South Africa - Celebrating 20 Years of Freedom and Democracy

20 years ago, the South African people jointly initiated the dawn of democracy by participating in the non-discriminating election for the first time in the history of South Africa. On the eve of the 20^th anniversary of Freedom Day, South Africa hopes to share with the international community the invaluable experience in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

Mr. Musawenkosi Aphane, Representative of the Liaison Office of South Africa in Taiwan, stated that the late President Mandela visited Taiwan in 1993 as the chairman of ANC. He said that Taiwan has been supporting South Africa for a long time, which is why the bilateral relations have been close and long-lasting. The new South Africa was born in 1994. South Africa hosted the World Rugby Cup in 1995, promulgated the new constitution in 1996 and hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2010. In 2012, South Africa became the leading country of African Union.

The new constitution protects the basic rights of a citizen, including equal access to all privileges and freedoms, freedom of movement and of association, the right to own property, the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, religious freedom and all freedoms associated with third generation rights.

Apart from fulfilling the freedom and democracy, the South African government has been investing considerable spending in infrastructure. The highways have been expanded from 4 lanes to 10 lanes. The high-speed Gautrain serves to connect Johannesburg, Pretoria and OR Tambo International Airport. The Soccer City that can accommodate 100 000 people was built at a comparatively low cost to meet the need of FIFA World Cup in 2010. It is not only bigger than the Nest Stadium in Beijing, but also the biggest stadium in the world.

As the leading country among the emerging democracies in the world, South Africa was twice elected as the member of the Non-permanent Security Council of UN. South Africa also plays an important role in Africa Peace and Security Council. It has been fulfilling its duty to prevent and manage regional conflicts and to maintain peace. Aphane pointed out that South Africa used to have close trade and economic ties with the Europe and the US. But the countries in the eastern part of the world, such as India, Indonesia and China, where half of the global population lives is just as important.  

In order to strengthen its connections with Asia the South African government has been promoting the Look East policy since 1997. The focus is being shifted from the Europe and the US to Asia. After years of efforts, the bilateral trade between South Africa and Asia has increased from R400 billion in 1997 to the current R800 to R900 billion, which is twice as much as the bilateral trade between South Africa and the Europe. What is worth mentioning is that the timely shifting of focus as well as the gigantic investment in the infrastructure over the past five years helped create immense job opportunities and reduce the impact of the financial storm in 2008.

South Africa is the biggest economy and the biggest source of direct investment in Africa. To help the development of regional economy South Africa provides the four neighboring countries with R8 billion of financial aid annually. South Africa has become another heavy-weight emerging economy, following hard on the heels of China and India. In addition, South Africa is the leading country in the world in terms of global financial services. Financial Services Board (FSB) is an independent institute responsible for monitoring the non-banking financial services for public interests. 

Aphane said that Taiwan is an advanced economy that produces some of the best ICT products in the world. Acer and Mecer are the two major ICT companies in South Africa. The ICT market in South Africa, though very competitive, possesses much momentum for R&D. The innovation hub under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), for instance, has developed advanced technologies available for South African market and for exchanges with Taiwan based on the bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement. The climate and the abundant human and water resources of South Africa are most suitable for the development of aqua farms if Taiwan can provide training and technological support.

The Liaison Office of South Africa is planning to hold an investment seminar in late July to introduce the investment opportunities in South Africa, such as solar, auto parts, retail and aqua farming.

Foreign investment is protected by constitution, bilateral agreements   and Industry Policy Action Plan 2. Investors are free to wire their money in and out of South Africa. Apart from participating in the infrastructure construction, foreign investors can also enjoy investment incentives offered by the government. The 9 Export Processing Zones in South Africa support foreign companies that base their manufacturing in South Africa. Labor unions are quite common in South Africa. National Union of Mine Workers is the strongest union among all. To reduce the disputes between the union and the mine companies the South African government has been actively negotiating with the mine companies and making efforts to address the disputes through NEDLAC.