Photo by [TechSmart]
“My view is that business needs to do more, and this is what we are trying to do. Society cannot be dependent solely on the efforts of the government purely because they are elected. We’ve got all these arms and need to play our part,” said Dr Sifiso Falala, CEO of Plus24. In his opinion, South African businesses that have access to abundant resources need to do more to help and assist civil society with the daily challenges they have to face.
Hence, this will be the role of BuildRSA, the chat platform developed by Priority Performance Projects which is part of Plus24, to be a bridge and a space where people can interact and critically discuss the relevant challenges and formulate resolutions with each other and relevant powers. The platform will reach out to the government, businesses and members of civil society, who collectively have a role to play in promoting and building a brighter future.
“BuildRSA will reach out to everyone. In other words, we reach out to other businesses, we’ll reach out to the government, and we’ll reach out to civil society to work with us. This is what we’re trying to do. We don’t think there’s one centre for making the country work. We think there are multiple centres, and this is a different approach from BuildRSA.”
The Roles of the Government and Private Sector
Dr Falala said, South Africa is a multi-faceted country, therefore, the responsibility to ensure its longevity and prosperity lies not only with the government, but also the private sector, and civil society.
Speaking to Salaamedia, he foregrounded multiple issues regarding the government and the private sector. Amongst those were the government’s lack of ambition, its reactionary responses to crises and its lack of prioritisation of skilled personnel.
“My problem with the government is that the government is not ambitious enough. You never hear any ambitious plans from the government. They’re always firefighting, and they have lots of knee-jerk reactions to things … You do need to have a bit of ambition as a country [and] government certainly lacks [that].”
Additionally, the private sector can do more, as they have done and continue to do. Dr Falala suggested it “is actually quite counter-intuitive that the private sector is not leading the way”, given the value placed on skilled and talented individuals in contrast to the government sector.
However, when it comes to addressing real issues, such as the creation of jobs, the private sector tends to be very “hypocritical” and “cocoons” itself in pursuit of its self-interest and preservation.
“The problems that we have in South Africa is not necessarily a fallout from a dysfunctional government that is incompetent, [but] also because of an insolent and disinterested private sector.”
Suppose every aspect of society can pull in one direction. In that case, there may be a chance for sustainable solutions to the country’s multiple challenges. While Dr Falala acknowledges that the government is doing the best it can, its capabilities are limited. Therefore, the private sector and civil society should shoulder some responsibility and fill in wherever possible.
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Will BuildRSA Play a Much Larger Role in Addressing the Issues of the Country?
BuildRSA is an initiative to provide South African citizens with a platform to share their views on numerous issues facing the country while actively engaging in dialogue to find workable solutions.
As reported by its website, “BuildRSA is apolitical. We engage all topics that matter, including allowing our citizens to express political opinions. Our rules demand that this be done in a constructive way, in the interests of South Africa.”
BuildRSA believes South Africa can be a prosperous country if we work together. Dr Falala said they are looking for people who genuinely and sincerely want to rectify and create a more prosperous nation.
“We are committed to taking everyone that is patriotic [and who] loves South Africa on board. We have found that loving South Africa or a country is not a given, so we want people that genuinely want the best for South Africa.”
