South Africa displays ”sound” economic policies, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Johannesburg on Friday.
She was addressing a Business Unity South Africa function in Sandton.
”Your banks are free of the bad loans that the US has had to deal with. We can learn a lot from your example,” she said.
While the global economic crisis had created ”dangerous instability” everywhere, Clinton said South Africa’s underlying economic fundamentals put it in a promising position to ”move forward when we come out of the crisis”.
South Africa was a member of the G20 and one of the most important emerging economies in the world — it was also well-positioned to propel growth throughout Africa, she said.
Turning to Zimbabwe, Clinton said President Barack Obama took the conditions in that country personally.
”You have three- to four-million Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa,” Clinton said.
”It’s a cost to you,” she said.
”In Zimbabwe services need to be delivered to the people and we’ll be working closely with South Africa when it comes to Zimbabwe.”
Clinton said Africa needed to tell a positive story about countries such as South Africa and Botswana — ”and then we must improve conditions elsewhere in Africa”.
The US Secretary of State is on an 11-day trip to the continent.
She has already visited Kenya and after South Africa she will travel to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde. — Sapa