Ramaphosa is ‘Last Hope’ For South Africa – China’s SA Ambassador

Riyaz Patel

China’s ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, says President Cyril Ramaphosa is the “last hope” for South Africa and that his administration must turn incentive policies into laws to secure more Chinese investment.

China is South Africa’s largest trading partner and has pledged more investment than any other country since Ramaphosa embarked on his $100 billion investment drive to haul the economy out of a slump.

While it has attracted some $55 billion in total pledges – including from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well – the drive has so far done little to ease crippling unemployment or boost economic growth.

“To date, there are no major infrastructure projects from China here. Why? Because we don’t only need the concept of a project,” Lin said.

Policies of extending incentives, including tax breaks, to attract foreign capital also did not do enough for Chinese investors, who