JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa was speaking on Wednesday morning at an investor’s symposium in Johannesburg which was hosted by the Goldman Sachs Group,Inc. at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westcliff, Johannesburg .
Ramaphosa was speaking to investors after the ruling ANC won the plebiscites last week.The party won with a reduced majority in parliament ,by 57.5% of the parliamentary vote. This was Ramaphosa’s first poll crucial test since taking power from his predecessor former president Jacob Zuma .It was the ANC’s worst performance in a parliamentary poll in 25 years since the end of the white minority rule in 1994. South Africa elected the late iconic former president Nelson Mandela as its first black democratic president.
He reiterated that the S A government would not ask foreign investors to inject money into South Africa and then “tomorrow take your land away”,saying this was ‘not something that any sensible person will does” as confirmed by News 24.
The Goldman Sachs investors forum takes place ahead of the second investment conference which is scheduled for later in 2019 as announced by President Ramaphosa.The investors conference brings together chief executive officers,chief financial officers,chief information officers and chairpersons of leading companies and financial institutions across the industry sectors from South Africa and other parts of the continent.
President Ramaphosa has frequently stated in the past that land reform and expropriation without compensation would take place in a chronological manner with no land grabs.He explained that since the inception of the ANC in 1912 the land reform had remained “at the core” of the ANC’s recurring message through out.
“We have to embark on the reforms ,speed up on them…We are going to ensure that the certainty that investors want is there,” Ramaphosa said.He commented in an interactive session facilitated by Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs:Sub-Saharan Africa Mr Colin Coleman.
R290 billion in investments was raised by over 1000 investors who attended the inaugural South Africa Investment Conference held in October 2018.President Ramaphosa announced an aspiring investment drive targeted at raising R5 trillion in local and international investments over a 5 year period .
