In the global game of luring investment, results trump rhetoric
South Africa no longer is the darling of the world as in Madiba’s time
23 March 2025 - 00:00
In the euphoric days of the mid-1990s, as a South African student researching my MBA thesis — “US investment in a post-apartheid South Africa”— at Eastern Illinois University in the US, I encountered a stark dose of realism from a Washington official on the Africa desk. In response to my idealistic questions about why the US was not immediately reinvesting in our newly democratic nation, she dismissed any notions of goodwill-driven investment with the retort: “There ain’t no such thing as compassion capital, Ravi.” ..
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