23 August 2007
President Thabo Mbeki accompanied by Deputy President, Ms Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka and several Cabinet Ministers met the Big Business Working Group
at Tuynhuys, Cape Town today. The meeting further elaborated on issues
discussed in the previous meeting held in April at the Union Buildings.
In this regard, Big Business presented a set of recommendations on
electricity security. The recommendations covered, amongst a variety of areas,
the strengthening of the National Electricity Plan, stepping up energy
efficiency efforts, concerns relating to the use of inefficient products such
as incandescent lamps as well as inefficient industrial motors, the role of
independent power producers.
The meeting placed emphasis on the need to raise public awareness in saving
electricity by industry and household consumers alike. As noted in the last
meeting, this will be critical especially during the next five years which both
government and business envisage will comprise of energy constraints.
It was agreed that energy cluster Ministers will collectively engage with
Big Business on their recommendations.
The joint government/business team dealing with the fight against crime
presented progress on work that is being undertaken to improve anti-crime
efforts.
While noting that crime levels are still high, Big Business expressed
satisfaction with progress in key areas such as organised violent crime and the
reengineering of the criminal justice system.
In this connection, government made a presentation regarding the improvement
of the capacity and efficiency of the criminal justice system. The Justice
Cluster will present detailed recommendations to Cabinet after which government
will, communicate to the public in detail.
Finally, Big Business reported progress on its programme of investment in
education and skills. The presentation noted, amongst other things, that
business is a major and vital part of the education and skills development.
Both parties are agreed on the need for accelerated investment in skills
development.
For more information, please contact:
Mukoni Ratshitanga
Tel: 012 300 5436
Cell: 082 300 3447
Issued by: The Presidency
23 August 2007
