Envisioning Public Sector Pathways: Gauteng as an Entrepreneurial Province in South Africa

This article, taken from the outlook report, propagates the idea of an entrepreneurial state in South Africa’s Gauteng province. The global economy is reeling from an aftermath of two global recessionary events: the 2008 financial crisis and, more recently, the 2016 Eurozone crisis, which was triggered by public sector debt in Greece. These events have thrust the role of the state into the forefront, as various economies in the world look to their governments to quell the consequences of economic pressures. As efforts mount to solve the issue of public sector debt, most notably in the Eurozone, this is also fuelling contemplations elsewhere on the need for governments to navigate with caution on their spending and operational ways so as to steer clear from the murky waters of indebtedness. If the inner workings of the South African nation state must be relooked or if there may even be drastic attempts to do major reconstructive surgery on how the state operates, then this report attempts to be a contribution to those petitions that would be concerned on reorienting the state. This article reviews the entrepreneurial approach needed to be adopted by government institutions to contribute to provincial and, ultimately, national development. Special recommendations are made on how the township economies can be operationalised by the Gauteng province being a ‘smart’ entrepreneurial state.