Government must look after current investors and not only seek new ones – Naamsa president

It is important for government to not only pursue new investors, but to also look after current investors already doing business in South Africa, says Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council president Billy Tom.

Tom is also the CEO of Isuzu Motors South Africa. The local arm of the Japanese manufacturer is based in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, where it assembles trucks and the D-Max bakkie for the local and export markets.

Speaking at the South African Automotive Week 2024 held in Cape Town this week, Tom questioned South Africa’s “obsession” with garnering new investments – “we always want to go and stand and cut ribbons” – while not looking to those companies which had already invested in South Africa, while “they were bleeding”.

Tom also noted that investment was like water, and that it would follow the path of least resistance.

“And we’ve made it really difficult to invest [in South Africa].”

While Tom was, generally speaking, optimistic about the Government of National Unity, he believed there remained a “big trust deficit” between the private sector and government, despite the recent combined effort to tackle loadshedding.

He lamented the fact that some Cabinet ministers remained dead-set against private participation in the areas where there existed government monopolies, and that the label of ‘white monopoly capital’ was so often handed out around boardroom tables.

Naamsa had by Wednesday not yet met with the new Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau.

The automotive industry contributes more than 5% to GDP and is the country’s largest manufacturing sector.