{"id":1669,"date":"2025-07-25T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/?p=1669"},"modified":"2025-07-29T00:11:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T00:11:02","slug":"operation-vulindlela-big-on-policy-but-low-on-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/operation-vulindlela-big-on-policy-but-low-on-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Vulindlela: Big on policy but low on results"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government\u2019s flagship economic reform programme, Operation Vulindlela, has registered modest progress in the second phase of its roll-out \u2014 particularly in visa reform \u2014 but faces mounting criticism for delays in key infrastructure areas and a lack of transparency in outcomes and expenditure.<\/p>\n

The latest progress report<\/a> notes that more than 11 000 visas were processed in the first three months under the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, launched in February. In March, the government accredited qualifying employers under the Trusted Employer Scheme to support the recruitment of foreign skilled workers.<\/p>\n

These visa reforms aim to \u201cattract skills, investment and tourism through a streamlined and modernised visa system\u201d. The home affairs department has also upgraded its digital verification system to enable remote authentication and reduce downtime \u2014 a step toward building a digital identity system.<\/p>\n

Yet the gains made in visa systems are in contrast to widespread delays in fixing constraints in water and sanitation, electricity and freight logistics. Most work so far has been legislative, with little tangible implementation.<\/p>\n

Operation Vulindlela, initiated during President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s first term, aims to boost economic growth through structural reform. Ramaphosa has touted the operation as a key achievement, and in his latest newsletter<\/a> called the halting of load-shedding a crucial win in the battle \u201cto remove the binding constraints that have long held back our economy\u2019s growth\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reduction in load-shedding over the past year was supported by the reforms we introduced to unlock private investment in electricity generation, while reforms in the telecommunications sector have brought down the cost of mobile data,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Launched in May after cabinet approval, phase two<\/a> expands the reform scope to seven areas: electricity, freight logistics, water, visas, local government, spatial inequality and digital transformation.<\/p>\n

But despite policy work being under way in several areas \u2014 with the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, the Water Action Plan, the Digital Transformation Roadmap and the Local Government White Paper among the documents drafted \u2014 implementation remains limited. The progress report itself concedes that of the seven priority areas in phase two, only visa reform has moved into tangible outcomes.<\/p>\n

The electricity sector reform includes the establishment of the National Transmission Company of SA, which will eventually separate power utility Eskom\u2019s grid from generation and distribution. The government has also finalised a national wheeling framework to enable third-party access to the grid.<\/p>\n

Yet, the new transmission company still awaits licensing as a market operator. The National Energy Regulator of SA is also finalising market codes for private wholesale.<\/p>\n

Legal adviser and social activist Nkanyiso Ngqulunga was scathing in his assessment, saying Operation Vulindlela represents an acceleration of neoliberal policies that are proving counterproductive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a complete failure. The unbundling of Eskom has not yielded any positive results but rather put the country\u2019s energy generation into the private sector,\u201d Ngqulunga said, adding that the reforms have not attracted the promised investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t attracted investment as intended. We are implementing policies that have been proven to fail \u2014 allowing the private sector in with the hope that it will boost the economy is counterintuitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ngqulunga believes the government should focus on building state capacity and investing in public infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to unlock opportunities by empowering public assets,\u201d he said. \u201cAt a time when the government is underperforming, geopolitical tensions are high and tariff wars are growing, it\u2019s misguided to think these reforms will attract investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In logistics, a new Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager division has been created to modernise operations and enable private operator access. In December, the rail, port and pipeline parastatal released network access tariffs and received 98 slot applications from private freight operators. Conditional awards will be announced by 15 August.<\/p>\n

Ntokozo Buthelezi, an economist and researcher, is concerned about the Vulindlela initiative\u2019s accountability. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember from the budget speech, the minister mentioned phase two and I wondered what happened to phase one,\u201d she said, adding that she found it to be \u201cvague\u201d with regard to outcomes and money spent. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what happened, how much was spent and what the outcomes were. There is so much secrecy \u2014 we have no clue as the public on how investment and loans are spent by the government,\u201d she said, also criticising the absence of oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t tell us much. It\u2019s just numbers \u2014 billions here, billions there \u2014 but no tangible outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government\u2019s flagship economic reform programme, Operation Vulindlela, has registered modest progress in the second phase of its roll-out \u2014 particularly in visa reform \u2014 but faces mounting criticism for delays in key infrastructure areas and a lack of transparency in outcomes and expenditure. The latest progress report notes that more than 11 000 visas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1670,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions\/1670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}