Africa-Press – South-Africa. Billionaire businessman Christo Wiese said automatically approving building plans after three months if the municipality does not engage is an excellent way to cut red tape.
Wiese suggested this during a question-and-answer session at the BizNews Conference in Hermanus.
He said red tape is causing tremendous damage to South Africa’s business environment and the economy.
Starting a business in South Africa is far more cumbersome than in a country like Rwanda, where it takes only three days.
Wiese said reducing red tape and making it easy to start a business has made Rwanda an African success story.
In comparison, South Africa is steeped in bureaucratic processes, making it very difficult to start and run a business.
Wiese gave the example of his daughter waiting two and a half years to get planning permission to add a bedroom to her house in Cape Town.
Cape Town is considered a well-run municipality, so it illustrates the challenges with red tape in the country.
Wiese added that he is involved in a project close to his office that could be “an absolute jewel for Cape Town”.
“I am now in year three of trying to get the necessary approvals. However, I am still nowhere,” he said.
“Architects tell me that billions of rands worth of building plans – many funded by foreign investors – are stuck in the pipeline.”
He added that inefficient local and national government systems play into corrupt officials’ hands.
“Corruption exacerbates bureaucracy. It’s a vicious cycle. More rules mean more chances for corruption. We must tackle both with nuance and positivity,” he said.
He said the government should create a business-friendly environment and cut red tape to unlock investment in South Africa.
Wiese suggested a system in which a building plan is automatically approved after three months if the local authority has not approved it or engaged with the applicant within that time.
Such a system will compensate for poorly run local governments, which can cause unnecessary delays and hold back investments.
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