Business Leadership SA (BLSA) CEO, Busi Mavuso has often argued, correctly, that SA needs far more evidence-based legislation and regulation.
Her tilt against policymaking driven by ideology or political prejudice without proper economic assessment is both timeous and possibly, in the current environment, forlorn. Cue here National Health Insurance (NHI) and the draft procurement regulations published by National Treasury.
If the Department of Health has become an island of intense ideological fever, it was widely assumed that National Treasury (NT) was a haven of sober-minded realism.
Yet, according to Mavuso, new regulations propose that all state tenders under R20m be set aside for 100% black-owned suppliers (ratcheting downward for tenders up to R100m). She warns, “Treasury has not produced any analysis”. This should relate to both the costs and effectiveness of implementing the regulations.
She notes: In critical specialised areas, such as wastewater treatment, high voltage electrical infrastructure and advanced engineering treatments, “the pool of qualifying suppliers may not contain enough 100% black-owned firms with the technical capacity to bid.” This in turn would lead to either the projects stalling or cause an escalation in costs owing to a lack of competition.”
In many other countries there is a trend toward ideology or social engineering replacing sober assessments of means and ends – often ignoring limits and potential distortions of state led economics.
“Technocratic competence” sits ill with the wave of propulsive populism demanded by electorates in long established democracies. Britain, long regarded as the bellwether for stable governance, has cycled through six prime ministers in ten years and might be about to dump its seventh.
Beleaguered UK PM, Sir Keir Starmer, told voters after winning a landslide election just two years ago, “Britian needs stability not more chaos.” He promised the former but is now engulfed by the latter.
This chronic instability at the heart of government is bad news for both expert-based policy making and long-term planning. Donald Trump’s administration in Washington DC has overseen the purging of expertise across government departments, and the replacement of seasoned diplomats with family retainers and members. Even in the critical on-off negotiations underway with Iran.
Populism, identity politics and deep dissatisfaction with stagnating incomes and declining prosperity might account for a lot of this churn.
Walter Russell Mead in the Wall Street Journal (May 11, 2026), wrote “The new politics isn’t always about good government. Even when, as in both US and Britain, populist votes [for example Trump and Brexit] lead to chaotic disruption, voters don’t appear to be yearning for a return to technocratic competence.”
South Africa has enjoyed three decades of relative democratic stability. But our policymakers have also shrugged off the idea of expertise and evidence-led decision making, suggesting for them that ‘technocratic competence’ is a low priority.
Ms Mavuso, a key voice from business leadership, suggests this is both illusory and dangerous. We should listen and adjust.
– Tony Leon
Executive Chairman