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South Africa is not only the world’s most unequal country, but the extreme inequality – which undermines policy certainty and investor confidence – is now manifesting itself as a major constraint towards the country’s attainment of higher levels of economic growth.
These were the sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday when he engaged with heads of state, government and leaders of the global private sector as part of his participation in the G20 Compact with Africa Conference underway in Germany.
Addressing those in attendance in his capacity as co-chair of the G20-Africa Advisory Group, Ramaphosa acknowledged that 27% of South Africa’s citizens were unemployed, “inequality continues to be the worst in the world in terms of the Gini coefficient and poverty was still rife.”
He said even though a majority of these challenges may have been inherited as a legacy of South Africa’s apartheid past which was “deliberately crafted to benefit a minority few”, it was time for the current government to address the needs, not only for the sake of the broader citizenry of the country but also with the view of boosting diminishing investor confidence.
He also
recognised that “in past nine years [under former president Jacob Zuma’s
leadership]” government had failed its people, particularly through corruption.
“We have to correct what has happened in the past nine years; we have to put things right through correcting government processes and ridding our country of corruption, which does not bode well for policy certainty,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the country could learn a lot from the hosts, Germany, in terms of how to address the seamless collaboration between government, business and labour a cohesion that would boost investor confidence as well as policy certainty.
“We have learnt a lot from Germany, particularly the way in which the country’s codetermination (a concept that involves the right of workers to participate in management of the companies) has been a success. The whole process has been a window for us to observe and learn,” said Ramaphosa.
The
president said taking steps towards addressing South Africa’s inequality has
been a work in process which started “when South Africans congregated and
talked about what sought of SA they wanted which led to the drafted the Freedom
Charter in 1955”.
“This work continues even own, with the government calling on its people yet again to convene and this time discus an important issue, the land issue,” said Ramaphosa.
He said such strides were being misconstrued by potential foreign as being bad for encouraging policy certainty and investor confidence but promised that the country was going about the process in a constitutional manner that benefited all South Africans at large.
Organisers of a march against “white genocide” clearly did not agree with Ramaphosa’s sentiments.
They took to the streets and pleaded for help from the
international community to put pressure on the government to act against the
“white genocide” in the country.
The group, which refers to themselves as Black Monday, teamed up with the National Conservative Party and on Monday made their way from Moloto Road to Arcadia to ask for intervention from the American and Australian embassies in Pretoria.
The president said it was disingenuous for investors and the international community to be alarmed. He said the restitution process was being carried out in a constitutional and peaceful manner and was meant to benefit all South African.
He said the recently concluded SA investor summit was a good highlight of the improved investor confidence in the country as shown by the more than double turnout of investors and almost R290 billion worth of money being pledged by a number of businesses, both local and international, over the next three to five years.
Ramaphosa thanked German companies for pledging R60 billion to the country and assured Professor Heinz-Walter Grobe, chairpersn of the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (SAFRI) and chairperson of the management board of B. Braun Melsungen that the pledges would be beneficial to both countries.
The president is in Germany for a working visit which started on Monday.
The visit also saw him meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and a dinner hosted by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
He will this evening conclude his working visit by attending a working dinner hosted by Merkel in honour of all Heads of State and Government and chairpersons of international organisations, before departing Berlin for the Republic of South Africa.
