Birchwood Conference Centre, Boksburg | 11 September 2026

Acting Chairperson of the Board, Mr. Godfrey Selematsela;

Members of the Productivity South Africa Board;

Acting Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Amelia Naidoo;

Members of Executive and Senior Management;

Representatives of the Department of Employment and Labour;

Representatives of organised labour, organised business, and government;

Our social partners and strategic partners;

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen.

Good morning, Dumelang, Sanibonani.

It is a profound honour and privilege to join you today at this Annual General Meeting of Productivity South Africa. We convene at an exceptionally significant moment—not only for our entity, but for our broader nation—as we celebrate Heritage Month. We meet under an official theme that is both deeply reflective and boldly forward-looking:

“Celebrating Our Heritage. Shaping Our Future.”

This theme could not be more appropriate for this gathering. It challenges us to execute two vital imperatives simultaneously. First, it compels us to remember and honour where we come from—recognising the people, social partnerships, public institutions, hard-won achievements, and cumulative lessons that have built Productivity SA over many decades.

Secondly, it issues a stern warning that we must never become prisoners of our past successes. It demands that we confront the defining economic question of our era: What must we do differently, better, and more boldly to shape the productive, competitive, and inclusive economy that South Africa urgently needs? That single question must define our mandate and guide our operations going forward.

Productivity SA possesses a rich and distinguished institutional heritage. For more than five decades, this entity has stood as a pillar of South Africa’s economic development journey. From its inception as the National Productivity Institute in 1969, through its evolution into Productivity South Africa, to its statutory establishment as a Schedule 3A public entity under Section 31 of the Employment Services Act (No. 4 of 2014), the institution has remained focused on its core mission. It exists to promote productivity and employment growth, thereby enhancing South Africa’s socio-economic development and global competitiveness.

Strong public institutions are not created overnight; they are forged through the accumulated knowledge, commitment, and dedication of successive generations. We build upon the foundation of those who came before us—their trial and error, the relationships nurtured over decades, and the technical methodologies refined on shop floors across our provinces. Most importantly, we inherit a fundamental truth: productivity is not merely about producing more goods; it is about extracting greater value from the resources, skills, technology, and human potential that South Africa already possesses.

That mandate aligns directly with the Department of Employment and Labour’s vision for a dynamic labour market that stimulates investment, accelerates economic growth, creates employment, and secures decent work. Productivity sits at the exact centre of that vision. When enterprises become more productive, they become globally competitive. When enterprises become competitive, they expand market share, grow, and retain jobs. When workers are equipped with future-ready skills and participate meaningfully in operational decision-making, productivity becomes a source of human dignity, workplace equity, and shared prosperity.

Global Benchmarking and Continental Leadership

Ladies and gentlemen, there are moments when objective national data confirms that structural progress is taking root, and we must acknowledge those milestones. Earlier this year, South Africa recorded a remarkable breakthrough in the 2026 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook—published by the Institute for Management Development in collaboration with Productivity SA. Our country advanced ten places, moving from 64th position in 2025 to 54th out of 70 measured economies.

This ten-place leap proves that when South Africa focuses systematically on the drivers of competitiveness, rapid progress is achievable. Disaggregating the IMD benchmarking pillars reveals encouraging movement across key operational areas:

  • Business Efficiency: Advanced significantly by 15 places, climbing from 57th to 42nd globally.
  • Government Efficiency: Improved by 9 places, moving from 63rd to 54th position.
  • Infrastructure Management & Policy Adaptability: Recorded positive upward momentum, advancing 3 places from 62nd to 59th.

While we celebrate this progress, we must reject complacency. A global ranking is not our final destination; it is an operational signal. It proves that structural reform works, but it reminds us that deep economic challenges remain. Our national ambition cannot stop at 54th position. We must build an economy that is highly innovative, resilient, and capable of generating sustainable employment at scale.

Beyond our national borders, Productivity SA achieved a historic milestone when it was formally designated as Africa’s Kaizen Centre of Excellence during the 10th Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC 2025). Hosted in Boksburg under the theme “African Industrialisation through Fostering Competitive Firms and Value Chains on the Continent,” this initiative was convened alongside the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the DTIC, and the Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA).

This designation elevates Productivity SA from a domestic service provider into a continental knowledge and capability hub for operational excellence and industrial transformation. Africa cannot afford an economic future anchored in low productivity, raw commodity dependence, and fragmented value chains. Our continent must industrialise. Kaizen—the philosophy of continuous improvement—reminds us that transformation begins by asking simple, disciplined questions: How can we do things better? How do we eliminate waste? How do we improve quality? How do we reduce unnecessary costs? How do we shorten lead times? How do we make yesterday’s best practice tomorrow’s standard? That mindset must become the permanent fabric of South Africa’s economic culture.

Ground-Level Human Impact & Operational Performance

The Annual Report before us today is far more than a statutory governance document. Behind every performance metric is a real enterprise; behind every enterprise is an owner, a manager, and workers; and behind every turnaround intervention is a business surviving rather than closing. Behind every job preserved is a human family whose livelihood, dignity, and economic stability have been protected.

We must connect operational delivery directly to this human narrative:

  • A job saved protects a household from poverty.
  • A business stabilised protects an entire local supply chain.
  • A resilient SMME becomes a future employer in township and rural economies.
  • A worker equipped with productivity skills becomes an enduring asset to South Africa’s human capital.

Operational performance during the 2025/26 financial year underscores this real-world impact. Productivity SA delivered strongly despite operating under difficult economic conditions marked by slow growth and fiscal constraints. Of the twelve performance targets set in the Annual Performance Plan (APP), the organisation successfully met eleven, representing an overall 92% APP target achievement rate. This maintains an upward performance trajectory, improving from 85% in 2024/25 and 77% in 2023/24.

Let us review the concrete achievements across our core operational programmes:

Programme 2: Competitiveness Improvement Services (CIS) & Workplace Challenge (WPC). This programme supports SMMEs in both the formal and informal economy to strengthen productivity practices and operational efficiency. During 2025/26, the programme:

  • Supported 1,553 enterprises across various sectors.
  • Capacitated 2,742 entrepreneurs, workers, and managers in productivity techniques.
  • Trained 415 Productivity Champions to promote a culture of continuous improvement in workplaces.
  • Preserved 3,241 jobs through targeted competitiveness interventions.

Through the DTIC-funded Workplace Challenge Programme, 112 enterprises were assisted. Crucially, in line with our broad-based transformation agenda, 77% of supported enterprises were Black-owned, 48% woman-owned, 20% youth-owned, and 1% owned by persons with disabilities.

Programme 3: Business Turnaround and Recovery (BT&R)

Funded through a three-year, R165 million agreement with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the BT&R programme provides turnaround strategies to companies facing economic distress. Against annual targets, the programme delivered exceptional results:

  • Enrolled 95 distressed companies (127% of the 75-company target).
  • Preserved 8,820 jobs (235% of the 3,750 job-retention target).
  • Capacitated 770 Future Forum members (342% of the 225-member target).

Demographic tracking confirms that 38% of saved jobs were held by women, 30% by youth, and 3.9% by persons with disabilities. Cumulatively since 2020, the BT&R programme has supported 392 companies, safeguarded 37,020 jobs, created 3,147 new jobs, and trained 3,736 Future Forum members in turnaround practices.

Turnaround Case Studies in the Field

The practical power of these interventions is best illustrated through real enterprise case studies detailed in Part G of the Annual Report:

  1. National Flags (Pty) Ltd: A Johannesburg branding and flag manufacturer facing operational bottlenecks. Productivity SA established a Future Forum, conducted Gemba walks, implemented 5S audit controls, streamlined batch planning, and developed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) across functional departments. This restored production output, reduced spillage waste, and stabilized operations.
  2. Envirosan Sanitation Solutions: Facing slow turnarounds and process inefficiencies. Productivity SA instituted an Early Warning System (EWS), mapped process flows, and eliminated production bottlenecks—enabling the company to sell over 15,000 Eazisoak units within two months.
  3. Sawmill Enterprise Interventions: Addressing 54% operational downtime caused by machine breakdowns and log turnover issues. Through Kaizen 5S methodology and Muda (waste) elimination, daily production output increased from 4.75 stacks to 6.19 stacks of lumber per day—a 26.31% operational improvement.

