Well done, Ramaphosa, but SA needs concrete results

It seems President Cyril Ramaphosa can do no wrong at the moment.

Fresh from jumping on a plane to watch the Springboks win their third Rugby World Cup title in Japan last weekend, the president made all the right noises at the two-day SA Investment Conference in Sandton this week. Ratings agency Moody’s may not agree after they lowered our outlook to negative last week, but Ramaphosa insisted SA’s economy was poised for future growth in the near future.

On the face of it, securing financial backing of R363 billion from local and international investors is wonderful news. This country needs a shot in the arm in terms of investment. While Moody’s keeps a close eye on the country, South Africa is already rated junk by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. Both shifted to non-investment grade in 2017.

But back to the good news. The total investment amount pledged is 17% more than the figure raised in 2018 at the inaugural investment conference.

During that conference the public and private sectors pledged R300 billion. Of those pledges, Ramaphosa said R238 billion has been secured during the past 12 months. A further R60 billion is going through regulatory clearances, according to the president.

“For those who doubted right at the onset, and many people were very critical, dismissing this whole effort you’re all involved in and said this is just a talk show and I’d like to say to them: this is no talk show, this is serious business,” said Ramaphosa.

Over 400,000 jobs could be added as a result of the pledged investment by 2023 as government aim to raise R1.2 trillion in the next four years.

Currently our economic growth is slow. We have a high unemployment rate.

It may not be a talk show, if Ramaphosa is to be believed, but concrete results is all that will save our economy.

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