Cape Town - Debate about various policies is natural in a fledgling democracy and should not discourage investors from coming to South Africa, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said today.
"It's normal in a fledgling democracy that you will have a plethora of views, but we think we are doing very well in terms of national cohesion," said Motlanthe at the Ernst and Young Strategic Growth Forum Africa at the Westin Hotel in Cape Town.
The country has been alive with debates on nationalisation, land reform and labour policies in recent months.
"We come from a [past] where views were not tolerated, views were suppressed, so we have to open up space for people to ventilate their views in public.
"The trick is knowing which views influence policy processes and how policy is adopted," he told business leaders and government officials from across the continent.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy and owes its allegiance to the Constitution.
"Certainly as the executive we know we have to work in a co-operative fashion with the other two arms of the state (judiciary and legislative) and that we are held accountable to the Constitution," he said.
South Africa remains an attractive investment destination - it has a predictable investment environment, is politically stable, has a stable banking system and offers many investment opportunities.
The country also enjoys goodwill with neighbouring countries which bodes well for investors looking to expand across Africa.
Motlanthe said the country's response to the 2008 global financial crisis - which brought the government, labour, civil society and business together in a national dialogue - was even adopted as a model by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
However, he conceded that South Africa isn't optimally organised when it comes to bodies that represent business.
"They (business companies) need to organise themselves better rather than just having [Business Unity South Africa] as an umbrella body, because at that level they don't discuss very seriously operational issues because it's high-level discussions..." he said.
