South Africa is better than you think - Adrian Gore explains why

Adrian Gore explains why South Africa is better than what people think.
Adrian Gore explains why South Africa is better than what people think.
Image: File/ Martin Rhodes

South Africa is a better place to invest than people think‚ says Discovery Limited founder Adrian Gore‚ who believes that people should be “optimistic” about the future.

Gore was speaking on Thursday at the Discovery Leadership Summit‚ which is being attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa‚ former US president Bill Clinton‚ former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and South African athlete Caster Semenya.

Gore said data showed that South Africans‚ and humans in general‚ were far too pessimistic about the state of their countries. But studies had shown that people‚ even the elderly‚ paradoxically always thought their individual lives would get better while the world would get worse.

Despite pessimism about the state of the world‚ Gore said it had become a richer place than before with longer life expectancy‚ greater wealth and high vaccination rates.

Yet‚ despite the evidence‚ people remained negative about the future.

“Long ago‚ no one lived their whole lives and died from natural causes‚” he explained. “Life was short‚ harsh and brutal‚” referring to our ancestors like the Taung Child‚ who he said died from being dragged by an eagle.

Yet‚ despite the evidence‚ people remained negative about the future.

He then argued why South Africa was better than people thought. In South Africa‚ we believed problems were “insoluble and intractable“‚ he said.

“Give our country a chance‚” he said‚ making a case as to why his optimism was not “naïve” but fact-based.

He said South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product had increased two-and-a-half times since democracy and the country’s economy was almost as big as Austria’s and Switzerland’s. Gore argued that despite misperceptions‚ the country was not as risky a place to do business as people believed. Gore‚ an actuarial scientist‚ explained that risk was “variation” - how much something’s price or value changed.

South Africa’s economic value did not swing wildly as did Turkey and Brazil‚ he said. “Don’t misconstrue the low rate of growth with riskiness‚” he added. South Africa was stable and not too risky to invest in. He described the country as a place of opportunity and a huge market‚ which was why Discovery had grown into a global business. But‚ he cautioned‚ the country had to do better‚ and called the past 11 years the “lost decade“.

His calculations showed that if the economy had grown from 2007 at the rate it was growing 10 years before that‚ the country would have a 16% unemployment rather than the current 27%. “South Africa would be R800bn richer and poverty would have halved“. He said growth was essential.

“Let’s change our [negative] narrative and celebrate our progress. We must realise we can do better. Our problems are real but soluble. Our economy has potential.”

Speaking after him‚ former Investec CEO Stephen Koseff said the economy needed to grow but “tough decisions” had to be taken. State-owned enterprises needed to be sorted out.

He called for privatisation of South African Airways and Eskom‚ saying that with the right polices and policy certainty South Africa could have “inclusive growth“.

 TimesLIVE

 

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