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‘SA needs a consistent investor message’

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Koos Bekker
Koos Bekker

A real effort is needed to coordinate South Africa’s foreign investor message, according to Naspers chairperson Koos Bekker.

The 62-year-old businessperson believes that Cabinet or an integrating structure should try to align economic pronouncements to ensure that a consistent message reaches foreign investors.

In an interview in Cape Town, the chairperson of one of the largest South African companies said the country had many positives, but a lack of coordination among departments within the economic cluster was confusing international investors with conflicting messages.

“One of our biggest problems is our lack of economic policy coordination,” Bekker said.

“We have five or so government departments in the ­economic cluster. Every ­[department has] its own policy. There is zero coordination, there is no ­consistent message.”

Bekker returns after a year’s sabbatical, with his predecessor, Ton Vosloo, stepping down after 23 years in the chairperson’s seat.

The Naspers share price closed at R1 790 on Friday.

Bekker said South Africa was queuing up alongside many emerging markets for a share of global investment funds.

“There are about 200 markets today that you can invest in,” he said. “We’re being evaluated and the message coming across to international investors isn’t consistently good.”

The former CEO led the team that created M-Net in the 1980s, helped found MTN in the 1990s and headed Naspers from 1997 until 2014, while ­electing not to take a salary in return for share ­options.

“Loose messages have a spillover effect and some potential factory creator may well say to ­himself: ‘I hear noises from South Africa which sound as if foreigners are not welcome. Let’s rather go elsewhere.’”

“Investors often don’t read the fine print. They get a broad message and act on that,” he said.

“The biggest need is to develop a coherent ­economic policy and to get everyone to sing from the same hymn sheet. Foreign investors need to take away a consistent message: ‘We want your money, we want you to create jobs in this country, come join us and we’ll look after you,’” he added.

Bekker said the ANC’s economic record of governing South Africa since democracy in 1994 isn’t nearly as bad as often claimed.

“If you do a calculation of all the wealth that existed in 1994 at the political transition and all the wealth that exists today – that’s everything, shares, property, cars, savings, everything – you will find that more than 50% of all the wealth that exists today was created since 1994,” he explained.

Bekker said that if local ­media only reported the “good story” and hid the bad, investors would bolt.

“South Africa has a relatively diverse and open media. It’s one of our better features as a country. It’s comforting for an international investor to know problems will not be hidden,” he said.

“Every country has its own problems. We need to fix ours as best we can, not try to suppress information,” Bekker concluded.

– Fin24

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