SA's chairship of BRICS to unlock opportunities for Africa

South Africa is honoured to take over the chairship of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) group under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, said Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake.

“Our focus is to build a partnership between BRICS and Africa to unlock mutually beneficial opportunities for increased trade, investment and infrastructure,” she said.

The Deputy Minister said Africa, through the African Union (AU), has engineered and approved the AU Agenda 2063, with the intention of building strong institutions to enhance cross-border economic devel- opment and good governance.

Pilane-Majake said this when she addressed the BRICS Conference on Governance and Public Administration Reform at the University of Pretoria. The event was held as one of the over 80 build-up events towards the BRICS Summit which will be hosted in South Africa from 22 to 24 August 2023.

She added that government was certain that the BRICS partnership had the ability to support South Africa and the African continent at large on the journey towards economic recovery.

“This will contribute to making Africa’s economy globally competitive, reduce the cost of doing business, attract investments, and stimulate economic growth, thus alleviating poverty and unemployment,” she added.

Pilane-Majake said without capable public institutions, there is a risk of collapse of governments and other sectors of society.

“Building capable institutions requires an investment in building human capabilities to be diligent, masterful and innovative,” she said.

The National School of Government remains a key institution to drive the developmental state agenda of building state capacity. This year marks 10 years since the establishment of the National School of Government. – SAnews.gov.za

Writers: Dr Ntombi Nala, Laticia Masia and Neo Tikolo