Alec Hogg on Winslyn: NPA’s Abrahams missed ‘Mogoeng Mogoeng’ moment

The Biznews.com adventure has taken the next step in setting up an office in London. The prime purpose is to establish a base to get the international communities perception on South Africa. As founder Alec Hogg says, there’s a warm spot given the country’s history. But given the current crop of news filtering outwards, this perception may be changing as international investment dries up. The other side to the international growth is to tell the stories of those South Africans making a name living abroad. In an interview with Divan Botha on Winslyn, Alec looks at the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to appeal the High Court’s ruling to reinstate charges on President Zuma around the ‘Spy Tapes’ scandal. And why politics you might say? Well in a developing country, politics are more important than economics, hence the need to keep an eye on proceedings. – Stuart Lowman

Winslyn’s Divan Botha is chatting to Alec Hogg who’s in London establishing a ‘satelliet’ office for Biznews.com. Hello, Alec.

Hi, Divan. You say ‘satelliet’. It actually feels like I’m on satellite as well. Modern technology wonders.

Absolutely. Alec, have you settled in and how’s the English weather treating you?

It’s a secret, unfortunately. It’s what keeps us all away from England. The weather has been magnificent. Blue skies, sunshine. Any more of this (and if we let the secret out), I don’t think we’ll be able to keep the South Africans away. It’s been pretty good and a week on, we’re well settled.

I’m glad. I want to talk about politics. Obviously, we can’t separate politics and business at the moment, but what do you make of the NPA’s decision to appeal the High Court ruling on the Spy Tapes, rather than to reinstate the charges against our President?

Yes. We are a developing country and the definition of a developing country is where politics is more important than economics so we have to keep a very close eye on what’s happening on the political side. It’s an opportunity that was missed. Shaun Abrahams has been under pressure from Day 1. He was viewed as a lapdog of the President. He is a political appointee so he really had his back against the wall. At Biznews, we feel that this was his ‘Mogoeng Mogoeng’ moment. He could actually have come out and said, “Great. The easiest thing in the world would be just be to reopen the docket and let the investigators look at it again.” Nothing wrong with that, checking whether or not there was any truth in the original allegations, which most people in South Africa believe there was. Instead, he took the route that probably was the one of least resistance if you are answering to a political overlord.

Yes. I wanted to ask you. One of the reasons why you started Biznews (especially in London) is to figure out what the business world on that side is thinking about South Africa. Do you think the international community – and specifically, more there in London – actually cares about this decision?

Well, I think the international community has a very warm spot for South Africa. We mustn’t overemphasise our relevance to the global community. We are about half-a-percent of global GDP. As I’ve often said, if we were a state of the United States of America, we’d come in somewhere between Minnesota and Maryland – number 16 on the list – so we mustn’t exaggerate our importance. We still haven’t fallen off the world map. Supposedly, we’re now behind Egypt as the third-biggest economy on the continent. I don’t believe that can actually be true (if you just look at electricity consumption and many other economic indicators), but that’s what the world sees. There is a relevance of South Africa to the global community because this was the country that produced Nelson Mandela.

This is a country that embodies so many good things for the rest of the world but as far as the economy is concerned if you’re sitting in London and you have investments in South Africa, you’re very interested in knowing what’s happening to them and you’re worried. Certainly, the people I talk to here are terribly concerned with the way that the country is being governed. They are not happy at all, at the build-up of cash amongst South African corporates now in the new record, which shows that if South African businesses are not willing to invest, why should foreigners.

Absolutely. Alec, I wish we could chat more but I know we’re going to talk to you way more often so all the best on that side.

It’s such a pleasure. Cheers, Divan.

We’ll be switching to Alec in London approximately once a month for current information on international news.

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