Investors in SA need assurance
AS GOVERNMENT CREDIBILITY SLIPS TO A NEW LOW Government promises won’t create jobs. Employment can only rise if businesses can invest with confidence, knowing they can trust government to regulate a stable environment, business leaders say.
downgrade would be devastating for the country, business, labour, politicians and NGOs had to put their minds together to improve the situation, Magara said.
Bob van Dijk, CEO of Naspers, said the group invested in over 100 countries, including markets like Brazil that also had a junk rating.
“I don’t think we should only focus on the rating issue.”
When Naspers deployed capital in markets like China or India, it considered whether the regulatory regime could be trusted to protect foreign investors, Van Dijk added.
“I think the moment your investors get uncertain about that, then you are in the deepest possible trouble.”
Van Dijk said South Africa could still attract foreign investment, but it had to fundamentally build confidence with investors that proved that it was going to treat them properly over the long term.
Phuti Mahanyele, executive chairperson of Sigma Capital, said South Africans had to take a more active stance.
“We can no longer sit back and wait for somebody else to do something. We need as citizens to think about how we can actively be playing a role in changing the situation that is affecting us and so we have to be involved in what is happening politically,” she said.
South Africa had to maintain investor confidence in the country by showing that it wanted to make a change. Mahanyele said although she wasn’t advocating a tax revolt, she wondered what would happen if the roughly 10% of the population who pay income taxes didn’t pay taxes for four weeks of the year.
“Now I’m not saying that we must, but what if? The reality is that we have got power and we need to stop giving it to somebody else to speak to us.
“We need to start using it, otherwise we are the ones that are affected.”