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Busi Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Masi Losi)
The weekly letter from the CEO of Business Leadership South Africa made no effort, getting to the heart of the government’s inept handling of vaccine implementation.
Busi Mavuso, Executive Director of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), has joined the growing chorus of criticism for the government’s mishandling of the deployment of the vaccine, the most important initiative to save lives and the economy.
“Although Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa was awarded a contract to produce 300 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, none were ordered by the government. Unlike many other developed and developing countries, South Africa had not negotiated any ‘advance market commitments’ with manufacturers to purchase vaccines conditional on their successful approval after trials, ”he wrote in his weekly letter.
This seems inexplicable, especially when you consider the command economy and control freaks who run departments like commerce and industry. How not to insist on a local fee?
“By the first week of January, the shameful lack of a vaccination strategy became apparent, and both the government and the private sector were forced to act,” he wrote. Mavuso noted that 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have since been purchased from Indian producers, noting that “it is far from sufficient.”
“Some have suggested that our slow development of a vaccine strategy is because it is not affordable. Obviously this is wrong. The cost to the economy of not vaccinating is what is unaffordable. Government tax revenue in the current financial year (through February 2021) is projected to be R300 billion lower than originally budgeted. That is due to the pandemic. Every day we lose to end this means substantial costs to the country. A full vaccine program is projected to cost around R12 billion, including distribution logistics. It’s a simple investment with a high positive return. “
That is the key point. There is no better investment in the face of the pandemic and, frankly, it’s not much more than the R10.5 billion that the government is going to dump down the drain in what will likely be another unsuccessful attempt to shore up South African Airways. . Return on investment includes thousands or more lives saved with the added benefit of a return to normalcy, giving the economy the opportunity to grow and create jobs again.
As Mavuso further noted: “The real problem here is one of management. Our entire response to the pandemic has been primarily short-term. That is understandable, we have been fighting fires. But we seem to have ignored that while we are facing the immediate and urgent challenges in dealing with the pandemic, we must be simultaneously applying ourselves to the medium and long-term implications. A vaccination strategy should have been developed six months ago. “
That is a fiery accusation. Powerful ministers focused on things that annoyed them, like smoking, while missing the SOS smoke signals rising from the economic rubble of the lockdown, crying out for long-term, well-crafted solutions, not blunt instruments of social control from the nanny state. Needless to say, the ANC owns this mess.
The private sector could have done more too: Mavuso pointedly said he was also “shocked.” But the government has tested much of the response to the pandemic and many critics would say it should allow the private sector more space to take their own initiatives.
The voice of the BLSA is important because its members are leaders of many of the largest and most well-known companies in South Africa, including the major banks and several of the large mining companies. Basically, he has said that the government has dropped the ball on one of the most pressing problems facing the country, if not. BM
