Every major enterprise in South Africa would learn in the next few years that it had not invested enough for the growth the country is going to experience, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin warned on Friday evening.
”All of us have recently experienced the almost soul-searing shock that Eskom is not absolutely infallible … and that is a lesson that time and time again virtually every major enterprise in South Africa is going to learn in the next few years,” Erwin said.
Speaking at a charity fundraising event hosted by the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science in Midrand, Erwin said the government’s massive investment programme would be challenging.
”The public-sector investment alone in the next five years is R420-billion. This has never ever been attempted in South Africa before.
”Very, very few of us truly understood what we were embarking upon. This is an absolute transformation of the South African economy,” he added.
He challenged businessmen at the event to start thinking about the growth the investment would bring.
”The main obstacle to our own success is our own minds. We have to be confident we have to think hard about growth,” Erwin said. – Sapa