Can South Africa’s Government of National Unity Deliver?

CDE’s Ann Bernstein recently delivered a talk at the Harvard Growth Lab, where she discussed CDE’s major initiative, AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s New Government. Over the past year, CDE has focused on answering one of the country’s most pressing questions: What can the new government do to get South Africa back on track after 15 years of stagnation and decline?

This critical initiative builds on the Growth through Inclusion in South Africa project, which CDE supported from 2021 to 2023 in collaboration with the Growth Lab. During her talk, Ann Bernstein outlined key priorities for the government of national unity (GNU) that emerged following the May 2024 general election. She emphasised the importance of reform and decisive action in a number of priority areas, including fixing the state, strengthening the rule of law, tackling the fiscal crisis and driving growth by freeing up markets and competition.

Moderated by Thabang Edwin Molapo, Harvard South African Fellowship Program Fellow and HKS MC/MPA Candidate, the discussion was part of the Growth Lab’s “Development Talks”, a series of conversations with policymakers, academics, and researchers working on economic development across the globe.

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