Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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The world economic forum’s latest global competitiveness index came out recently. They listed Switzerland as the most competitive country in the world and the United States as second. When they talk about competitiveness they are talking about the embrace of technological change and how countries compete with each other and help their citizens be able to compete in business. In other words, if you make it hard for somebody to do business in your country, then you will not be as competitive as another country.
South Africa ranked 61st in the survey, which is not bad, but it is unfortunately down on our previous position when we were 47th. In other words, we are becoming less competitive than the other nations who we compete with and that obviously is problematic. Just to give you an example of some of the countries that are close to us, in the rankings, but beat us would include Kazakhstan and Rwanda. Yes, those are countries that are more competitive than us. Some of the countries that are less competitive than us include Iran, Morocco, Armenia, Brazil and Ukraine. Our neighbour, Zimbabwe, is not doing very well coming in at 124th and Mozambique comes in at 136th of the 137 countries that are rated. Yes, we are doing well, but there are a number of Eastern European countries who used to lag behind us that are now past us and we obviously have to look at trying to make South Africa more globally competitive and able to grow better. That is particularly important when we know that to try and get full employment in South Africa we would need a number of years of growth at 5% a year – and as you will recall, from recent blog articles of mine, we are looking at about 0,5% instead. Making South Africa globally competitive should be the number one focus of the government – the jobs will follow once we approach that – and yes, if I can just have a dig at them again, the CCMA rules don’t really help us.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Wednesday 08-Nov-17
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Comments
Nicky said:
on Wednesday 29-Nov-17 04:42 PM
Although South Africa is not that low on the rankings-we have dropped and should move back up. However, with the downgrades and high unemployment rate I'm skeptical about moving up on the rankings.
Natasha said:
on Wednesday 29-Nov-17 12:42 PM
I really hope this gets better. Just imagen how our children are going to struggle to survive if the economy keeps on going up and up and up Already making a decent living in South Africa can be challenging.
Bianca N said:
on Wednesday 29-Nov-17 12:14 PM
I honestly hope this gets better. How will our children one day survive if the economy keeps this up? Already making a decent living in South Africa can be challenging and with this news it seems as it is only getting worse.
Jessica M said:
on Wednesday 29-Nov-17 12:05 PM
No surprise I guess, the only competition we have here is who gets the job. Very sad and they don't fund like the other countries do to get new people and their new ideas to save and be competitive.
Zindy said:
on Monday 27-Nov-17 07:38 AM
Considering that 14 countries have jumped in front of us, its actually scary but then again lets have a look at our Government!
Nicolle said:
on Friday 24-Nov-17 04:29 PM
Creating jobs and incomes is crucial for development. Most developing countries struggle with high unemployment or underemployment. Many people can barely live from what they earn. This is why creating new jobs, but also improving incomes and working conditions for existing jobs, is hugely important. Pro-development integration into global trade as well as foreign direct investment can facilitate this process.
Liz said:
on Thursday 23-Nov-17 09:01 AM
South Africa has an abundance of natural resources and I'm sure that is why we have not ranked terribly to begin with, but as a result of corruption and mismanagement we cannot reach our full potential. Something needs to be drastically done in order to ensure our competitiveness in the global market.
Nikita said:
on Friday 17-Nov-17 04:56 PM
They say that if you want to win big you have to play big. Unfortunately we do not have the means to play with because of our corrupt government. Instead of using money to upgrade the country the government officials are thinking about what fancy watch to buy next or how to steal from their desperate people. The only way this country can truly grow is with education. Hopefully with education we can overcome this corruption which will then lead us to grow.
Bianca R said:
on Friday 17-Nov-17 12:52 PM
I am quite surprised that we ranked so high to begin with, I find that trying to better yourself/your business in our country is extremely difficult and the state of our country, is something that urgently needs to be addressed. If this was our government's number one project, all other avenues would look up and we would certainly have a lot less people that are unemployed.
