President Cyril Ramaphosa's ambitious R1.2 trillion investment drive has achieved 95% completion, just a year short of its five-year target.
With 80 investment pledges – totalling R332 billion – unveiled at the fourth SA Investment Conference on Thursday, President Ramaphosa said with investments from the previous instalment of the event, the drive had reached R1.14 trillion.
"This means that we are now only R60 billion short of our target. Is that not a great achievement? I'm not a soothsayer or a magician but by next year, we will not only reach our target, but we will exceed it,” said the President.
"I could feel your exudence and spirit of great optimism and hope. You are essentially confident that South Africa is on the right track, despite all the challenges that you face. You see immense potential in both the traditional and emerging sectors of our economy.”
He said it was also encouraging to see that the business sector shared the belief that South Africa could not be prosperous without a prosperous continent.
He said he was hopeful that the SA Investment Conference would serve as "herd mentality type of DNA" catalyst that would see that we see other investors "rushing and moving in a particular direction".
"So this conference also encourages those who may or not be here to have great confidence to ask themselves what is it those who are investing and they follow suit. And I believe that many of you who are here who are making your investment, are investing because you're emulating someone who came before you.
“Some have invested in this market for hundreds of years, and they're still here, and suddenly everyone is here and they become leaders of the pack and everyone follows,” said the President.
He said the value of such conferences was to get people to see that South Africa is an "investable destination" open for business.
He said the investment commitments made at the Conference were impressive, "not only by virtue of humility of the investment itself but also “by the sheer number of projects".
The President saluted that fact the commitments came from companies from all corners of the globe.
"These investments are at the cutting edge of one of the most important growth industries in South Africa. They are investments that are really new life-inspiring," he said.
With a large amount of investment commitments in the mining sector, President Ramaphosa said, this was testament that the sector was not a sunset industry as many had suggested.
"Mining in South Africa is on the resurgence and it is a sunrise industry. It is pleasing that there are several investments in metal fabrication as we saw in other manufacturing. The investments to add value jobs that would otherwise have gone to more industrialized countries,” he said.
He said he was excited about the investments in the film, design and other creative industries, where he said there was "huge potential".
He said today, they have had confirmation of the export potential of the country’s automotive sector and of its continued contribution to developing emerging businesses through its value chain.
"We welcome that investment in infrastructure and logistics and property and telecommunications, which will help expand the capacity of our economy and improve its competitiveness. We have seen investment in agriculture - our oldest industry - and investment in the digital economy - our newest.
In the course of the Conference, he said there had been a sense of the value and potential of the country’s special economic zones, the important role of financial institutions and other funding agencies that have been promoting transformation.
"This investment has also provided us with a glimpse into the South African economy of the future. It is an economy that is rich and diverse and is teeming with a number of investors have responded either on the basis of conversation or the need to develop the skills of young people and to empower them," the President said. – SAnews.gov.za
