Business Leaders Urge Zuma to Sell South Africa State Assets

The heads of South Africa’s biggest companies urged President Jacob Zuma to sell state-owned assets, increase taxes and review the country’s labor laws as part of a raft of proposals to try and avoid a credit-rating downgrade to junk.

The government should appoint experienced professionals to the boards of state-owned companies, cut expenses and implement the National Development Plan, according to Mike Brown, the chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based Nedbank Group Ltd., who attended the meeting with as many as 140 other business leaders and cabinet ministers on Feb. 9. It must also review legislation that is hampering further investments, he said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday.

Accelerated partnerships between companies and the state and “the appointment of a standing anti-corruption committee to combat graft in both the public and private sectors” were also discussed, said Brown, who last month hosted a meeting of about CEOs at Nedbank’s offices with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. “Business has a number of suggestions that have been made to government , including, in particular, on the short-term issue of avoiding a ratings downgrade,” he said. Read More…