Swiss big business on Friday endorsed South Africa’s economic policies, but cautioned that legislation such as black economic empowerment (BEE) could blunt the country’s competitive edge.
”Black economic empowerment is a desirable trend and it’s important that something is being done in this direction,” said Anton Schrafl, chairperson of Swisscham-Southern Africa, the bilateral chamber of commerce based in Switzerland.
He said that BEE definitely had to be applied in the spheres of education and training in companies.
According to Hansjurg Saager, a Swisscham board member, legislation such as this should be limited in some way.
”Laws should be limited otherwise what we will see is apartheid from the other side,” he said, highlighting perceived competition between different sectors of South African society.
Said Thomas Pletscher of OSEC, Switzerland’s official business network: ”BEE is good if quality and productivity is maintained, otherwise it is bad for South Africa … it will be counter-productive,” he said.
Pletscher linked the question of empowering legislation to foreign direct investment, saying South Africa was competing on a global platform with, for example, South East Asian countries.
He said currently investors were behaving like ”a herd of sheep” by going to the south-east Asian markets.
”They are missing opportunities on the African continent,” he said, adding that the economic figures in South Africa would help to change the trend of investors going to Asia.
Touching on South Africa’s regulatory framework, Pletscher described it as ”transparent” and the administration thereof as ”open-minded and accessible”.
He said it compared favourably with other African and Latin-American countries, but if labour restrictions and other forms of regulation were imposed, it could cause South Africa to lose its competitive edge.
”Overall South Africa is in a good position and should look to keep this position,” he said.
Anton Schrafl, who was also an honorary consul of South Africa in Zurich, said South Africa also needed to sharpen its publicity and public-relations exercises to help counter persistent negative perceptions by international investors.
”South Africa has one of the best economic, financial and monetary systems in the world. It is excellent,” he said, cautioning against investor confidence being eroded by controversial legislation and a restrictive regulatory framework. — Sapa