Speaking to SA FM’s Cathy Mohlahlana, CDE’s Ann Bernstein discussed Government’s focus on localisation which is an effort to reignite certain sectors of the economy with the hope that it leads to industrialisation. She said, “There are firms that will benefit from localisation policies and they are generally the bigger more sophisticated firms but in our view this is not what South Africa needs, we need to have a much more open domestic economy that new firms mainly black owned firms can come in and find their place.” She further touched on the electricity crisis in South Africa, the need to build a skilled workforce and reforming labour laws to make our country a labour intensive economy.

This media interview is based on a new CDE report, “The Siren Song of Localisation: Why localisation policy will not lead to industrialisation.”