UK PM May set to bolster economic partnerships with SA
UK Prime Minister Theresa May and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday agreed to strengthen economic partnerships as the country prepared to leave the EU next year.
May kicked off her three-country tour of Africa in Cape Town yesterday, where she held a bilateral meeting with Ramaphosa.
She also used the visit to hand over the SS Mendi Bell to Ramaphosa and South Africa to commemorate the sacrifice of over 600 South Africans who perished when the SS Mendi sank in the English Channel over 100 years ago.
“The UK is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners with trade of over £9 billion last year and we’ve agreed that as the UK prepares to leave the EU we must then think about how to grow that trade for the future,” said May.
She reiterated her ambition that the UK becomes Africa’s biggest G7 investor by 2022, starting with negotiations to conclude an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the Southern African Customs Union, its member states and Mozambique once the EU-SADC EPA no longer applies to the UK.
Ramaphosa spoke about land reform, and that it was good for stability and business in South Africa.
He went to great lengths to explain South Africa’s rationale behind plans to expropriate land without compensation while at a business round table with May and her business delegation.
“Addressing it (land reform) for us is important because it will enhance stability and we see this as a platform through which we can also enhance growth of our economy because once this important resource is made available to more people, it becomes a
platform for growth,” said Ramaphosa.
“We are now saying, those who have been concerned and fear that this will not be well handled should be reassured we are as responsible as we were when we settled the apartheid nightmare under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.”
Ramaphosa assured possible investors in South Africa that illegal land seizures would not result from whatever measures the government introduces to effect land reform.
“Our response has been, yes, we will give effect for this claim for land, we will do it in terms of our Constitution, we will do it based not on land grabbing, we will do it to ensure that all South Africans do have a right to own land and to own property,” Ramaphosa said.
May said the UK supported land reform on condition that it was done legally and via a democratic process.