Nedbank CEO Mike Brown said South Africa’s collapsing infrastructure prevents companies from investing in South Africa.
Brown shared this information during News24’s “On the Record” summit, where experts discussed the country’s biggest issues.
He said large corporate customers need South Africa’s infrastructure to work before investing in new mines, factories, and other businesses.
“So much of our economic infrastructure, including energy and logistics, are under the control of state-owned monopolies, and it does not work,” he said.
When there is insufficient energy, or the railway system does not work, companies cannot invest in new projects.
He said Nedbank was doing an international investment roadshow in March and April this year and was faced with a tough question.
“We sat with a United States pension fund investing in assets worldwide. Their one-liner was, ‘How can we invest in a country which can’t keep its lights on?’” Brown said.
To attract new investment, South Africa must fix the infrastructure side of the economy, like electricity and logistics.
“Unless we do that, there will not be large-scale investment. Nobody will put money into the country without it,” he said.
He highlighted that corporate customers spend money to keep their existing businesses competitive. However, there is very little investment in new projects.
There is one exception – energy. “We are seeing a tsunami of energy investments,” Brown said.
South Africa became irrelevant to international investors.
