Item 1203 - Address by Former President Nelson Mandela at the New Economy Investment Conference Hosted by INVESTEC

TRANSCRIPT

It was my great privilege to be asked to
address a conference on financial
services, arranged by INVESTEC in
London, two weeks ago. I then indicated
to the invited guests there what an
honour it was for a poor unemployed old
man to rub shoulders with such
luminaries of the financial world.
Little would I have known that in less
than a month INVESTEC would add
further to my elevation to these
esteemed ranks of the captains of
finance.
I need therefore not explain to you how
honoured I am to put in yet another
appearance at an occasion like this.
At the same time it relieves me of the
necessity to explain to this gathering
why it would be inappropriate for me to
try and repeat the address I gave to that
gathering in London two weeks ago - a
gathering that focussed on South Africa
and included a large number of South
Africans, many of whom I suspect will
again be present here today.
I may just be allowed to repeat in a
modified way my comments about the
soundness of our macro-economic
fundamentals, and particularly of the
contribution of our financial sector in
that regard.
In London I obviously had to make those
comments by way of commending our
country to potential foreign investors.
Today I can make those comments as a
gesture of appreciation to the financial
services
sector of our economy for the way that
they have made of that economy the
robust one it is. The manner in which we
survived the impact and trauma of the
Asian crisis is in no small manner clue to
the soundness of our banking and
financial services sector.
The effects of the Asian crisis reminded
us like few other occurrences of the last
years that we are, for better or for worse,
one inter-dependent world. What
happened in one corner of the world had
major effects on people all over the
globe. And once more it was proved that
the vulnerable and the poor were most
hard hit by such global tremors.
In London I pleaded for a new global
sensitivity for the importance of equity in
international relations. It is becoming
4
5
increasingly clear that the free flow of
capital and finance is not always serving
such objectives of equity. The movement
of money is often not directed by social
purposes, but rather by the
considerations of short term profits.
Here at home today, I must cast those
same pleas in domestic terms. The
financial institutions in our country, like
all other agencies of our economy,
should have it as conscious goal of their
operations to serve equity. Too often we
still find that those traditionally excluded
from the fruits of our progress continue
to be marginalised.
The development of small, medium and
micro enterprises is generally
recognised to be crucial to job creation
in our country. Long term stability also
in our political system is dependent on
the success of black economic
empowerment through which all South
Africans will feel that they have a stake
in the economy.
Too often we hear the lament from the
small entrepreneurs that their
contribution to economic development
and job creation is being stifled by their
lack of access to financing. Similarly,
one hears the comment that black
economic empowerment is being


impeded by the absence of financing,
and the growing reluctance of the
financial sector - which is still
traditionally dominated and controlled —
to continue investment in empowerment.
If charity begins at home, here is an
opportunity for us to demonstrate that
domestic solidarity. If we can harness
our domestic energies towards equity,
we shall stand so much stronger as
members of the developing world to
argue for equity goals in global affairs.
But, as I have indicated in the beginning,
I am not here to repeat myself or to make
a lengthy speech. Suffice for me to
congratulate once more the financial
sector of our economy and to commend
to them even greater effort towards
making our society one in which all
people will indeed feel that democratic
change had made a difference to their
daily lives.

I thank you and I wish you well.