President Cyril Ramaphosa says phase three of the Government-Business Partnership will focus on advancing economic growth to reach 3%, while aiming to create one million jobs by 2030.
Addressing delegates in Sandton, the President underscored the success of the collaboration which has resulted in the elimination of loadshedding, the improvement of the logistics system and the country’s removal from the Financial Action Task Forces’ greylist among others.
Ramaphosa says the country needs growth that delivers jobs and supports small and medium businesses owned by women and youth.
“The central focus of phase 3 must be inclusive growth, jobs and confidence. Our immediate objective is to lift economic growth above 3%, that should be our focus, but growth of 3% cannot be our summit ambition. It is a necessary threshold from which we must advance towards higher sustained and more inclusive growth. The composition of growth matters as much as its rate. We need growth that is labour intensive, that expands our industrial capacity.”
VIDEO | President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address at the launch of the phase three of the Government-Business Partnership:
The programme will also seek to pursue growth through specific sectors, mainly mining, agriculture, infrastructure and tourism. This is according to the co-convenor of the partnership and chair of Business Leadership South Africa, Adrian Gore who addressed the gathering.
He says these sectors were selected based on potential growth, economic materiality and jobs multiplier effect.
Gore emphasised that an economy that’s fit for purpose must be able to create 300 000 jobs annually.
“Mining is a geological superpower. It is asleep; we need to wake it up. It is a leader in PGMs [platinum group metals] and has an incredible market share across many different commodities. It makes a massive contribution to GDP, employs a huge number of people and needs to scale. Agriculture needs to scale as well. It really is a global export platform. We have world-class technology in agriculture. Infrastructure is sitting on a R2 trillion backlog that needs to be funded, as well as a R1 trillion catch-up. Tourism is such an incredible export industry for us.”
President @CyrilRamaphosa calls for South Africa to take advantage of the opportunities presented by its mineral wealth as Phase 3 of the Government-Business Partnership expands its focus to the mining sector.
The next phase will support efforts to unlock investment in mining,… pic.twitter.com/gkMb04RCZa
— The Presidency
(@PresidencyZA) August 20, 2026
President @CyrilRamaphosa speaks to the role of tourism in driving investment, economic growth and job creation as Phase 3 of the Government-Business Partnership expands its focus to the sector.
The next phase will focus on improving air access, modernising visa processing,… pic.twitter.com/OS1N6ZqLV3
— The Presidency
