STRAIGHT TALK: Busi Mavuso: If Joburg thrives, SA thrives

Business has committed to a deep partnership to fix the city that holds the key to growth. But it needs a committed partner.

Editor’s note This article earlier reflected incorrect costs of fixing potholes by both the private and public sectors. The Johannesburg Roads Agency says that its average repair cost per pothole is R371.43 (not R65,000 as reported) and that while an industry benchmark of R3,000 per square kilometre is useful for broad infrastructure costing and road rehabilitation estimates, these are not a proxy for pothole repairs. The private sector costs to fix a pothole are in the same price range (not R7,500 as reported). While Daily Maverick has reported extensively on potholes, we need to learn more and commit to a longer interview with the Johannesburg Roads Agency. We apologise for the errors.Q: Business has set out, in the statement about Joburg, its commitment to act. How will you do so by deploying skills and talent? Is it the Eskom and Transnet model, or is it actually providing capital?

Maybe I must just say that, at the moment, we are not entirely clear how we’re going to be called in to support. But I think we’re very clear that we will come in and support, as we have offered, if we’ve got a credible, committed counterparty on the other side.

The reason the Business-Government Partnership worked was because the President wanted it to work. President Cyril Ramaphosa asked Discovery CEO Adrian Gore whether business could help address what was, at that stage, a national crisis.

A very clear structure was established, with responsibilities, deliverables and a clear cadence of meetings. We knew who was responsible. If there wasn’t delivery, the blockages were identified and addressed.

You’re going to have to have a structure like that in Johannesburg.

It’s someone who wants business to intervene and who will give business the space to intervene in a manner that only business can. It’s also someone willing to open up systems and processes to scrutiny, interrogation and intervention.

You can’t bring business in and still want to keep the status quo. We can’t be told there are no-go areas – touch this but don’t touch that.

It’s going to have to be a completely open process so that we can really see and get to the bottom of what is failing. If you don’t get to the bottom of it, then the intervention you deploy might be hit-and-miss.

A: Yes. The National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) and the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) were set up precisely to allow that kind of scrutiny. Those structures were given the power to in