South Africa at 30: SA Inc on the starting line
South African business has experienced turbulent times in the past 30 years. Now it needs an enabling environment if it is to thrive, and boost the economy too
The long-awaited new democracy may have dawned on investors a few days before the historic general election of April 27 1994. By mid-April the country was still on a knife edge — violent right-wing insurrection, the Shell House massacre, car bombs and a state of emergency declared in KwaZulu-Natal. Investors were understandably jittery. But just five days before the election, ANC leader Nelson Mandela was ushered onto the JSE’s hallowed trading floor in the old Diagonal Street building.
A composed and disarming Mandela told the assembled throng of traders that the JSE had already started to respond positively since the lifting of sanctions and the pending formation of a democratically elected government. “This will bring the stability that is needed for the investment potential of our country to be realised. In this regard, it is our concern to restore economic stability in this country,” he noted...
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