● Newsmaker: Busisiwe Mavuso on an energy game-changer

Resource Mobilisation Fund will be a ‘game-changer’ for the government’s electricity strategy, says BLSA chief

Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), which represents big business, says its Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF) launched last week will empower the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) to “get on with the business of solving the energy crisis”.

“It will be a game-changer because it will provide the capacity and expertise needed within Necom to implement the electricity crisis plan announced by the president in July last year,” she says.

Since then the energy crisis has gone from bad to worse and there has been little sign of action from Necom, a committee of government ministers and bureaucrats in which business, in spite of repeated requests, has had no representation or voice.

The RMF, started with R100m, which is the quantification of the initial skills required to begin implementing the electricity crisis plan, will allow business to get more involved in overseeing and driving the work of Necom.

“It will be the beginning of an unprecedented partnership between business and government to tackle the electricity crisis,” Mavuso says.

“What the energy crisis and Necom require as a matter of urgency is a co-ordination of skills and resources, of capacity and finding new ways business can intervene to help solve the energy crisis. The RMF will be a vehicle for that.”

She believes there has been an acceptance by the government that the only way the disastrous economic trajectory of the country can be changed is through government and business working far more closely together.

But ideological resistance to private sector involvement is still rife, she adds.

She is careful to dispel the notion that the RMF taking its relationship with the government to another level means business is going to be running Necom.

“Providing the technical capacity to drive Necom’s implementation of the electricity crisis plan is one thing, but it doesn’t give us any powers over Necom. We as business still don’t have a seat in Necom, which remains an internal government committee.”

Ideological resistance to business involvement in the work of government institutions and committees hasn’t stopped them requesting, and receiving, significant funding from business, she says.

The RMF means that “now instead of them all running to different business organisations and having to have tough conversations with each of them, business is saying: ‘You focus on what needs to be done. We will mobilise the funding for you to do it.’”

“So business is going the extra mile and taking the partnership and support it has been giving to government to a totally new level.”

The initial R100m they’ve sourced from local business is just the start. They will be mobilising money for the RMF from international sources too.

“With this fund we’re committing ourselves to go all over the world to garner funding to make sure we fix our problems and become a capable state.”

Although the immediate focus of the RMF will be Necom, its vision is much broader, Mavuso says.

“State organs that were not aware that business funds the resourcing of government have now all of a sudden with the launch of the RMF become aware.

“This has sort of opened the floodgates in terms of them coming to us for support, so I see the fund taking on more and more projects outside of Necom. That’s how it’s been designed, to be this central repository.”

The board of the RMF consists of business leaders, “and there might be a seat or two for representatives of government”, and all funding requests will pass through that board.

There are several layers of retired professionals with business, accounting, legal, engineering, energy modelling and other relevant skills and experience to ensure corruption doesn’t happen, she says.

“Necessary skills will be procured through this process and given to Necom.”

Mavuso says Necom has not been sufficiently transparent or communicative about what it is doing to address the energy crisis.

“We met with Necom last year because we wanted to understand where they’re at. It has taken some time for them to put together a plan, but I believe a decent amount of work has been done behind the scenes. Now we need to see implementation.”

Necom has signalled that it shares this sense of urgency.

“Since our meeting they’ve been pushing us to quickly finalise the setting up of the fund so they can start appointing the necessary skills and get on with the business of solving the crisis.”

The person driving Necom’s efforts to end load-shedding will be new electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

How much faith does she have in him? She says in spite of a lack of clarity about what his role will be over existing energy ministries, what gives her hope is his understanding of the need to involve the private sector more fully.

She had a close working relationship with him when he was driving infrastructure reform in the presidency as head of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), “and he was very clear that they would not be able to achieve their infrastructure mandate without working closely with business”.

“I’ve seen how he values the contribution business can bring, how he values the expertise and capacity and resources that reside in business.”

She’s impressed that in his first three days as minister he met with all the critical business stakeholders.

“I see him taking the same position he took with ISA of keeping the private sector close because he appreciates that finding a sustainable solution to the energy crisis will not just be done by government but only through a strong partnership and collaboration between business and government.”

She agrees he didn’t exactly shoot the lights out in his three years in charge of ISA, achieving very few of the infrastructure goals he committed to.

“I don’t know the reasons for him not achieving those goals but the fact that he believes in and is adopting the partnership model between government and the private sector gives me confidence.”

This sets him apart from many of his government colleagues, she notes.

The government as a whole still has an ideological block about involving the private sector, she says.

“We work much more closely with certain government entities such as Operation Vulindlela and the National Prosecuting Authority than with others.”

The National Energy Crisis Committee will now be added to this list.

With this fund we’re committing ourselves to go all over the world to garner funding to make sure we fix our problems and become a capable state