Ramaphosa woos UK businesses to invest in SA, wants wine exports to double

President Cyril Ramaphosa has allayed the fears of UK business leaders’, saying a number of reforms in South Africa are in place to boost investor confidence in the country.

“We are undertaking far-reaching reforms to improve the capacity and competitiveness of railways, ports and to open up our telecommunications industry and to improve the supply of water and infrastructure,” Ramaphosa, speaking at Lancaster House in London, said on Wednesday afternoon.

Ramaphosa, who met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Number 10 Downing Street earlier in the day to discuss trade and investment, met South African and UK business leaders in a bid to convince them South Africa was open for business.

He said several UK companies had attended South African investment conferences since 2018 and made significant investment commitments.

“Bilateral trade is at its highest between our two countries with goods and services worth almost £11bn R226bn) being traded between the UK in the 12 months ending June this year.

“Exports from South Africa to the UK are estimated to support about 140,000 South African jobs, which is quite significant, a number we would like to see growing on an annual basis.”

The UK is the largest foreign investor in South Africa and several South African companies have a presence in the UK, “making it a two-way investment track”.

“It is our intention and ambition to substantially increase the value and diversity of both the trade and investment in both our countries.”

While there were many attractions and much potential for investors in South Africa, Ramaphosa said, there are “admittedly a number of constraints on economic growth and social development”.

He said for more than a decade South Africa had been confronted with a shortage of electricity. “We have taken urgent steps to remedy this dire situation by significantly and rapidly increasing the construction of new generation capacity in energy. We have accelerated the procurement of renewable energy and we have removed many of the regulatory hurdles to greater private investment in embedded generation.”

In addition, “We are undertaking far reaching reforms to improve the capacity and competitiveness of railways, ports and to open up our telecommunications industry and to improve the supply of water and infrastructure.

“We have also embarked on processes to cut red tape and reduce regulatory hurdles that hold investment back. We have taken decisive steps to tackle crime and corruption.” Law enforcement agencies are being rebuilt and provided with the necessary resources needed to persecute those responsible for crime, corruption and the capture of state institutions.

“We are strengthening the ability of our police and our security service to better respond to economic crimes such as extortion and damage to infrastructure.”

Ramaphosa said the government was keen to know what it needed to do further to encourage businesspeople to increase investment in South Africa.

“It is important for the South African government to understand the issue, concerns and expectations that you as business in the UK have on us.

“We have in the past listened very carefully to some of the concerns and have taken dramatic steps to address a number of the issues raised with us. We would also like to know in which sectors you see the greatest potential for collaboration and what partnerships you are exploring where you will need our help.”

He said during his meeting with Sunak they had discussed the possibility of increasing the exports of South African wines to the UK.

“We just had a discussion now with the prime minister and we put forward some of our very keen proposals  — which will please most of you who imbibe in the type of thing that I am going to talk about — to increase the quota of wine exports from South Africa to the UK.

“We want that to double and we did say to the prime minister that that does not cost the UK government anything. In fact, what it does is for South Africa to bring joy and happiness.”  

UK secretary of state for international trade Kemi Badenoch said business representatives in the room were among those working on strategic projects across South Africa, with more in the pipeline. The UK-South Africa investment task force is addressing market access barriers and highlighting new opportunities, she said.

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to do more because when South Africa flourishes, so does the UK. Today we are together moving into new era of our dynamic 21st century trade and investment relationship.”

She said this was a relationship that would transform lives and open opportunities for businesses.

“Today I am proud to launch the next stage of our infrastructure partnership supporting South Africa’s plans to grow its economy through sustainable infrastructure development,” said Badenoch.

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