A war room effort is needed to coordinate and align South Africa\u2019s foreign investor message, Naspers chairperson Koos Bekker said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa heads up a war room to coordinate a solution to the country\u2019s power crisis surrounding Eskom \u2013 a move that has been well received.<\/p>\n
Bekker believes Cabinet or an integrated structure like the war room should align policies and enforce the same public line to attract foreign investment.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Fin24 at his Naspers office in Cape Town, the former CEO of South Africa\u2019s largest company said the country has many positives, but that an uncoordinated government was hampering investor confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our biggest problems is our lack of economic policy coordination,\u201d Bekker, 62, said. \u201cWe have five or so government departments in the economic cluster. Every [department has] their own policy: there is zero coordination, there is no consistent message.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bekker told Bloomberg: \u201cWe have more of a sense of entitlement, of comfort and not quite the hunger that you would have expected\u201d for an emerging market. \u201cSouth Africa is in a very odd situation because in many respects we ought to be an emerging market but we display some traits of a mature market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bekker returns after\u00a0 a year sabbatical<\/strong><\/p>\n After 17 years as Naspers CEO, Bekker resigned in April 2014 and returned as chairperson in April 2015 after a year\u2019s sabbatical, where he spent most of his time lecturing at universities around the world.<\/p>\n His predecessor, Ton Vosloo, stepped down on his return after 23 years in the chairperson seat.<\/p>\n The Naspers share price was sitting at R1 800.52 at 11:00 on May 8.<\/p>\n Bekker said South Africa was standing in a queue with a number of emerging markets. \u201cThere are about 200 markets today that you can invest in,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re being evaluated and the message coming across to international investors isn\u2019t consistently good.\u201d<\/p>\n The former CEO headed up Naspers for three terms from 1997 until 2014 and controversially elected not to take a salary in return for a more lucrative share option.<\/p>\n Investors might not feel welcomed in SA<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSomeone in agriculture says something about foreign investors not being welcomed to buy farms and he [an investor] sees it in terms of his department,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a spill over effect and an investor \u2026 is saying, \u2018well, I hear noises from South Africa, which sounds as if I\u2019m not welcome as an investor\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t read the fine print, they get a broad message,\u201d he said. \u201cOr they read about xenophobia \u2026 and the net impression of South Africa is an uncoordinated policy. Every minister shouts his own line. Some support Gear [Growth, Employment and Redistribution], some oppose it, some want to nationalise \u2013 it\u2019s a very inconsistent message.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest thing we can do in South Africa is to develop a coherent economic policy that everyone believes in and everyone sings to the same hymn sheet, to say to foreign investors: \u2018we want your money, we want you to create jobs in this country. Come along and we [will] look after you\u2019.”<\/p>\n SA has improved under the ANC<\/strong><\/p>\n Bekker said that the ANC\u2019s economic record of governing South Africa since democracy in 1994 was impressive.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do a calculation of all the wealth that existed in 1994 at the political transition and all the wealth that exists today \u2013 that\u2019s everything [from] shares, property, cars, savings, everything \u2013 you will find that more than 50% of all the wealth that exists today was created since 1994.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s no mean achievement. Contrary to people\u2019s usual perceptions that wealth accumulates slowly and that previous regimes built the country and built the wealthy, it\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Bekker said the ANC could be more strategic when marketing the country to investors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ANC and the Cabinet have not found a way to align the economic departments to sing to the same hymn sheet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many positives, but it needs to be aligned and coordinated into a single policy. Then we need to stick to the hymn sheet.”<\/p>\n Don\u2019t blame the media<\/strong><\/p>\n Government officials often criticise the media for its negative approach when covering topics such as xenophobia, corruption and load shedding.<\/p>\n It has also been trying to create a controversial law that protects sensitive state information, but in 2013 President Jacob Zuma sent the Protection of State Information Bill back to Parliament for further consideration.<\/p>\n Bekker said if the media only reported on the \u201cgood story\u201d and hid the bad, investors would leave the country faster than Usain Bolt\u2019s 100 metre sprint.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa has an open media,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of our strongest features.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you imagine that it\u2019s comforting to an international investor to suspect that something is hidden in a country,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s say there is a blow up, let\u2019s say Eskom cuts electricity and the media were to conspire to hide the fact.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, how long do you think international investors would be in the dark?<\/p>\n \u201cThey will quickly pick up that in this country, things are suppressed and run away,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that we have an open and vibrant media scene is comforting to them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to fix the problem, not suppress the message,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a lot of positive messages. If [only] we can just align them all and then stick to the script.\u201d<\/p>\n SA the most beautiful place in the world<\/strong><\/p>\n Bekker said investors would be lucky to base their businesses in South Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of positives about doing business in South Africa,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably \u2013 and I travel a lot – \u2026 one of the most beautiful countries in the world to live in, which is important to young people.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was Silicon Valley developed? It\u2019s partly [its] universities, it\u2019s partly its beautiful environment.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to be in Cincinnati or even Los Angeles. They want to live in San Francisco, which is naturally beautiful.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa has that in so many parts of the country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an attractive place to live, it has lots of young people, [and] it has a certain energy and vibe that we can use to good advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n Fin24<\/a><\/p>\n Koos Bekker: we know a lot about you<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Qualifications of South Africa\u2019s richest people<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Koos Bekker<\/h3>\n