Gigaba: Africa’s youth its ‘best asset’
THE World Economic Forum on Africa gathering which starts in Durban today will be an opportunity to showcase not only Durban and South Africa, but the entire African continent, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said yesterday.
Gigaba will be part of the South African government delegation to the WEF meeting, which will be led by President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The gathering will be used by the South African government and business to woo investors and cement existing relationships.
“We understand the responsibility we have towards the continent, that we need to position it favourably and ensure we tell a good story of ourselves,” Gigaba said.
“One of the things I despise is to see African countries parading themselves individually to investors as if we are in a beauty contest. All of us talking about how good my country is, when in fact we should be talking about how good we are as a continent.”
He said Africa was alive with possibilities, as the continent’s best assets were its youthful population. “That potential, when properly harnessed, gives Africa her best possibilities.”
The minister, accompanied by KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development Sihle Zikalala and eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, went on a tour to major development projects around Durban, including the Bridge City precinct in KwaMashu and the Dube TradePort.
The tour was aimed at exploring opportunities for inclusive economic growth which will ensure that marginalised communities become active participants in the economy.
Gigaba said inclusive economic growth was a key message that the South African government would be taking to the WEF meeting.
He said there were structural defects in the economy as there remained people who could not participate in the mainstream economy.
He warned that this had to be addressed urgently to avert “serious unrest”. “There is a great social pressure emanating from young people and the marginalised who want to play a part in the economy. We cannot ignore those sentiments.”
Gigaba said one way to address this was to focus on townships, rural areas and informal settlements to ensure they became part of South Africa’s “growth story”, and “the economic activity that happens there is not only confined to spaza shops, to hair salons and car washes”.
Ownership patterns would need to be changed to create new asset owners and new wealth. “We would rather manage a growing economy than an economy that has reached its climax.
“The South African budget needs to keep growing for it to have the redistributive effect we need it to have. We need to find those areas where there is potential for new growth”.