South Africa, a carbon-intensive economy, has initiated a transition to a more sustainable development pathway. While this is centred on the energy sector, the transition is an economy-wide transformation. In a highly unequal society like South Africa, the need for a just transition which would empower vulnerable stakeholders has emerged as an imperative. Yet tensions remain, which hinder an inclusive process and outcomes. Part of the early process is forming a unified understanding and pathway that is inclusive and just. What do stakeholders mean when they talk about a just transition? How can South Africa achieve a just transition? This dialogue explores stakeholder perspectives from government, the private sector, the labour movement and civil society. It builds on a first dialogue hosted on 7 July (see recording below).

About the Speakers

Tracey Davies is the Executive Director of Just Share, a non-profit shareholder activism organisation. She is admitted as an attorney in South Africa, and is a renowned expert on responsible investment, shareholder activism, and corporate governance and transparency in South Africa.

Ashraf Kariem is Chief Expert Economy in the National Planning Commission (NPC) secretariat, within the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). He was part of the team overseeing the NPC's just transition dialogue process.

Jacklyn Cock is a professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand and an Honorary Research Professor in the Society, Work and Development Research Unit (SWOP). She has written extensively on environment, gender and militarisation issues.

Sherman Indhul is the Executive Manager: Corporate Sustainability at Transnet. His experience over the past 15 years in the public and private sectors has led to a focus on sustainability, and specifically on climate change. He notably sits on the Steering Committee of the National Business Initiative's (NBI) Just Transition Pathways Project.

Muhammed Patel is an Economist at TIPS. He has experience in the coal and petrochemical value chains. He is the lead author of the National Employment Vulnerability Assessment (NEVA) and Sector Jobs Resilience Plan (SJRP) for the coal value chain in South Africa.

About the Facilitator

Gaylor Montmasson-Clair is a Senior Economist at TIPS, where he leads work on Sustainable Growth. He has carried out extensive research on the transition to an inclusive green economy from a developing country perspective, with a focus on policy frameworks, industrial development, just transition and resource security.

Please register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wgNwl1ZwTpmlou9Vpl3JEQ

This webinar builds on a first dialogue hosted on 7 July. 

Presentations

Neva Makgetla: TIPS COVID-19 Tracker: The economy and the pandemic
Owen Willcox: The macroeconomic response to the COVID crisis
Gaylor Montmasson-Clair: A case for a green and just economic stimulus package

Media

Why QE is the best way to fund stimulus needed to get SA throughCovid-19 crisis (LynleyDonnelly - Business Day 4 June 2020)
Placing green stimulus at heart of South Africa's postpandemic recovery would yield big co-benefits (Terence Creamer - Engineering News 4 June 2020)

Background

The 2020 forecast for South Africa's economic growth at -7% would be the worst since democracy, and is likely to come with massive job losses and firms closing down. There are however options to mitigate the economic impact of the disease. They include a shift in the macro-economic approach as well as ramping up new industries, including renewables. This Development Dialogue will start with a review of the latest trends in the pandemic and the economy, and then consider at-scale responses to the economic downturn.

About the Speakers

Baba-Tamana Gqubule is a senior economist at TIPS and has experience as a Policy Analyst at the Economic Development Department.
Owen Willcox is a Principal Consultant at Oxford Policy Management and previously worked at National Treasury for 11 years.
Gaylor Montmasson-Clair is a senior economist at TIPS. Gaylor has written extensively on the green economy, renewables and the just transition.
Neva Makgetla is a senior economist at TIPS. Dr Makgetla has published widely on the South African economy and worked for many years in government.

14:00 - 14:10 Opening and welcome by chairperson: Tshediso Matona 

14:10 - 15:30 Presentations and discussion:

• Neva Makgetla: Trends in Small Business in South Africa, presentation on the Small Business Real Economy Bulletin
• Saul Levin and Gabriel Davel: Credit Guarantee and access to finance for SMEs
• Shakespear Mudombi and Muhammed Patel: Small Business resilience and climate change adaptation

15:30 - 16:00 Open Discussion

16:00 Closure and light snacks 

Background

Small Business has been put forward as an important contributor towards economic growth, job creation and redress but faces many headwinds in South Africa that have hampered their development. Access to finance and more recently challenges around climate change are key barriers. 

This Development Dialogue will provide an overview of recent trends in small business in South Africa, and present research undertaken on credit guarantees and climate change adaptation, with discussion on some of the options and proposals to strengthen the SME eco-system.  

About the Speakers

Tshediso Matona is the Secretary of Planning in the National Planning Commission 

Saul Levin is the executive director of TIPS and has experience in industrial finance and small business development.

Neva Makgetla is a senior economist at TIPS. Makgetla has published widely on the South African economy and worked for many years in government.

Gabriel Davel is the CEO for the Centre for Credit Market Development and was previously the CEO of the National Credit Regulator. 

Shakespear Mudombi and Muhammed Patel are researchers at TIPS in the field of sustainable growth and green economy. 

ADDITIONAL PRESENTATIONS BY GABRIEL DAVEL

Partial guarantee schemes and SME lending

Facility for credit risk mitigation on SME loan protfolios

The Politics of Trade in the Era of Hyperglobalisation
A Southern African Perspective

Rob Davies
Friday 28 February 2020: 14:00 - 16:15

From 13:30 Arrival and coffee / tea
14:00 - 14:00 Opening and welcome by chairperson: Dr Faizel Ismail
14:15 - 15:15 Presentation by Dr Rob Davies
15:15 - 15:45 Discussants: Ambassador Xavier Carim and Sanusha Naidu
15:45 - 16:15 Discussion
16:15 Closure and light snacks
Copies of the book will be on sale after the launch

Background

The outcomes of trade negotiations have never been shaped by rational considerations of relative advantage alone - whether comparative or competitive. Struggle and competition have always profoundly affected trade outcomes. This book presents an analysis of the political economy of trade negotiations over the past quarter century on two main fronts: the multi-lateral and those pertaining to regional integration on the African continent. The book covers the evolution of the multi-lateral trading system, the rise of the World Trade Organization, the impact and outcomes of the global economic crisis, to the current crisis of multi-lateralism. The second part of the book focuses on regional integration in Africa as a tool for industrialisation and development.

About the Speakers

Rob Davies: Dr Rob Davies has been involved in international trade and regional integration for over 25 years, as the former Minister of Trade and Industry, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, and as a member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on trade and industry.

Faizel Ismail: Dr Faizel Ismail is the Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at UCT, a Professor at the UCT School of Economics, and a TIPS Research Associate. He has previously been an advisor to the Department of Trade and Industry on International Trade and Special Envoy on the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and served as the Ambassador Permanent Representative of South Africa to the WTO (2010-2014).

Xavier Carim: Ambassador Xavier Carim is the Deputy Director General responsible for the International Trade and Economic Development Division at the Department of Trade and Industry. He was previously the former South African Permanent Representative of South Africa to the WTO.

Sanusha Naidu: Sanusha Naidu is a foreign policy specialist based with the Institute for Global Dialogue. She has previously worked for the Open Society Foundation and Fahamu, and is widely published on Africa's foreign policy.

Date: Friday 28 February 2020
Time: 14h00 - 16h15
Venue: TIPS Boardroom, 234 Lange Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria
RSVP by email: daphney@tips.org.za to confirm attendance