All eyes are on the 5th South Africa Investment Conference! Your presence and participation at this investment conference are a clear demonstration that South Africa continues to be an attractive investment destination. This despite a strained domestic and global economic climate.
5th South Africa Investment Conference
The South Africa Investment Conference has continued to evolve and grow over the past 5 years. In 2018, we set a bold and ambitious target to raise R1.2 trillion in investment over a 5-year period. This year’s conference is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made to achieve that goal.
Given the state of the economy in 2018, and given that we were emerging from a decade of state capture, many thought it was an unattainable target. We moved with speed, appointing the first of our Special Envoys to engage with domestic and foreign investors on investment opportunities in South Africa.
Despite economic headwinds
In the same year, the first-ever South Africa Investment Conference took place. Despite economic headwinds, low business confidence and dampened investor sentiment, the first conference generated investment pledges to the value of approximately R300 billion. The value of investment pledges has continued to grow.
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Since April 2018, we have had to contend with a devastating global pandemic, damaging social unrest, several natural disasters and a cost-of-living crisis. This crisis has been worsened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
A long journey to rebuild our country
In addition, we are now confronted with the consequences of years of under-investment, mismanagement and corruption in our electricity, rail and logistics sectors. Given all that has taken place in the intervening years, it’s understandable that investor confidence has been sorely tested. Doubters have had reason to be sceptical.
We are however on a long journey to rebuild our country and at the same time, to recover the ground we have lost. Our recovery is a mission that will take time to accomplish. On the recovery path, we refuse to be daunted by the challenges we face. The country is confident that we will recover.
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As the government, 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.
An investment destination
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. The four South African Investment Conferences that have taken place to date have attracted R1.14 trillion in investment pledges. We hope the investment announcements made here today will take this total beyond the target that we set, a couple of years ago.
While investment decisions often take several years to reach fruition, the investment commitments made to date have already resulted in substantial investment in the productive economy. Almost 70% of the total number of projects announced since 2018 are either completed or on their way to completion.
R1.14 trillion in investment pledge
To date, approximately R460 billion of capital has been invested in building new factories. This included the purchasing of equipment, constructing roads, sinking mine shafts and rolling out broadband infrastructure. What really stands out is the impact of these investments on the lives of South Africans. Citizens are now able to earn a decent living and care for their families. As we create sustainable jobs we are working to tackle poverty and inequality.
Beyond the pledges made inside this conference hall, I have been encouraged by the investments that are happening in our economy and those that are being facilitated via InvestSA, our investment envoys, our diplomatic missions in various countries and our government departments, especially the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
Creating sustainable jobs
Whether it is in business process outsourcing, tech start-ups, the automotive sector, green ammonia, green hydrogen or in the construction of mega data centres, local and international companies are expanding their footprint in South Africa.
It has been a core conviction of this administration that to create jobs we must drive growth, and to achieve growth, we must implement fundamental economic reforms.
This 5th South Africa Investment Conference affirms local and international investor confidence in the structural reforms we have been driving to improve the business environment.
Prioritising the energy sector
The energy sector remains our foremost priority. The lack of reliability in electricity supply weakens business and consumer confidence, taints international perceptions about our country and affects investment sentiment and decisions.
With a view to addressing the energy challenges, we announced an Energy Action Plan in July last year. The Energy Action Plan presents a clear path to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding in the short term and achieve energy security in the long term.
The Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, with the support of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the Department of Public Enterprises and the National Energy Crisis Committee, is overseeing the implementation of this plan.
Our immediate focus is on improving the performance of our existing coal-fired power stations as they continue to provide the baseload of our energy.
Demand-side management initiatives will receive elevated attention, including through consumer behaviour, rooftop solar and facilitating embedded generation.
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.
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH THIS MORNING.
