SA still an investment destination of choice

• Published date: 17 May 2022
• Publication title: South African Official News

The NDP may not be perfect, but it continues to be a guide in our vision to tackle poverty, inequality and unemployment, writes Phumla Williams.

Oliver Dickson's lopsided view of our country's investment prospects cannot be left unchallenged lest it misleads Business Day's readers.

For starters, Dickson should be reminded that when this democratic government appointed a panel of eminent persons to contribute towards the development of the National Development Plan: Vision 2030 (NDP) it did so fully cognisant of the enormous challenges it will face as it reconstructs our country in line with the constitution.

For more than 300 years, SA was ruled by a racially exclusive, discriminatory and exploitive system. The majority of the citizens - in particular Africans - were completely excluded from any economic development of this country. Undoing this was never to be as easy as some may want us to believe.

His myopic assertion that our country is a poor investment destination rings hollow and fails to appreciate what the government has done over this short democratic period and what it continues to do in taking the country forward.

Dickson's view that our 'poor investability lies in the fact that we have no clear political and economic vision for the country' is unfortunate. SA has a road map spelt out in the NDP. It may not be perfect, but it continues to be a guide in our vision to tackle the triple challenges facing the country - poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Under the stewardship of President Cyril Ramaphosa, his R1.2 trillion investment drive announced four years ago has reached an impressive 95% of this ambitious target. Both domestic and foreign investors continue to see SA as an investment destination. Numbers do not lie.

From the first SA Investment Conference in 2018 to the fourth earlier in 2022, the country has attracted over R1.14 trillion in commitments across a wide range of economic sectors. These investments are deliberate and calculated decisions by investors. They continue to view SA as a potential investment destination. The incoming investors display a strong vote of confidence in our ability to overcome our most pressing challenges, some of which are linked to the legacy of apartheid.

When engaging with potential investors the government has never extenuated the existing socioeconomic and political problems affecting the country. It openly and unstintingly acknowledges that it is gradually emerging out of a very difficult period where...