Pick n Pay chairman Gareth Ackerman says while South Africa’s infrastructure is in a ”parlous” state, companies need to get involved to fix the country, and not sit back waiting on government.
He was speaking during the delivery of the companies interim financial results for the 26 weeks ended 28 August 2022.
Ackerman lamented that sometimes, it is exhausting to be a South African.
Our infrastructure is in a parlous state. Our electricity and rail systems are at risk of collapse. Our ports are now rated some of the least efficient in the world. Crime, violence and corruption are with us every day.
But he added we not powerless to turn this situation around, if we can get the basics right.
It is not good enough for us in the private sector just to simply bemoan where we are. Or to say that our voice is not heard by government.
Ackerman says it’s time to find new ways to ensure that government takes its share of responsibility.
To this end, he says Pick n Pay is creating jobs by growing their store footprint in this financial year.
He says they are also investing, spending about R4 billion in capital expenditure this financial year, and R10 billion over four years.
Ackerman says being Food Forward’s largest retail partner has meant that the retailer donated 841 tonnes of food to Food Forward SA last year. This fed more than 875,000 people every day.
As co-chair of the Consumer Goods Council, Ackerman says it has established a foundation to assist public-private sector partnerships.
These will add capacity to municipal authorities facing service delivery challenges. The most important of these are water and sewage reticulation, road networks and electricity.
Ackerman says while many companies have chosen to relocate their operations to better run municipal areas, this actually exacerbates rather than fixes the problem.
It is critical that we get involved in service delivery in areas where we otherwise see little will or competence to fix the problems. Business can make a positive difference. We can’t wait for help, because it can’t come and isn’t coming.
Speaking to the PnP’s environmental goals, Ackerman says they are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and using only climate-friendly refrigeration by 2040.
Ackerman says they aim to divert 75% of all general waste from landfill by 2025 and they are already at 55%.
In an ongoing bid to beat loadshedding, ten company-owned sites will be completely solar by the end of the year.
He says not all is lost for South Africa.
Through unrest, the pandemic, inflation, and now unprecedented loadshedding, we learn anew about the resilience of South Africans. We also learn anew about the resilience of our business, and the determination of our people.
