South Africa’s public and private sector, government, academia, plus civil society, need to collaborate in a big push to “move the needle” on the country achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said Dr Achieng Ojwang, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact Network South Africa (GCNSA) in Johannesburg on Wednesday 28 August 2024.
She was speaking at the GCNSA’s launch of the private sector’s voluntary national review (VNR) on South Africa’s progress towards meeting the SDGs on Wednesday 28 August 2024. The Private Sector VNR on the SDGs makes a significant contribution to South Africa’s National VNR Report for the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver in 2025. The SDGs are aimed at ending poverty and inequality, protecting the planet, and ensuring that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity.
The world is not on track to meet many of the SDGs by the deadline of 2030, said the UN’s Resident Coordinator in South Africa, Nelson Muffuh, ahead of the GCNSA handing the private sector review to the Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, H.E. Ms. Maropene Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa said she would ask Dr Ojwang to present the VNR to the Cabinet, adding that the document was “a significant milestone” in South Africa and the world’s collective journey towards realising a sustainable future for people and the planet. South Africa aspires to be a continental leader in the quest to realise the SDGs, she added.
This is why, under the new government of national unity, there is a renewed emphasis on South Africa’s National Development Plan, she noted. Also, the minister deems the private sector “indispensable” to South Africa’s aspiration to realise the UN’s Agenda 2030, under which the 17 SDGs fall.
The report showcases innovative business solutions to complex challenges – poverty, inequality and unemployment, plus climate change – that persist despite a dip in the poverty rate and increased access to healthcare and education.
Dr Ojwang said that global progress towards achieving the SDGs is slow, with only 17% of the SDG targets on track. “How do we move forward faster? That is the big question,” she said at the handover of the review in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Now that the private sector report, which will form part of South Africa’s overall report, has been handed to Ramokgopa, Dr Ojwang said the GCNSA will begin engaging with South Africa’s business sector on how it can scale up the constructive impact it has already made to help the country achieve the SDGs.
The report shows how the rising expectation that business should play a positive social role has led to a growing number of South Africa’s companies reporting on their contribution towards achieving the SDGs, she said.
While South Africa still has a long way to go in its endeavour to become socially inclusive, many of the companies that participated in the second VNR delivered “extraordinary results”, despite facing challenges on both local and global fronts, said GCNSA Board Chair Mpumi Madisa. The first VNR was submitted to the UN in 2019.
South Africa presented its first voluntary national review to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in 2019. The GCNSA facilitated the private sector review, in partnership with South Africa’s Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
More than 100 companies participated in the second VNR process, more than 300 individuals gave insights and 37 companies contributed case studies, said Dr Ojwang.
She said it is not surprising that decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) remain the South African private sector’s highest priorities. South Africa has battled high unemployment levels for decades, and Statistics South Africa reports that the unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2024 was 33.5%.
According to Dr Ojwang, the private sector has faced a “multitude” of economic challenges in the five years since the first VNR was submitted in 2019, and low levels of investment are inhibiting South Africa’s ability to grow, innovate and achieve sustainability outcomes.
The second-highest SDG priority for South Africa’s private sector is climate action (SDG 13), which zoomed upwards in the VNR from 10th place in 2019.
“This is due to sustained efforts to drive awareness and commitment on climate action at both a local and global level,” Dr Ojwang said.
The private sector is responding to a number of factors, such as carbon border taxes that penalise products and services whose value chains are responsible for emitting greenhouse gases. It is also responding to South Africa’s energy crisis – which has eased in 2024 – plus the disruptions to the transport and logistics sector. These are the major factors leading to inflation that has negatively affected South African business and society, and particularly women and vulnerable communities.
Dr Ojwang said the GCNSA is heartened to see that the third priority SDG for South Africa’s private sector is “partnerships for the goals” (SDG 17). It moved up 11 places from the 2019 priority list.
“If we are to meet the SDGs, we need to stand together,” she said. “Sustainability is a non-competitive landscape.”
South Africa’s private sector is contributing to the country meeting the SDGs by increasingly integrating the goals into each company’s core business strategy, recognising that sustainable practices can drive growth and innovation and give businesses a competitive advantage.
It is also investing in sustainable solutions and the research and development of sustainable products, services and technologies; collaborating with other businesses, non-governmental organisations and the government to tackle complex sustainability challenges; advocating for sustainable development policies and engaging in sustainable policy development; investing in community development projects that align with the SDGs; improving sustainability throughout the supply chain; and building awareness and reporting on its sustainability performance.
The second VNR was developed with support from the GCNSA’s strategic partners: Business Unity South Africa, Business Leadership South Africa, the National Business Initiative and the Minerals Council South Africa. The process was also sponsored by Absa (gold sponsor) and Anglo American (silver sponsor).
For more information: https://globalcompactsa.org.za/
The report can be found here: https://globalcompactsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Private-Sector-VNR-Report-2024-%E2%80%93-Final.pdf