ILO Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work

In partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Productivity SA implemented the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work project. Combining the ILO’s SCORE methodology with Productivity SA’s Workplace Challenge approach across 20 footwear and leather enterprises employing 1,430 workers, participating firms recorded:

  • 50.3% average overall operational improvement.
  • 42.6% improvement in product quality.
  • 16.1% improvement in efficiency.
  • 40.7% improvement in delivery speed.
  • 125% increase in reported employee morale.

These results prove that productivity improvement and decent work are mutually reinforcing.

Strategic Alignment with DEL Mandates and the National Development Plan

The work of Productivity SA must be understood within the broader policy context of the Department of Employment and Labour and the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030. The Department has emphasized that the 2026/27 planning cycle demands an urgent shift from strategy formulation to rapid, aggressive implementation. We operate under constrained economic growth, persistent structural headwinds, and high unemployment—where young South Africans bear the heaviest burden.

Enterprise health and job creation are inseparable. We cannot generate sustainable employment if enterprises themselves are uncompetitive, financially fragile, or operationally inefficient. Therefore, Productivity SA serves as the core delivery vehicle for enterprise sustainability, retrenchment prevention, and productivity-led growth.

Productivity SA’s strategic interventions directly advance key objectives of the National Development Plan:

  • NDP Chapter 3 (Economy and Employment): Contributing to raising employment, lowering the cost of doing business, supporting SMME expansion, and fostering a responsive labour market.
  • NDP Chapter 9 (Improving Education, Training and Innovation): Building productivity capabilities, training workplace champions, and supporting TVET/artisanal skill development.
  • NDP Chapter 13 (Building a Capable and Developmental State): Enhancing public sector efficiency, operational management, and institutional effectiveness.

Furthermore, our demographic reality demands urgency. South Africa is currently within a demographic dividend window—a period where the working-age population is proportionally larger than dependants. However, demographic projections show that this window will begin to close between 2026 and 2030 as the population ages. If we do not equip our youth with productivity skills, foster entrepreneurship, and absorb young workers into productive enterprises today, this demographic advantage risks becoming a missed opportunity.

Honest Governance Reflection: Audit Outcomes, ICT, and Financial Realities

Ladies and gentlemen, true leadership requires celebrating progress while confronting operational weaknesses and governance shortcomings with complete honesty. Grounded in the findings of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) and observations by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour, we must address our administrative vulnerabilities directly:

  1. Compliance and Consequence Management: The AGSA noted material non-compliance regarding PFMA Section 51(1)(e)(iii), pointing out that formal disciplinary steps were delayed because investigations into irregular expenditure were not concluded within the financial year. Furthermore, supply chain management preventative controls require strengthening to eliminate compliance deviations at the point of procurement.
  2. Audit Reduction Targets: While historical audit findings have decreased from 14 to 10 findings, the entity fell short of its APP target to achieve a 20% reduction in audit findings. Control deficiencies were impacted by vacancies in key senior finance positions during the year.
  3. ICT Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Parliamentary oversight highlighted that outdated ICT infrastructure and delayed software integrations hinder automated control enforcement, risk detection, and seamless performance reporting.
  4. Funding Model and Fiscal Instability: Government provided a baseline allocation of R66.556 million for the 2026/27 financial year. However, total revenue collected in 2025/26 fell short of budget projections (R108.2 million actual vs R131 million estimate) due to severe delays in receiving conditional grant transfers from the UIF, which disrupted BT&R programme rollout. Operating with only three regional footprint offices (Midrand, Cape Town, Durban) to service all nine provinces severely limits our capacity in township and rural economies.
  5. Post-Retirement Medical Aid (PRMA) Liabilities: The entity maintains an ongoing, long-term PRMA liability of R12.637 million, creating structural pressure on personnel expenditure.

