“If it bleeds, it leads,” is a mantra long practised by merchants of doomsday who buy ink by the barrel. For the uninitiated this refers to a toxic culture in the newsroom that for a story to lead there ought to be blood streaming on the streets, chaos, corruption, crime, loadshedding, unemployment, a poor performing economy and Armageddon.
Due to this insatiable appetite and habit to narrate doom, you would swear South Africa has reached its apocalypse and is now a failed state.
There is an increasingly dwindling effort to paint a balanced picture of news reflecting the positive and negative.
On all media platforms, these merchants of doom speak in twangy English, often with zero substance to their arguments. Because of their rolled tongues and their self-induced sinus accents, many confuse their content to be intellectual. Many of these doomsayers offer no solutions to the challenges.
Absolutely no amount of fault-finding and vilification wrapped in a twang can hide the fact that South Africa remains the best investment destination on the continent.
People must not confuse expansion of multinational corporations beyond South Africa and to other regions on the continent as a disinvestment in South Africa.
The fact is no large multinational conglomerate that can seriously compete in the South African market has closed shop in favour of another country on the African continent. None.
We have strong and tested democratic institutions that make it conducive for companies to invest in South Africa. Our judiciary, yes not perfect, is great. A company can take a South African government department to court and still win. In many countries the judiciary is compromised, making it difficult for corporates to trade.
We have a free media in South Africa. SA’s democratic climate has oxygen for a strong civil society allowed to operate and take on exploitative corporations and under-performing government departments.
Our country has a relatively strong Independent Electoral Commission and voting laws that empower voters to choose political parties and leaders they want. Yes, our country has unacceptable levels of crime, but corporate executives here are rarely kidnapped in exchange for ransoms. People must visit some of the other African countries and see what happens there.
When investors look to move into a country, they assess the ability to withdraw and repatriate the cash they have invested. The country with the largest foreign currency gross reserves on the continent is South Africa.
Our gross foreign currency reserves were reported at just over $61.8bn by the South African Reserve Bank. This is the highest on the continent and fewer countries in Africa can reassure investors if they want to move their money. We know that many multinationals on the African continent struggle to repatriate cash. Our ability to sort out value added tax receipts is world class; the South African Revenue Service does a stellar job.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange formed in 1887 is ranked the 17th-largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalisation and the largest exchange on the African continent. The strength of the JSE is paramount as it is a window which foreign investors look through for solid and world-class South African companies.
Yes, South Africa has been greylisted, but if you look deep, you will discover that other countries on the continent are not even reviewed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). South Africa has not been classified as high risk by FATF and has plans to exit the grey list in a year to three.
Despite the noise by the merchants of doom, the Dutch-based beer goliath, Heineken, is steaming ahead with its over R40bn acquisition of South African adult drinks maker Distell.
Amazon is moving ahead with its multi-billion-rand property investment in South Africa with all the negativities.
Premier Group has reignited its listing on the JSE after being petitioned by investors. This shows capital wants to invest.
Shoprite has exited several African countries and is re-investing in South Africa. Woolworths has sold down its business in Australia and is re-investing locally.
Old Mutual and Woolworths have announced more than billions of rands in share buybacks. Their decisions to do so and not take the capital out of the country is a sign of confidence in the economy.
Yes, we must not allow South Africa to sink to the pits. It is not a failed state.
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