Page 10 - SA Chamber UK Newsletter April 2024
P. 10
ADVERTORIAL CONTENT
SOUTH AFRICA’S MAY 2024
ELECTION – BINARY, BUT
FRAUGHT WITH OPPORTUNITY
BizNews is hosting a one-off conference in London within a fortnight of South Africa’s
historic May 29 General Election where the socialist African National Congress’s three
decades of political dominance is set to be replaced by the country’s first coalition
government in more than a century.
South Africa’s economy has massively underperformed, especially over the past decade
and a half, as the ANC followed the well-trodden destructive path of liberation-focused
political parties. But with the ANC’s vote share sure to drop below 50% for the first time
since it assumed power in 1994. With the emergence of Jacob Zuma’s MK party and the
buoyancy enjoyed by numerous new entrants, it is not inconceivable the ANC’s share
drops into the mid-30s.
Apart from focusing on likely changes the election will introduce, this one-day event
will also expose three unexposed areas in the SA economy with vast potential: game-
changing oil and gas discoveries off the Cape’s Southern and Western coastlines; the
massive boom in private solar power which is fast eradicating electricity scarcity; and
rapid expansion of the informal sector which offers exciting investment opportunities.
Alec Hogg, founder of BizNews, an independent South African publisher, will host this
one-off event featuring seven South African-based thought-leaders. Their insights will
be shared in an intimate setting (max 200 delegates) and in an interactive format. Not
since full democracy dawned for the country three decades ago has SA been on the
brink of such major change - fraught with danger but also offering great opportunity.
This is a rare opportunity for those based in Europe to get an inside track on seismic
changes that will be ushered in by an election to be held a fortnight later in South
Africa, its continent’s most industrialised economy.
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SA CHAMBER UK NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024