Page 19 - Risk Report 2024

IRMSA
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RISK REPORT 2024/25

6. How to use this report

‘The focus is on understanding the uncertain scenarios shaping our future through a risk
lens, a geographical lens, and an economic sector lens, and then on how best to respond
to them sustainably.’

This Report is intended as a national resource on risk: it reflects on possible future scenarios for South Africa, and
the risk themes that influence those scenarios and achievement of the NDP 2030 goals, the country’s resilience
to deal with risks should they materialise, and proposed risk responses (including the national culture that
determines how people respond to risk). The detailed analyses contained in previous reports remain relevant
as the backdrop for the risk themes that will impact South Africa over the next three years across its economic
sectors and in its geographical context.

6.1 Report Compilation Methodology

6.1.1. Future Scenarios
South Africa’s future scenarios have been structured around its vulnerability or resilience versus the
rest of the world’s vulnerability or resilience, with a risk profile and dominant culture provided for each
scenario. This demonstrates that culture influences how people respond to risks, and that South Africa’s
future is created by its citizens’ behaviours in relation to risk.

6.1.2. Risk Context and Identification
Extensive environmental and risk scanning of internationally acknowledged sources together with
surveys conducted amongst IRMSA Members (risk professionals) and non-members (not risk management
decision-makers) to confirm the relevance of the risk themes determined during the environmental and
risk scanning exercise. Post-graduate students from Milpark Education, Stellenbosch Business School,
and UNISA completed team and individual assignments that examined risks within organisations in
economic sectors from published reports, articles, and interviews. Students identified causes, risks and
consequences affecting achievement of entities’ strategic objectives, and reported risk responses. This
information supplemented and expanded the results from the environmental risk scanning and IRMSA
survey.

MARISA GRUNDLING DR ARTHUR LINKE DR SUNÉ MARÉ
Head of Risk and Insurance Research Fellow Lecturer