Jadine Richards said:
on Friday 17-Nov-17 09:25 AM
I'm surprised we aren't actually higher up on the list considering how easy it is to manipulate our leaders into giving you what ever you want if you make it worthwhile enough for them. Foreign investors could effectively run the country if they line the pockets of the correct people with minimal consequences...the business would flourish. On a serious note the technology and skills that could be gained from increasing competitiveness is sorely needed in South Africa.
Helen said:
on Friday 17-Nov-17 08:53 AM
South Africa is so rich country of natural resources and perfect weather conditions but very pour management, so many countries can be only jealous looking at the land we have.
Being 61st on the list is not very bad news, would be great to be further though.
brumilde said:
on Friday 17-Nov-17 08:30 AM
Another reason why SA should invest more overseas and we should open our minds to the technology that is available around us. although here in SA we struggle with our water and power so yeah... we are a 3rd world country for a reason
Prishani said:
on Tuesday 14-Nov-17 04:37 PM
Definitely something we need to work on, this will have so many positive effects on our country and help us deal with some of the biggest issues we are faced with, slow growth and very little job opportunities. It all works hand in hand.
Daniella said:
on Monday 13-Nov-17 11:08 AM
This is quite believable I must say, we are heading towards a very steep downhill slope and somethings need to change drastically.
Michelle said:
on Monday 13-Nov-17 10:15 AM
I'm not surprised on the fact that we are 61st. It is more surprising to me that we are even on the list of the countries under the top 100. I do not know what the future holds for South Africa. But things do not look very good at the moment. We can only have hope.
Ashleigh said:
on Monday 13-Nov-17 09:16 AM
I agree with Angelique J statement regarding this subject. If something doesn't change drastically in this country we will be right next to Zimbabwe.
Sarah said:
on Monday 13-Nov-17 08:38 AM
We used to be in the top ranks and one of the best counties in the world, we just seem to be decreasing lately. We need to serious only get a new government.
Jadine E said:
on Monday 13-Nov-17 07:16 AM
There are quite a number of facts leading to us getting lowered on the ranking. But 61 is not bad.
Alexis said:
on Friday 10-Nov-17 04:47 PM
Corruption needs to stop, people need to think and we need to work on as you said above. As Jess said, we have such awesome resources which we cannot do anything with with the instability of the country. No one will want to invest in a country such as us and all i see is it going down in the years to come. I was myself surprised to see where we were ranked
Mathilda said:
on Friday 10-Nov-17 02:30 PM
Wow I’m actually surprise we came in 61st, I though we will be way over the hundreds
But I totally agree Making South Africa globally competitive should be the number one focus of the government.
It’s scary to think we are heading in the same direction as Zimbabwe
I’m scared to have children one day, what will be left for them here in SA in a few years?
patrick said:
on Friday 10-Nov-17 08:34 AM
There is a lot of red tape and that's why we are ranked very low.in other countries you can register a company , get tax clearance and open a bank account in a day. they have centers were you can just walk in and when you leave you have everything. in other words, if you have capital readily available you can do what is called 'putting boots on the ground' in a week.
Melissa van Tellingen said:
on Friday 10-Nov-17 08:28 AM
I'm not surprised at all. Most things in South Africa don't work efficiently as a result of our corrupt government.
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Wednesday 08-Nov-17 12:10 PM
Does it come to a suprise? We have an inefficient government system which is not stable and is corrupt. Our crime rates are shocking and SA economy is nearly at a standstill, with a bad GDP growth forecast. Lets look at our general work ethic - not always the greatest! And those that want to work are unemployed. So no suprise there. If there are no drastic changes and if our politicians as citizens themselves don't start thinking about the country as a whole, well then we may just be the next Zimbabwe. I am not being negative, I am being realistic.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Wednesday 08-Nov-17 07:12 AM
'Globally Competitive' can be further defined as follows:
"assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens. This in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Therefore, the Global Competitiveness Index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity." The key phrase applicable to SA is that of available resources - we are a country that is so rich in mineral resources, however with employment instability within our mines and the alarmingly high rate of strikes in such industries certainly means that we arent able to capitilise on such 'wealth'. I do hope that with stromg leadership we are able to transform our abundance of wealth into prosperity for our people!
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
