One team working behind the scenes to save South Africa

Operation Vulindlela has been hard at work to not only implement but fast-track reforms in South Africa, with significant achievements under its belt already.

Now in its second phase, Operation Vulindlela has been credited with preventing South Africa’s economy from falling apart.

Former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo previously said this initiative saved South Africa from “falling off a precipice”.

In short, Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative between the Presidency and the National Treasury, launched in 2020 and focused on fast-tracking structural economic reforms.

Its first phase, which focused on modernising the country’s network industries like electricity, water, transport and digital communications, was considered highly successful, although not complete yet.

The initiative has particularly been praised for its work in the electricity sector, which can be seen in Eskom’s remarkable turnaround that has made load-shedding nearly non-existent in South Africa.

In his State of the Nation Address earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the operation’s efforts, saying they have created a new sense of optimism and confidence in South Africa’s economy.

Operation Vulindlela supports the implementation of reforms in three ways –

• Monitoring and reporting on progress to identify challenges, sustain momentum and ensure accountability
• Facilitating technical support to enable the implementation of reforms
• Providing recommendations to the President and Cabinet where a decision or agreement is required

The initiative, therefore, plays a crucial role in ensuring South Africa’s economy moves away from stagnation towards sustainable growth.

Modelling from the Bureau of Economic Research (BER) has estimated that the potential impact of Operation Vulindlela reforms could lift South Africa’s long-term growth rate by as much as 3.5% when fully implemented.

In early May 2025, the second phase of Operation Vulindlela was launched, which focuses on a host of other reforms, including more private sector participation in ports, rail, and water.

The BER’s Lisette Ijssel de Schepper previously explained that phase two looks to deepen the reform agenda by ensuring that the original set of reforms is completed.

At the same time, the second phase will also look to expand into new areas that are critical for long-term economic growth, including addressing spatial imbalances, digitalising the government’s engagement with its citizens, and strengthening local government.

Fast-tracking reform

In the most recent instalment of PSG’s Think Big Series, Rudi Dicks explained that many people misunderstand the speed at which Operation Vulindlela operates.

Dicks currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Jobs Fund and the Employment, Income Distribution and Inclusive Growth Research Initiative, and is a critical member of Operation Vulindlela.

Other members of the initiative include Sean Phillips, Duncan Pieterse, Mahesh Fakir, and Saul Musker.

While many may hope for overnight fixes for South Africa’s many woes, Dicks said Operation Vulindlela is moving as fast as the current system allows. He pointed to the initiative’s efforts in South Africa’s electricity sector as an example.

Many of the reforms Operation Vulindlela implemented in this sector were already contained in a 1998 Electricity White Paper, which warned that South Africa would eventually face an electricity shortfall, requiring load-shedding to be implemented.

This White Paper suggested reforms that the government could implement to avoid this, but they were ignored, with the consequences clear to all South Africans who have endured hours of load-shedding over the past few years.

“Of course, we could have taken a decision to implement the reforms in 1998. We didn’t do that,” Dicks explained. 

“We announced that the decisions that were taken in 1998 in the Electricity White Paper would be implemented as quickly as possible.” 

“By 2022, two years later, we saw a revised Electricity Regulatory Act, we introduced private sector participation in generation, similarly with Transnet as well.”

“I think we’re moving pretty fast, and I think there’s a bit of critique, and we accept that in some instances, but certainly, I think we’ve done quite a phenomenal amount of work. Better late than never, I would say,” he said.

He said people often misunderstand the complexity of the reforms Operation Vulindlela is looking to implement, adding that many of the first-phase reforms that remain incomplete are largely at the mercy of administrative responsibilities.

For example, he pointed to the Transport Economic Regulator, a national public entity created in April 2025 that is responsible for regulating the country’s transport sector. 

To set this regulator up, the relevant legislation had to be passed, the Public Finance Management Act processes needed to be followed, it had to obtain National Treasury approval, the board needed to be appointed, and staff had to be hired.

“Those processes are all happening, and I think it’s important for us to follow the steps. We don’t want people to take us to court and say you didn’t follow administration processes,” Dicks said. 

According to the latest quarterly review of BLSA’s Reform Tracker, which tracks reform progress across various priority areas in South Africa, 26 reform deliverables have been marked as “100% complete” out of about 240 that were tracked.

This means that these reform policies have not only been legislated and implemented, but their effects are already being felt in the economy.

Of the rest, 59 deliverables are marked as making good progress, 108 are on track and 19 are facing major obstacles that need to be addressed.