You're listening to Strictly Business Podcast with Lindsay Williams.
The 2026 SONA, that's the State of the Nation Address for the Republic of South
Africa,
was delivered by the President Cyril Ramaphosa recently and it was generally
well received.
With me now is Alistair Herbertson, Managing Director, Emerging Market,
Alternative Credit at 91 in Cape Town.
Let me read something to you first, Alistair, before we go into the points
that you want to cover.
The 2026 SONA was a strong statement on the turning point in South Africa, it says
here,
for an improved future in many areas, highlighting, and a quote from the
President now,
we are leaving behind an era of decline and turning towards an era of prosperity
and growth.
Our economy, he goes on to say, is growing again and this growth is gathering pace.
Very, very optimistic opening.
Did you find that, Alistair?
I did think that the recent Sona, the Sona presented in February was...
much more positive and actually captured a lot more results that were achieved
through the course of the year.
So instead of being aspirational in terms of what needs to be done or what's going
to be done,
it really did capture what has been achieved,
what have we seen coming from the work we've done in the last couple of years.
Yes, and that all goes back to, I think, Voolindlela,
the initiative that is now going into phase two.
And one of the things that's been so important, and I've recently conducted an
interview with one of your colleagues on this matter, is infrastructure.
Infrastructure seemed to be front and centre of the SONA.
I think it's been a long-running theme within the SONA speeches that
infrastructure is critical
for giving the economy the opportunity to grow.
Because it's only through a growing economy that we can hope to create the
jobs.
And it's only through creating jobs that we can hope to address.
poverty in the country.
So this is certainly one of the key aspects of the Sona series.
Did the President talk about participation from the private sector, which is, of
course,
so important and has been lacking in the past?
He did bring that up.
There has been a lot of discussion around how the private sector can contribute,
facilitate,
support the government in its efforts to build infrastructure.
But of course, This is a massive undertaking.
There is a huge amount of infrastructure required,
and it ranges from what is typically publicly provided infrastructure right
through to what we see as economic
infrastructure being used by our businesses.
So there is always a role, and certainly we think that there's a strong opportunity
to invest in
infrastructure across that whole spectrum.
One of the things that has been, again, phrased front and centre, over the years
has been energy stability.
And when you think of energy stability, you think of load shedding.
I haven't heard the phrase load shedding for a long time.
I have heard about problems on the railways and in ports.
And I'm increasingly hearing, and this is something that I'm saying now,
water is the new electricity because water shortages are now a fact of life in many
parts of South Africa.
I think water is a very important aspect or consideration that we have to be
worried about.
because it has been neglected for many years.
It's been neglected for longer than the electricity sector was neglected.
And unfortunately, it actually takes longer to resolve the water sector when we
apply our minds to it.
So it's going to be a long-running concern and constraint on the economy.
So I do think it's important that it's been highlighted as a new prerogative or a
new aspect to consider.
Yes, and apart from that, there's the digital element of the sonar speech,
digital expansion and spatial.
planning, they were all highlighted in the SONU.
Which of the sectors within the infrastructure umbrella are the most
important to you, would you say?
I'm going to give you a very broad answer to that is that they are all critically
important.
So if we look at the factors of production, you know, it's the energy, the
waters required, the technology, the understanding,
the knowledge that people have, the actual people in labour,
that every component is important and it doesn't work if it goes out of balance.
truly important is making sure that we never neglect one of the sectors such that
it becomes a bottleneck
and prevents the rest of the economy from growing.
So I think that it's almost more important to make sure that we balance the
investment across the board.
And speaking of investment, it's not just the government, of course, and this is
where 91 comes in the SA Infrastructure Fund.
When you sat down after the speech and went through it, were you encouraged that
this
This vision from the president might actually aid your fund and at the same
time your fund could aid his vision.
So the fund has been a number of years in the making.
It's been operational now since last year.
And what we have found is that there are definitely strong opportunities to invest
into infrastructure.
I think we're seeing the government now focusing on what's important for the
government to do,
which is creating a stable governance framework,
mitigating the crime that we see in the country and giving the law and justice an
opportunity to just
let the private sector grow and expand at a rate that will contribute to the
economy.
So yes, I'm very excited with the new Sona.
Okay, say that to me.
I'm a private investor, or I'm an institutional investor.
What makes the South African infrastructure space at the moment
potentially so exciting?
So we've always seen that infrastructure has had a pretty stable return profile,
whether that's in the debt or the equity space.
And that's because of the nature of infrastructure.
It's long lasting.
So for all of our clients who are looking for a stable return over many years,
who might not want the volatility of sort of a high growth sector,
this definitely gives a more stable, longer term investment opportunity.
And it's in line with what is the government's prerogative.
The government has decided that this is where they will be in focusing the growth
in the country.
So we think it's an opportune moment to become an investor in infrastructure in
South Africa.
Alistair, very good.
Thank you very much for your time and your optimism.
Alistair Herbertson is Managing Director, Emerging Market Alternative Credit at 91
in Cape Town.
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