The exceptional collective energy that South Africans are showing in tackling the coronavirus must not be lost but instead harnessed to forge a new post-virus economy that reflects the true capacity of the South African people.
Going forward, there is a need to take new local opportunities at a time when mining is beginning to play its important restabilising role. Importation is going to remain bumpy from countries that have been haphazard in combating Covid-19.
Innovative thinking can be spread to products that seem typecast for one industry to other industries. Remember Lodox? Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel did when he outlined measures needed to advance South Africa to Level 4. Lodox was an innovation of De Beers for the De Beers diamond mines but created new demand for itself in medical trauma management, forensic pathology and security. Watch the medical television drama Grey’s Anatomy, said Patel, and see South African capability for yourself.
Yes, these are very difficult times and our immediate objective is to ensure that we emerge on the other side of this crisis intact. But it is also incumbent on us to realise the vision of President Cyril Ramaphosa to forge our cities, towns, villages and rural areas into vibrant new centres of post-virus economic activity.