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You're listening to Strictly Business
Podcast with Lindsay Williams.

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The 2026 SONA, that's the State of the
Nation Address for the Republic of South

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Africa,

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was delivered by the President Cyril
Ramaphosa recently and it was generally

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well received.

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With me now is Alistair Herbertson,
Managing Director, Emerging Market,

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Alternative Credit at 91 in Cape Town.

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Let me read something to you first,
Alistair, before we go into the points

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that you want to cover.

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The 2026 SONA was a strong statement on
the turning point in South Africa, it says

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here,

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for an improved future in many areas,
highlighting, and a quote from the

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President now,

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we are leaving behind an era of decline
and turning towards an era of prosperity

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and growth.

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Our economy, he goes on to say, is growing
again and this growth is gathering pace.

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Very, very optimistic opening.

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Did you find that, Alistair?

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I did think that the recent Sona, the Sona
presented in February was...

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much more positive and actually captured a
lot more results that were achieved

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through the course of the year.

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So instead of being aspirational in terms
of what needs to be done or what's going

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to be done,

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it really did capture what has been
achieved,

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what have we seen coming from the work
we've done in the last couple of years.

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Yes, and that all goes back to, I think,
Voolindlela,

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the initiative that is now going into
phase two.

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And one of the things that's been so
important, and I've recently conducted an

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interview with one of your colleagues on
this matter, is infrastructure.

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Infrastructure seemed to be front and
centre of the SONA.

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I think it's been a long-running theme
within the SONA speeches that

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infrastructure is critical

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for giving the economy the opportunity to
grow.

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Because it's only through a growing
economy that we can hope to create the

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jobs.

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And it's only through creating jobs that
we can hope to address.

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poverty in the country.

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So this is certainly one of the key
aspects of the Sona series.

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Did the President talk about participation
from the private sector, which is, of

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course,

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so important and has been lacking in the
past?

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He did bring that up.

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There has been a lot of discussion around
how the private sector can contribute,

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facilitate,

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support the government in its efforts to
build infrastructure.

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But of course, This is a massive
undertaking.

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There is a huge amount of infrastructure
required,

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and it ranges from what is typically
publicly provided infrastructure right

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through to what we see as economic

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infrastructure being used by our
businesses.

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So there is always a role, and certainly
we think that there's a strong opportunity

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to invest in

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infrastructure across that whole spectrum.

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One of the things that has been, again,
phrased front and centre, over the years

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has been energy stability.

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And when you think of energy stability,
you think of load shedding.

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I haven't heard the phrase load shedding
for a long time.

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I have heard about problems on the
railways and in ports.

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And I'm increasingly hearing, and this is
something that I'm saying now,

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water is the new electricity because water
shortages are now a fact of life in many

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parts of South Africa.

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I think water is a very important aspect
or consideration that we have to be

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worried about.

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because it has been neglected for many
years.

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It's been neglected for longer than the
electricity sector was neglected.

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And unfortunately, it actually takes
longer to resolve the water sector when we

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apply our minds to it.

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So it's going to be a long-running concern
and constraint on the economy.

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So I do think it's important that it's
been highlighted as a new prerogative or a

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new aspect to consider.

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Yes, and apart from that, there's the
digital element of the sonar speech,

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digital expansion and spatial.

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planning, they were all highlighted in the
SONU.

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Which of the sectors within the
infrastructure umbrella are the most

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important to you, would you say?

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I'm going to give you a very broad answer
to that is that they are all critically

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important.

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So if we look at the factors of
production, you know, it's the energy, the

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waters required, the technology, the
understanding,

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the knowledge that people have, the actual
people in labour,

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that every component is important and it
doesn't work if it goes out of balance.

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truly important is making sure that we
never neglect one of the sectors such that

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it becomes a bottleneck

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and prevents the rest of the economy from
growing.

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So I think that it's almost more important
to make sure that we balance the

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investment across the board.

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And speaking of investment, it's not just
the government, of course, and this is

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where 91 comes in the SA Infrastructure
Fund.

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When you sat down after the speech and
went through it, were you encouraged that

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this

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This vision from the president might
actually aid your fund and at the same

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time your fund could aid his vision.

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So the fund has been a number of years in
the making.

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It's been operational now since last year.

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And what we have found is that there are
definitely strong opportunities to invest

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into infrastructure.

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I think we're seeing the government now
focusing on what's important for the

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government to do,

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which is creating a stable governance
framework,

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mitigating the crime that we see in the
country and giving the law and justice an

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opportunity to just

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let the private sector grow and expand at
a rate that will contribute to the

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economy.

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So yes, I'm very excited with the new
Sona.

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Okay, say that to me.

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I'm a private investor, or I'm an
institutional investor.

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What makes the South African
infrastructure space at the moment

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potentially so exciting?

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So we've always seen that infrastructure
has had a pretty stable return profile,

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whether that's in the debt or the equity
space.

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And that's because of the nature of
infrastructure.

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It's long lasting.

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So for all of our clients who are looking
for a stable return over many years,

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who might not want the volatility of sort
of a high growth sector,

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this definitely gives a more stable,
longer term investment opportunity.

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And it's in line with what is the
government's prerogative.

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The government has decided that this is
where they will be in focusing the growth

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in the country.

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So we think it's an opportune moment to
become an investor in infrastructure in

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South Africa.

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Alistair, very good.

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Thank you very much for your time and your
optimism.

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Alistair Herbertson is Managing Director,
Emerging Market Alternative Credit at 91

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in Cape Town.

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The views and opinions expressed in these
podcasts are those of Lindsay Williams and

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various contributors and do not reflect
the policy,

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position or opinion of any other agency,
organisation,

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employer or company associated with
StrictlyBusinessPodcast.com.

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assumptions made on the analyses are not
reflective of the position of any other

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entity other than the speaker or the
author.

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And since we are critically thinking human
beings, these views are always subject to

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change,

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revision and rethinking at any time.

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Please do not hold us to them in
perpetuity.
