As one of SA's most influential former miners, neil froneman It has a unique perspective on how to stimulate economic growth to create jobs. Here's a glimpse of what the rainmakers will propose at News24's On the Record summit in March.
When Neal Froneman speaks at News24's On the Record summit in March, he will advocate for an end to race-based legislation.
To provide an investor-friendly environment, “South Africa needs to move beyond race-based legislation to one that is competitive and less bureaucratic,” he says.
The self-proclaimed proponent of stakeholder capitalism says of the issue of diversity and inclusivity, “The best performing businesses already practice those concepts. I don't know why we need to legislate all this and constantly double down and create complexity and friction where it's not needed.”
“The business has moved on and we let legacy issues cloud our thinking,” he says.
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In solving the important twin issues of inequality and poverty, Froneman is fully behind “creating jobs through economic growth”. In my view, this is the only practical and sustainable solution.
And, for SA to achieve this goal, we must make decisions that meet the goal of economic growth.
“You can't drive a car on a difficult road while constantly looking in the rear-view mirror,” he says.
Public and private conversations are needed
Despite retiring as CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater last year, Froneman is still one of the most influential gold mining executives in the world.
His email signature title now reads “Rainmaker – Retired”.
A rainmaker is a person who makes many aggressive deals, generates significant business and secures large-scale investments. Froneman fits that description to a T – having “built a mining empire throughA whirlwind merger and acquisition spree“.
He is also known for being outspoken, speaking his mind, and criticizing government trade policy.
“I'm not one of those people who just criticize,” he says.
I get involved in it and also play a creative role.
Currently, he is the Chair of Business Against Crime South Africa and co-Chair of the Joint Initiative on Crime and Corruption with the Director-General in the Presidency.
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For his many outspoken views, Froneman says some people have suggested he have these conversations privately with relevant stakeholders.
“We have tried to have these private conversations for many years,” he argued.
This does not bring about the necessary change. So you have to talk publicly, you have to talk behind closed doors, and you have to actively engage and change direction.
On the first day of the News24 summit, Froneman will be part of a panel titled It's the economy, silly (or is it?) And will include Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi, Business Leadership CEO SA Busi Mavuso and Standard Bank senior political economist Simon Freemantle.
After the summit, expect him to “definitely use the links we have to work in the national interest”.
Solution?
Froneman summarizes: “The problem is that to create jobs, we have to grow the economy. To grow the economy, we have to invest. To invest, we have to create an investor-friendly environment.”
At the moment, South Africa “does not have an investment-friendly environment, and that's because the government wants to control everything”.
He suggests SA should start with property-rights certainty, make labor rules less stringent, show its seriousness on crime by prosecuting high-profile cases and fix municipal distribution so companies don't exploit loopholes. Ultimately, he says, “dysfunctional municipalities become a burden to business”.
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Strengthening the domestic front provides certainty and predictability to investors, who then have no hesitation in investing capital in the country.
However, SA's foreign policy also hinders investment.
“If you think about world capital markets, they're in the Western world. They're not in the Eastern world,” except maybe for bank lending in China, he says.
One of the biggest sources of capital in the western world is the US, but SA keeps giving them a thumbs up. There is money in those capital markets, it is available and “our business style fits those markets. I don't think Russia has the money to invest,” he says.
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He wants SA to walk the talk and “be truly non-aligned”.
“South Africa can be a bridge between East and West, if it plays its cards right. It is probably one of the only countries in the world that can do that, but we have chosen to be aligned with the East, even though we say we are not in alliance.”
This has a direct impact on the SA economy, “because you weaken our ability to borrow money, get investment and grow the economy”.
'We have to win'
Froneman comes across less as a diagnostician and more as a diagnostician with a critical but solution-oriented lens.
His years as an influential miner, his close ties to business and government leadership – both locally and internationally – and his candid analysis give him a perspective that many do not have. And he wants to use them all to achieve results.
“We need to win. Whatever game we're going to play, wherever we're going to play we need to win,” he says, remembering the Springboks' green and gold colours.
A word about the President, who will deliver the keynote address at News24's On the Record summit?
Frohman says, “I think the president listens. I've never had an unaccepting president. He doesn't want to hear problems. He wants to hear solutions and he'll work with those solutions.”
Learn more about Here on the record summit.
If you are interested in attending the On the Record Summit in person, please contact us here.