SA president seeks German investment to boost economy

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and representatives from the German private sector at a business summit in Pretoria. 

The business leaders are hoping to identify potential investment opportunities in South Africa, Germany’s largest trading partner on the African continent.

Approximately 600 German companies already have links to the country and this year South Africa’s exports to Germany - mostly machinery and equipment parts - exceeded R100bn for the first time. 

President Ramaphosa, a former businessman, campaigned last year on the promise of “jobs and economic growth”, which he is now under pressure to deliver. 

It will be a difficult pledge to fulfil, with the country’s economy already struggling to meet growth targets. The last couple of months have also seen the return of rolling power outages, and several major companies announce job cuts in order to remain profitable. 

Moreover, many are hoping that talks with Germany will lead to tangible results for the 30% of South Africans who are unemployed, creating new jobs and industry. 

Photo: EPA-EFE/Kamil Zihnioglu