SA has raised R1 trillion in new investment commitments in four years – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says over the last four years, South Africa has raised more that R1 trillion in new investment commitments.

Ramaphosa delivered his annual address to the National Council of Provinces on the occasion of its flagship ‘Taking Parliament to the People’ outreach programme in Ugu District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

According to Ramaphosa, R330 billion of the money has already flowed into the economy.

“The factories, data centres, paper mills and mines that are built through this investment are not located at the Union Buildings or Parliament,” said Ramaphosa.

“They are located here, where people live, and that is why we need to make sure that companies want to invest here. That is why we have put in place several measures to promote growth and job creation throughout the country.

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“While we are encouraging companies to invest and create employment, we are also using public and social employment to create opportunities for the unemployed.”

Ramaphosa said this includes the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has benefitted over a million people in the last two years, with about 186,000 of these in KwaZulu-Natal.

Ramaphosa further called on the province’s local government to ramp up service delivery in municipalities to make the province an attractive investment destination.

“This includes having functional services such as water provision and infrastructure that is conducive to efficient business operations,” said Ramaphosa.

“We cannot achieve higher economic growth. We cannot create more jobs and we cannot grow more businesses if local government does not function well.

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“When government is efficient, capable, agile and responsive, there is progress and development. People’s quality of life improves. Living standards go up and incomes rise.

“As a result, the nation’s economy grows. Better governance is an issue in which each of us has a stake. Let us continue to work together and to strive together to turn South Africa to be the dream that we have always wanted it to be and turn that dream into reality,” he said.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde