SBI CALLS FOR IMPLEMENTATION, A PAUSE ON NEW INITIATIVES
February 11, 2026
Embargo: none
As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night, the Small Business Institute is calling on the President to focus on accelerating implementation of agreed policies and laws to improve job-creating growth.
“There are many plans and initiatives to get the country out of the 1% GDP growth trajectory. We need the President to marshal government to purposefully implement these. Layering new ones on existing ones will not help the economy grow, and establishing a plethora of new institutions through an incapable state is counter-productive,” says John Dludlu, SBI CEO.
The SBI is also calling on the President to instruct ministers to improve the quality of consultations with various stakeholders especially business associations around new laws, policies and regulations. “The amount of litigation between various role players and government suggests the efficacy of consultations is not at the right level. This is deeply concerning. Law courts are there to adjudicate disputes, not to make laws.”
While we support the spirit and the rationale behind the establishment of the Transformation Fund, “we need to ensure that existing transformation programmes are not discontinued. Hopefully, the President will also shed light on details of implementing this Fund.
“We expect the President will give an account of existing funds to support cooperatives, SMEs, spazas and township and rural entrepreneurs. Legitimate business associations are ready, willing and capable of working with government to ensure these public funds reach the intended beneficiaries,” says Dludlu.
SBI hopes the President will use his SONA to call on the National Assembly to revive the stalled process of appointing the Ombud for SMEs. “This was not our preferred route. But we recognise that it raised hopes that some relief will come to long-suffering SME owners. Now these hopes are dashed by the impasse.”
Getting the country removed from the grey list (the list of countries considered vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing) has created positive sentiment including credit rating upgrades. “However, more measures such as corruption prosecutions are needed to maintain the momentum or risk a slide back into this dreadful list.”
“Obviously, we’ve to congratulate the President for successfully hosting the G20 including skillfully managing the fallout with the US government over its boycott of the event. Now we need the President to take us into his confidence regarding plans to restore relations with the US. The uncertainty is unhelpful to economic operators especially small business owners exposed to the US markets.
“We also call on the President to give a timeline of appointing a permanent SA ambassador to the US – a job that is critical to restoring bilateral relations,” says Dludlu.
Issued by the Small Business Institute.
CEO of The SBI, Mr John Dludlu
