Economy: WEF ‘pilgrimage’ a success – Deputy President

The international investors with whom Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and ‘team SA’ interacted during last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland, showed ‘positive interest’ in SA – and ‘wished the country well’ as it enters what is apparently being marketed as ‘a new era’. This, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch, is according to a Presidency media statement on the team’s ‘successful pilgrimage’ to Davos, issued on the eve of the Deputy President’s return to SA. Among other things, the week’s events left Ramaphosa ‘confident in the confidence’ expressed by members of the ‘investor community’ in his country’s ability to deal with corruption, state-owned enterprise (SOE) ‘dysfunction’ and regulatory uncertainty: just some of the factors he identified as ‘impediments’ to improved economic growth. Although the Deputy President once again welcomed the commission of inquiry into state capture – which he believes will ‘help the country go to the depths’ of the corruption affecting SOEs – any remarks he may have made about the vexed issue of policy uncertainty did not feature in the statement. 

Nevertheless, as Legalbrief Today has already reported, during an interview on the sidelines of more formal WEF discussions the Deputy President is quoted as having conceded that ‘urgent action’ is needed to resolve the ongoing mining charter ‘impasse’ (Business Day). His remarks may well have prompted speculation in mining circles that the industry ‘could be first in line to benefit from a boost in foreign direct investment’ (Mining Weekly). Surprisingly, however, Ramaphosa said nothing about the uncertainty associated with a Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill approaching the end of its second passage through Parliament. As Legalbrief Today reported last month, the NCOP Committee on Land and Mineral Resources has yet to consider feedback from the Department of Mineral Resources on further changes to the Bill mooted in provincial negotiating mandates tabled during November. Given provisions in the Bill’s clause 65 for 20% free carried interest in all new exploration and production rights, the process appears to be of special interest to major players in the oil and gas sector.