Ebrahim Patel and his super-ministry in pole position to rev up policy

Trade and industry minister, Ebrahim Patel. Picture: WALDO SWIEGERS / BLOOMBERG

Possibly the scale of his combined department — covering trade and industrial policy and important bodies such as the Industrial Development Corporation , the Competition Commission, the lottery and so on — may force him to delegate more, to leave more of the detailed administration to the civil servants.

However, the economy needs a lot of help. Just look at the monthly stats on business confidence, on consumer confidence, on inflation, on GDP growth and, crucially, on unemployment. Take just one example of where he can make a real difference. The IDC was once the midwife to large industrial projects. Think of the birth of Sasol, Iscor, the BHP smelters and Highveld Steel. While IDC support is invaluable, not least to black industrialists, Patel’s oversight of the funding organisation will be combined with the department’s funding toolbox. This is a space we will certainly be watching.

Now that the election is behind us, we need to try even harder to get the SA investment Sherpas to climb even higher mountains, to notch up even more air miles. The investment summit this year must be better planned, better staged and more ambitious, so that it reaps higher spoils. And it is just one of many areas where industry needs a hand.

Lol

...Ebrahim Patel has spent his entire working life supporting and promoting organised labour and undermining capitalism, its processes and its institutions...there is absolutely no way he will improve industrial policy and systems and create a better employment environment in SA.

A communist driving a high growth economy.....might be a first!

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