President Cyril Ramaphosa has set his sights on mobilising R2 trillion worth of investment in the economy in the next five years. He is also expected to meet his previous 2018 goal of raising R1.2 trillion by 2023.
Ramaphosa delivered his keynote address at the fifth annual South Africa Investment Conference (Saic) at the Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday where around 200 delegates from over 40 countries were in attendance.
At the previous Saic the president managed to raise R332 billion in pledges from investors, bringing the total investments raised since 2018 – when he first set his investment targets – to R1.14 trillion.
Despite the challenges the country is facing, which include load shedding, greylisting and corruption the head of state told investors that he believes the country still presents opportunity.
“We remain convinced that South Africa is an investment destination with significant untapped potential. We do believe, that by leveraging our unique value proposition, we have the ability to attract higher levels of investment,” Ramaphosa said.
“In the midst of all the challenges we face, our ambition has not been misplaced. We do believe that the target we set in 2018 was not misplaced either.”
Read: SA investment conference: Ramaphosa woos business
Investment progress
In his address, the president acknowledged that the last five years were met with unprecedented challenges that have hampered investor confidence in South Africa, these include the Covid-19 pandemic, high levels of load shedding, corruption, the July 2021 social unrest and the 2022 KZN floods as well as ongoing geopolitical tensions.
However, despite this, Ramaphosa assured delegates that SA was on its road to recovery.
“We are on a long journey to rebuild our country and recover the ground we have lost. Our recovery is a mission that will take time to accomplish.
According to the president, almost 70% of the R1.14 trillion in investments pledged to date have either already been completed or are well on their way to completion.
“To date, approximately R460 billion of capital has been invested in building new factories, purchasing equipment, constructing roads, sinking mine shafts and rolling out broadband infrastructure,” Ramaphosa said.
Read: Gauteng, KZN and the Northern Cape attract the most pledges at investment conference
Energy focus
South Africa’s continuing energy crisis was a prominent feature in the President’s address with Ramaphosa pointing to several policy decisions the government has taken to help solve the crippling issue.
This comes as the country battles indefinite Stage 6 load shedding, resulting in households and businesses going without electricity for between eight to 10 hours a day.
Read: Load shedding escalates to Stage 6
Much like utterances made by the electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa in previous engagements with the media, Ramapohosa reemphasised the government’s focus on improving the performance of existing coal-fired power stations.
In a press briefing held on 6 April Ramokgopa indicated that his office is interested in the conversation of extending the lifespan of old – and soon-to-be decommissioned – power stations to support the baseload and Eskom’s energy generation capabilities.
Read:Underinvestment, poor procurement and skills drain plague Eskom
“We have been implementing wide-ranging reforms in the electricity sector to enable private investment in electricity generation and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity from solar, wind, gas and battery storage,” Ramaphosa said.
The president added that despite the pressure presented by load shedding on the economy, he sees great opportunity for economic growth through the investment in green energy. As such, he noted that government will not neglect the importance of renewables in its solution.
“There are indeed opportunities in this crisis, including [in] the local manufacturing of solar panels, batteries and inverters and the use of our unique natural endowment in resources like platinum and vanadium.
“This will open up new opportunities for employment and the skilling and upskilling of workers, especially young people.”
Listen to Moneyweb editor Ryk van Niekerk as he speaks to investment envoy to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Jacko Maree about investment expectations for the 5th South Africa Investment Conference:
