As President Cyril Ramaphosa decided not to attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland this year, and instead focus on issues back home, it’s in the hands of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to fly the South African flag. This has put a little dampener on events this year as some of the sparkle and enthusiasm that Ramaphosa brought last year appeared to be absent from this year’s Brand SA event. Mboweni did however strike a sober tone when he addressed the South African delegation last night and said he is here ‘to tell the truth’. – Linda van Tilburg
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Our message presented at Davos is very simple and clear and without any spin as investors can see through spin, and we would lose credibility.
Our message is firstly that South Africa is part of the African continent and what we do in South Africa should also contribute to the growth and development of the African continent. Therefore our interactions with others here at Davos is to tell the African story which is to consolidate peace, silence the guns, and improve economic performance. Growth is still expected to be buoyant, although not at the same levels one would have wanted. The African leadership is committed to ensuring that Africa is connected to the whole world. Davos should not just focus on South Africa but the whole of the African continent.
Country duty at Davos World Economic Forum Meetings. pic.twitter.com/SF2irZiAVa
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) January 22, 2020
South Africa has endeavoured to grow at a faster rate than the current situation. To achieve this a number of structural reforms have been put in place, which has been clearly calculated in a Government Paper entitled “Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa”. These structure reforms, amongst others, includes agriculture, tourism and telecommunications. Agriculture we have greater support for emerging farmers, also existing large and medium commercial farms who contribute so much.
On tourism we have made changes for entry into South Africa easier. We have removed some of the restrictions requiring birth certificates for young travellers, and included more countries who no longer need a visa to enter South Africa. Some of these countries are “heavy hitters”, which will bring much needed funds. We are working with tour operators and law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of tourists.
For telecommunications, the issuing of Spectrum to the industry, as you know the policy directive has already been issued and the process now is firmly within the regulatory authority. Accompanying the immediate structure reforms are the medium term strategic reforms which could focus on issues such as the re-emerging industrial strategic, or to obtain the know-how from any part of the world which we want to bring to our shores. We have identified a number of Special Economic Zones.
In short the things that need to be done immediately, we have started doing them. For the medium term we should continue to push for what needs to be done and for the longer term, up to 7 years, there is a range of issues that we need to address. Time doesn’t wait for anybody. We have to do the work every day and we continue to do this as much as we can.
So thank you very much program director. Thank you Minister and thank you colleagues for coming to Davos to be with us and enjoy your stay.
