SA banks on the 'Cyril effect' in Davos
Ramaphosa needs to sell hope of a real economic recovery
speckmana@sundaytimes.co.zaUS President Donald Trump's attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos will no doubt dominate this week's newspaper headlines, with the world waiting for yet another embarrassing or tactless remark from the leader of the world's biggest economy. But for South Africa, the attendance of newly elected ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will perhaps be as seminal a moment as Nelson Mandela's first address at Davos in 1992.When he returned from the gathering that marked the reintroduction of the South African economy into the global village, Mandela put paid to the nationalisation drive that some in his party had backed.After nearly a decade of a narrative largely shaped by economic stagnation and ever-increasing corruption, Ramaphosa and his entourage have to sell a story of "recovery".The 14th president of the ANC said they would send a positive message "that as much as we are downgraded we have got green shoots beginnin...
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