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Sarupen emphasised South Africa remains a small open economy and a policy taker, not a policy maker. In an increasingly mobile global economy, investors can choose between emerging markets like China, India and Rwanda to name just a few. South Africa must position itself correctly to secure its chances of increased global investment.
According to the Deputy Minister, structural reforms are simply moving too slowly. “Nobody is going to rush to South Africa’s defence. It is up to us to position ourselves competitively.”
Stable Electricity Supply and Stable Pricing
The first issues to address, are stable electricity supply and pricing stability.
The Electricity Regulation Act envisages a competitive market with multiple generation providers, which could unlock major investment. However, insufficient transmission infrastructure is currently delaying this vision.
Eskom’s inefficiencies are passed directly to consumers, contributing to rising operational costs and higher inflation which is a core deterrent to business investment.
Sort Out Transnet and Transport Infrastructure
Sarupen also highlighted serious challenges in South Africa’s logistics sector. For instance, it is cheaper to truck fuel around the country than to use Transnet’s pipelines and our ports are among the worst performing in the world.
This cripples the movement of goods and services, making local and foreign businesses think twice before investing.
The Economic Payoff Is Worth It
If South Africa can get these baseline reforms right, GDP growth can reach 2.6% per annum, exceeding population growth and putting the country on a positive economic trajectory, Sarupen told attendees at the conference.
The World Bank supports these reforms. In June 2025, it approved the Infrastructure Modernization for South Africa Development Policy Loan, which targets key bottlenecks in electricity, ports, and logistics.
At the time Satu Kahkonen, World Bank Division Director for South Africa, said these reforms could create 250,000 jobs by 2027 and over 500,000 jobs by the early 2030s. “They are essential for attracting investment and enhancing public service delivery.”
Investments Lead to Highly Skilled Migrants
Sarupen emphasised the importance of South Africa making evidenced-based decisions which attract foreign skills to the economy. “For every highly skilled foreign national brought into the country, seven unskilled jobs are created.”
South Africa already has some key advantages making it a good partner to foreign investors. This includes an English-speaking population, hospitable people, stable regulations, well-developed capital markets, macro-economic stability, and a society that, despite its challenges, remains orderly.
Phindiwe Mbhele, Director of Corporate Accounts at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), said the category of Critical Skills Visas has the lowest number of visas South Africa issues.
He acknowledged that it takes time to build up skills. Therefore, in the process of updating the National Critical Skills List, the Department aims to ensure it reflects the skills from abroad the country and big corporations need.
Foreign skilled workers whose occupations appear on the Critical Skills List will benefit from an expedited visa process, ensuring key economic activities and business projects are not delayed by visa adjudication.
Business Has Unique Opportunity to Help Shape the Critical Skills List
Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director at Xpatweb, encouraged business leaders and corporates to participate in its Critical Skills Survey, regarded as the most comprehensive study of its kind in identifying positions big corporations find most difficult to fill from the local labour force.
“It offers business the ideal opportunity to provide real-time insights into the skills they struggle to attract domestically and must source internationally.”
As in previous years, this data will help shape updates to the National Critical Skills List. Jacobs explained that once an occupation is on the list, it will make it easier for foreign workers to obtain a Critical Skills Work Visa to do that job in South Africa.
The survey is still open to participants, but preliminary results show more organisations reported difficulties recruiting critically skilled individuals in 2025 than in 2024.
Jacobs noted that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) uses the Xpatweb Survey data to validate its own research which helps with compiling the list for the DHA.
