By Thebe Mabanga
President Cyril Ramaphosa closed the 6th South African Investment Conference on Tuesday, saying R889.8 billion had been secured, and raising the five-year investment target from R2 trillion to R3 trillion.
“This conference has demonstrated that our economy is entering a new phase of growth,” Ramaphosa said.
“Having witnessed and heard the announcement of commitments of investment that will be made in our country, I can confidently say there is a strong case for investment in South Africa today.”
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Ramaphosa described the structural reform programme being driven through Operation Vulindlela as having positioned the country more strongly for investment.
“Through the structural reform agenda, we have brought about a new era of hope and promise for South Africa, and positioned our economy as one of the leading destinations for investment in emerging markets.”
He grounded the success of the conference on the five that have gone before it since 2019.
“When the sixth administration took office in 2019, we were determined to build a government that was open to collaboration and to finding shared solutions to common problems,” the president said.
“We extended the hand of partnership to the private sector. This was met by a willingness to engage, to take us at our word, and to support the reform agenda.”
Ramaphosa also used the opportunity to respond to the view that he is indecisive and avoids key decisions.
Speaking off the cuff and garnering suppressed laughter for his statements, he said that the decision to create the portfolio of Minister of Electricity and Energy and have it headed by Dr Kgosientso Ramokgopa was made without consulting the ANC.
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A total of R889.8 billion was announced across confirmed fixed investment and development finance support.
The opening position of the new investment drive, Ramaphosa said, was R415 billion in confirmed fixed investment and R474.8 billion in development finance commitments.
The projects span all nine provinces, 22 source markets and more than 230,000 permanent jobs.
The pledges are direct investment into the economy across various sectors and provinces, supported by more than R1 trillion in planned public infrastructure spending over the next three years, as well as wider transport, logistics and energy reforms intended to crowd in private capital.
Government has also pointed to support from the Infrastructure Fund and major development finance institutions as part of the broader investment ecosystem.
The private sector pledges are broadly divided into landmark investments and sector cluster investments.
There are 16 landmark investments of at least R10 billion. The largest of these is R60 billion pledged by Sasol. The category includes investment by V&A Waterfront (R24 billion), Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (R17.6 billion), Valterra Platinum (R17.8 billion), Vodacom (R12.8 billion) and Toyota, which is to invest R10.4 billion in KwaZulu-Natal.
MTN also announced an investment pledge of R21.8 billion, helping push the total to just under R900 billion and, in rounded terms, past that mark.
There are also six sector cluster groupings consisting of 65 further investments worth R113.5 billion. The Green Economy, Energy and Resources cluster accounts for R55.6 billion.
There is also an ICT, Digital Economy and Financial Services cluster with a pipeline of R23.6 billion, including investment in data centres and business services by companies such as Visa and PwC SATIC, among others.
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The Tourism, Property and Infrastructure cluster will see R2.4 billion worth of investment in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, with Kuwait based hotel investor Zimbali Resorts among those listed.
The food and agro processing cluster will see five companies invest R7.3 billion, including SAB and Nestlé among others.
The automotive and advanced manufacturing cluster has attracted 16 investments worth R12.5 billion, while the Transport, Logistics, Aerospace and Defence cluster will see 10 investments, including Engen, Uber and DHL, worth R11.6 billion.
There is also the Cape Winelands airport development, listed as RSA Aero, with a R10 billion landmark investment.
Development finance institutions that have pledged include the African Development Bank (R20.5 billion), the New Development Bank (R34 billion), and Afreximbank through the SA Afreximbank Investment Facility (R176 billion). European multilateral support under the EU Global Gateway was put at about 12.3 billion euros, or roughly R236 billion. There is also R8.3 billion in support for black industrialists through the dtic, NEF and IDF.