Riyaz Patel
Every (African) election that passes peacefully is another step towards the attainment of a continent at peace with itself; and challenges the notion that Africa is unstable and a risky place to invest, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said.
In his opening address at the second Africa Investment Forum, in Johannesburg Monday, Ramaphosa told delegates Africa has come into its own, pursuing growth and development and charting its own course.
He pointed to the Accra Skytrain, the Kigali Innovation City – the first road-rail bridge project linking Kinshasa and Brazzaville – and the $320 million African Infrastructure Investment Fund, as indicators of the “breadth of investment opportunities that exist in Africa.”
But, he said, local manufacturing needed to be bolstered by an investment pipeline.
“This has been a good year for the consolidation of democracy across our continent.”
Ramaphosa said much of the economic progress over the last few years has been made possible by developments in the political sphere.
“Political stability in many African countries has enabled us to industrialise, and to pursue development policies that have brought millions of people out of abject poverty, resulting in rising income levels,” the president said.
“And now we stand on the cusp of a new era of African integration.
“The coming into operation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will connect over 1.2 billion people and solidify a consumer market that will be worth over $3 trillion by 2030.”
But by far the most significant potential of the AfCFTA will be in increasing the value of intra-African trade, which, by some estimates, is likely to rise by 15 to 25% by 2040, Ramaphosa said.
“Under colonial rule, Africa’s rich resources were plundered and shipped off to foreign destinations, leaving countries impoverished and under-developed.”
Ramaphosa said Africa faces a new challenge of being net importers of products and goods that could be produced domestically, which in turn puts pressure on national balance sheets and diverts economic priorities away from vital social spending.
“We want to reverse this. We want to produce our own food to feed our people. We want to generate our own energy. We want to see greater local beneficiation in our mining and minerals industries.”
“We want to produce our own goods for our own domestic markets and for export. We want to be able to stitch, stamp and chisel the words ‘Proudly made in Rwanda’, ‘Proudly made in Ghana’ and ‘Proudly made in Togo’ onto garments, mobile phones, computers and cars.”
Despite the progress, Ramaphosa acknowledged the immense challenges of overcoming poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.
“I invite you to join us as we pass the flickering torch of progress across every border of this great continent, until the light of development and economic prosperity illuminates every African village, town and city.”