Colleagues would remember that in the October 2025 Budget Review and Recommendations Report, it was recommended by the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour that ‘Productivity SA should expand its productivity enhancement programmes, particularly in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and township economies.

Members of the portfolio committee called for increase collaboration with other relevant government departments and economic development entities to drive industrial competitiveness and job retention.

Parliament again, recommended that the entity’s funding model be reviewed to ensure predictable, long-term financial support for its operations- and this could possibly include DEL ‘facilitating open communication lines that would include UIF and CF’. It was proposed by members of parliament that DEL should implement a Single Source Funding model funded through Section 12 of the Employment Services Act, read together with Section 40(a) of the Employment Services Act.

Executive Management and the Board have already enacted a robust Audit Remediation Action Plan:

  • Appointed a permanent Chief Financial Officer and Senior Finance Manager to stabilize financial governance. The vacancy rate with Productivity SA was one of the concerns raised by the Executive and member of the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour- the position of the CEO has since been advertised.
  • Enforced mandatory pre-submission reviews of financial and performance reports by internal audit.
  • Conducted intensive Supply Chain Management training workshops on PPPFA preference point regulations and Treasury guidelines.
  • Initiated ICT infrastructure modernisations, including server node technical upgrades and document management filing frameworks.

All these, I regard as progress towards enhance service delivery and good governance.

Productivity as a Shared National Imperative & Social Dialogue

Productivity cannot remain the responsibility of Productivity SA alone; it is a collective national imperative. Government departments, organised business, trade unions, educational institutions, development finance agencies, and local communities must all actively participate.

This consensus was reinforced on 3 September, when Productivity SA partnered with the ILO and NEDLAC to host a regional symposium on advancing productivity and decent work in Southern Africa. The message of that symposium remains our north star: productivity growth must translate into decent work, inclusive economic growth, and improved livelihoods. We must pursue efficiency without sacrificing human dignity, adopt technology while equipping workers, and build enterprises that are competitive enough to succeed globally and resilient enough to protect local jobs.

A Call to Action and Vision for the Future

As we celebrate Heritage Month, we are reminded that true heritage is defined by what we choose to build for the future. Productivity SA has inherited five decades of technical knowledge, institutional trust, and operational frameworks. The highest tribute we can pay to those who built this institution is not to keep it static, but to modernise it, expand its reach, integrate new technologies, and ensure it remains indispensable to a changing world.

I issue a direct challenge to Productivity SA today: Do not view yourselves merely as an entity that implements public programmes. Rise as South Africa’s premier national productivity authority, a strategic anchor in the national employment agenda, a continental Centre of Excellence, and a leading knowledge institution.

To the Board, leadership, management, and staff across our regional offices: institutional performance does not happen by chance. It happens because you show up daily, solve complex problems, work with enterprise leaders, engage workers, travel across provinces, and deliver results even under fiscal constraints. Your quiet dedication directly shapes South Africa’s economic recovery.

Looking ahead, we envision a Productivity SA that is:

  • More innovative and digitally enabled.
  • More financially sustainable with a modernized baseline funding model.
  • More visible and accessible across all nine provinces.
  • More deeply connected to SMMEs, emerging enterprises, informal traders, and organised labour.
  • Recognised as Africa’s leading authority in productivity policy, research, and continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Acting Chairperson, Board members, and distinguished colleagues, heritage gives us confidence, not permission for complacency.

We honour the past by building upon it. We honour those who came before us by expanding opportunities for those who will come after us. And we honour the statutory mandate entrusted to Productivity SA by ensuring that productivity translates into tangible outcomes: opportunity, dignity, resilience, decent work, competitiveness, and economic inclusion.

Now, we must go further.

We must move from incremental improvement to systemic excellence; from isolated enterprise interventions to a nationwide productivity movement; and from preserving what we have inherited to boldly shaping what South Africa can become.

Our heritage gives us the foundation. Our people give us the capability. Our partnerships and communities give us the strength, and continuous improvement gives us the pathway forward.

Let us continue moving forward, together.

I thank you.

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