South Africa in 2026: priorities for action

SOUTH AFRICA IN 2026: PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

Ann Bernstein, Executive Director, Centre For Development and Enterprise

Thursday 29 January  1.00 pm  COURSE FEES R115; Staff and students R58

In a country in crisis on so many fronts, a series of bold catalytic actions is required from the government of national unity (GNU). Agenda 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s New Government offers a policy agenda that is substantially different from what the country has seen over the past sixteen years. It identifies nine catalytic actions within five carefully selected areas: fixing the state; freeing up markets and competition to enhance development; building a new approach to mass inclusion; tackling the fiscal crisis; and strengthening the rule of law.

For the past thirty years the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) has been generating innovative policy recommendations to address South Africa’s core development challenges: economic growth, employment, and democratic consolidation. By examining South African and international experience and consulting widely, CDE formulates evidence-based policy proposals with a special focus on the role of business and markets.

Recommended reading

Bernstein, A. 2010. The Case for Business in Developing Economies. London: Penguin. AGENDA 2024: PRIORITIES FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW GOVERNMENT.

Action One: Reorganise the Presidency and the Cabinet, 12 June 2024.

Action Two: Appoint the right people in mission critical public sector jobs, 19 June 2024. Action Three: Fix the fiscal crisis, 25 July 2024.

Action Four: How to appoint a strong judiciary, 3 September 2024. Action Five: Energise the NPA, 26 September 2024.

Action Six: Solve the SOE challenge, 15 October 2024.

Action Seven: Rethink growth, jobs and the DTIC, 20 November 2024.

Action Eight: Let the private sector drive small business development, 17 February 2025. Action Nine: Use the private sector to turbocharge the SEZ programme, 2 April 2025.

Short reports

Dealing with the Budget Crisis: CDE recommendations, 27 February 2025.

CDE Submission | Transformation Fund: Right Goal, Wrong Approach, 28 May 2025. Appointing the next head of the NPA, 10 June 2025.

For more information on CDE and its publications, please visit cde.org.za.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575305344

Ann Bernstein is the founder and executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), South Africa’s leading development think tank. Since its establishment in 1995, CDE has become a powerful national resource for policy direction and big ideas. Ann has written extensively on the key issues facing the country including economic growth, unemployment, the state of the nation and the role of business and markets in development. She has established a wide network of international experts on these and related issues, and regularly convenes discussions about SA’s challenges across traditional divides. She is a frequent commentator on South Africa’s leading media platforms and has participated in national and global dialogues. She is the author of The Case for Business in Developing Economies (Penguin 2010), which received favourable reviews in South African media, the Economist, Financial Times and Forbes and received the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the book by the Atlas Foundation in Washington DC.

Over the past year, CDE has collaborated with experts, business leaders, former public servants and academics in South Africa and around the world on a major initiative, AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s new government. It offers a policy agenda that answers what is by far the most important question facing the country: what can the new government do to get the country back on track after 15 years of stagnation and decline?