SA needs to take targeted risks to stabilise country's economy says Eastern Cape MEC

EAST LONDON, South Africa - April 30, 2013 - PRLog -- Extraordinary leadership will be key if South Africa hopes to have any chance of reversing the ongoing crippling effects of the 2007/2008 global economic crisis.

These were a few choice words Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) MEC Mcebisi Jonas had for some of the world’s leading business researchers during the eighth annual International Conference on Applied Business Research (ICABR) hosted by WSU in partnership with the Czech Republic’s Mendel University in Brno, held in East London recently.

“The global economic crisis was far more serious than a cyclical downturn and has not shown signs of abatement over the past five years. This presents a road ahead likely to include significant uncertainty for the country’s economy,” said Jonas.

He said this uncertainty would require the country to do two things well; ensure that the state plays a strong and effective role in ensuring safety net support for the vulnerable and creates the basic foundations for economic activity through infrastructure, logistics and skills support. Secondly, the country needs to take targeted risks in areas of potential relating to new economic sectors, and take advantage of new opportunities linked to partnerships in the rest of Africa and the BRICS countries.

Jonas said that the country needs to establish new platforms for partnerships between the state, business and the community in order to find innovative solutions to the country’s deep and often structural economic constraints.

“The sustenance of the partnerships between these sectors will require new attitudes from the state, business and our communities on business and economic practices, as well as other actors such as organized labour,” continued Jonas.

With these words having set the tone for the conference, the dignitaries sunk their teeth into some of the meaty issues to be interrogated and scrutinised at the conference.

Issues covered ranged from serious topics such as Globalisation and its effects on Africa; Creating Youth Employment through Apiculture; Rural Economic Development, Modelling Employment Growth; to more offbeat topics such as Globalisation and Local Gastronomy among indigenous youth in SA; Poverty and suicide in Transkei; and Israel as a new destination for African refugees; all topics served up, to which a ravenous appetite was shown.