their complications, it is important that these issues are discussed openly between family and non-family members to ensure the health and growth of a business that intends to grow beyond the first or second generation.

Perils Of the  Family Business

On New Year’s Day, Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, announced the end of the country’s 19-year-old fuel subsidy. It meant the fuel price soared by 116% (to 150 naira from 65) overnight. Before then a liter of oil was cheaper than a 350ml can of coke.
The reason, according to the government, is that the subsidies have strained the country’s coffers.
The people were angry, with labor and civil society groups organizing nation-wide strikes. Protestors stormed Nigerian airports to prevent operators from checking in more than 500 passengers—a mere sideshow in what was to prove a massive and violent protest.
On any given day, traffic on the Lekki expressway, where it meets Ozumbo Nbadiwe Street in Victoria Island, Lagos, resembles a writhing dragon, seeking escape. The mass action left these streets  deserted. Protestors shut down petrol stations, banks, shops, schools, offices and ports. Barricades went up and tens of thousands took to the streets.
The protests turned violent; a curfew was imposed in the Kuduna and Niger states. Borno state was placed under a state of emergency. Fourteen people were injured in Kano as the protestors clashed with police. The police used teargas and live ammunition to disperse the crowds. In the confusion the authorities put the death toll anywhere between three and 22.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil exporter and the fifth largest provider of oil to the United States. Its economy relies heavily on oil, with production of approximately 2.5 million barrels per day with a target of increasing to three million bpd this year.
The reported $7.4 billion a year that will be diverted from the subsidies is to go towards investment in infrastructure. This is the idea of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme. Pouring the money into infrastructure projects in power, transportation, roads, water and petroleum sectors. The creation of a downstream sector could lead to job creation and a large stream of revenue on the way to lending Nigeria middle-income status.
For the 160 million people in Nigeria, the long-run benefits of the subsidy removal are as naught, compared to rising food and transport prices.
Wole Famurewa, a presenter at CNBC Africa [in Nigeria] says:  “The price of bread was up by 10% after the first week. ”
This is what the people, most earning less than $1.25 a day, now face.
Several reports indicate that the strikes cost the economy between $600 million and $1 billion dollars per day, with worries over the Nigerian oil supply pushed up global oil prices. The fifth day of the strike came with a threat by workers to completely cut output on Januart 14 if fuel price was not put back to 65 naira ($0.40).
The last oil strike was in 2007, when outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, raised fuel prices, doubled value-added tax and privatized refineries.
The Department of Petroleum Resources said: “Both parties know the importance of the negotiation and we are quite confident that they will come to an agreement.”
At this point, the labor movement had declined an offer by the government to reduce fuel prices to 100 naira-a-liter and Nigeria’s House of Representatives passed a motion urging government to return fuel subsidies.
The mass action in Nigeria takes place against the backdrop of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). PIB seeks to deregulate and decentralize the oil and gas industry to make it more efficient. The process of transforming the Bill into law has stalled for more than five years. Civil society argues, the solution for government should not be in the removal of subsidies, but decentralizing and deregulating the industry to be more efficient and profitable.
A possible compromise could be to phase out the subsidies, rather than scrap them. On January 16, the government agreed to a fuel price of 97 naira ($0.60) and the strike was suspended.

Tag: Job creation

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Ramaphosa’s Rescue Plan For South Africa

Perils Of the Family Business

Uproar In Nigeria