BLSA reform tracker shows steady gains but flags electricity and governance setbacks

South Africa’s reform programme continues to make measurable progress, although momentum has slowed and key setbacks have emerged, particularly in the electricity sector, according to the second Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) Reform Tracker review released on Thursday.

BLSA said the overall reform score has increased by 23.7% since tracking began in March 2024, reflecting continued advancement across structural reforms aimed at restoring economic growth and competitiveness.

However, the latest quarter also recorded backward movement in electricity reform and slower progress in governance-related reforms.

Stuart Theobald of BLSA said South Africa entered 2026 with encouraging but uneven reform outcomes.

“The cumulative evidence on South Africa’s reform programme collected by the BLSA Tracker now spans 21 months and the data tell a consistent story: the country is making measurable progress on the structural reforms required to restore growth and competitiveness,” he said.

Theobald noted that after rising 2.3% between September and December 2025, the overall score now reflects nearly a quarter of reforms completed since March 2024.

The tracker monitors 245 individual reform deliverables, of which 34 are complete, 192 are in progress and 19 have stalled or been abandoned.

"These numbers establish the scale of the task and the nature of implementation in a complex, contested environment.”

Economic reforms carry the greatest weight, accounting for 70% of the total score. Within this category, freight logistics showed consistent gains due to improved port throughput, progress in rail restoration and the entry of private operators.

Spatial inequality reforms also began to register progress through passenger rail recovery and housing subsidy reform, although BLSA said these areas still have a long way to go.

Electricity reform, however, emerged as a major concern.

Theobald said the sector was one of the few areas to have moved backwards, following a decision by the Department of Electricity and Energy to revise Eskom’s unbundling strategy.

The revised plan keeps the National Transmission Company of South Africa within Eskom, rather than establishing it as an independent entity.

"This diverges from the model developed by Operation Vulindlela, the National Economic Development and Labour Council, and National Treasury," Theobald said.

He also warned that the approved structure would leave the transmission system operator unable to raise capital on its own balance sheet, prolonging grid constraints and discouraging investment in renewable generation capacity.

“This is clearly not in the long-term interests of electricity stability and the business environment. Since that decision, the department has engaged with organised business and Eskom called a meeting with creditors.”

Progress was recorded in water sector reform, with legislation to strengthen regulation of water services tabled in Parliament. However, the appointment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) board, originally planned for December 2025, has yet to occur as enabling legislation is still before Parliament.

In the area of criminal justice reform, BLSA highlighted South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list as a significant achievement.

Theobald said it took South Africa 32 months to exit the grey list, a performance comparable with peers such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, and faster than Pakistan and the Philippines.

He added that given the scale of institutional damage from state capture and the complexity of South Africa’s financial system, this was a big win for the country.

“This result strengthens South Africa’s integration into global financial systems and lowers transaction costs for businesses.”

Labour reform also advanced in 2025, with wide-ranging proposals contained in the final Nedlac report on labour law reform, followed by more than 60 proposed amendments published by the Department of Employment and Labour.

BLSA chief executive Busisiwe Mavuso said the reform tracker provides much-needed certainty for business.

“They need to know which reforms are advancing, which are stuck, and what barriers need to be removed. Most importantly, they need the government to know that someone is watching, measuring and reporting,” she said.

Mavuso said the tracker was designed to support government by identifying blockages early, informing investment decisions with reliable data and holding all stakeholders accountable for delivery.

BUSINESS REPORT