Adrian Gore's Discovery helped save South Africa from load shedding and Johannesburg wants the same fix

When South Africa's energy crisis threatened to derail the country's recovery, President Cyril Ramaphosa made a call. He asked Discovery CEO Adrian Gore whether business could step in and help address what had become a national emergency. That conversation helped seed the Business-Government Partnership that stabilised the grid and began rebuilding investor confidence.

Now, with Johannesburg in visible decline, the same playbook is being called up again.

Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso cited that moment this week in an interview with Daily Maverick, using it to explain why the private sector is prepared to intervene once more. The context this time is not load shedding. It is potholes, burst pipes, collapsed traffic systems, and a city spending R65,000 to repair the same pothole that the private sector fixes for R6,500.

"The reason the Business-Government Partnership worked was because the President wanted it to work," Mavuso said. "President Cyril Ramaphosa asked Discovery CEO Adrian Gore whether business could help address what was, at that stage, a national crisis."

The numbers behind Johannesburg's collapse are not in dispute. Capital expenditure has fallen to just 6 percent of the city's budget. The minister of finance has formally placed the City on notice over an unfunded adjustment budget. Eskom has indicated it may suspend electricity supply to the city over unpaid debt. The city loses approximately 35 percent of its water to leaks, and cannot afford to transport workers to fix them.

BUSA, BLSA and B4SA issued a joint statement last week calling Johannesburg's deterioration a national economic emergency, not a local political problem. "When Johannesburg is in a state of visible decline, it undermines the national growth story at precisely the moment a more positive narrative is gaining credibility," the statement said.

Gore's company has not waited for the new crisis to act. Discovery Pothole Patrol, a public-private partnership between Discovery Insure, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and Avis Southern Africa, has repaired more than 343,000 potholes since it launched in May 2021, using 104 tons of asphalt across more than 86,000 square metres of road. The initiative marked its fifth anniversary last month.

Mavuso said business is prepared to contribute capital, skills and talent to the Joburg rescue effort, but only if there is a credible, committed counterparty on the other side. "We are very clear that we will come in and support, as we have offered, if we have a credible, committed counterparty," she said.