The history of human development and consequently the development of nations has proved beyond reasonable doubt the necessity of building strong partnerships and relations in order to achieve sustainable and meaningful growth and progress. The ability to learn from one another seems to be a historically indispensable tenet for progress. The world has over decades appreciated the nature of multipolarity. Like most roads that are worth travelling, the road has not been an easy one, though. There has been pushback around the motives that underpin investment and collaborations of some countries with others. Our people tending, at times, to hold on to their long-held inward perceptions of development. It may be interesting to look at the relationship we have as a country with one of our largest trading partners: China.
We have enjoyed a long and worthwhile relationship with China, going as far back as our days of fighting against the brutal apartheid regime and leading up to formal diplomatic ties that were established in 1998. These formal diplomatic relations naturally morphed into strategic partnerships with shared insights and outlooks. This set the ground for South Africa to be the largest trading partners to China in Africa and vice versa. The overall trade volume between South Africa and China reached $54.35 billion in 2021. China has emerged as a significant export market for South African agricultural products such as beef, citrus, red wine, oysters and many others.
South Africa has been an attractive destination for Chinese corporates that want to expand their businesses and this has resulted in more than $25bn in investment in 2021. To date, there have been 200 Chinese companies in South Africa involving such things as energy, finance, mining, home appliances, communication, automobiles, textile and clothing, real estate and logistics. This has resulted in the creation of more than 400 000 jobs. It would prove an impossible task to quantify the positive knock-on effect of this.
There seems to be a very good story to tell when it comes to the broad South Africa/China relationship, with it not only being steeped in tremendous opportunity for growth, but also a good collaborative track record. Some of the proven investments/partnerships with South Africa are the Longyuan Mulilo De Aar Wind Power Projects, which met the demand for 85 000 local households. There have been various other investments by Goldwind in the renewable space that are proving to be quite worthwhile. Huawei seems to have grown in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. They have become a behemoth in the communications sector and have played an instrumental role in the rolling out of 5G technology. Huawei in partnership with the department of communications started the “Seeds for the Future Programme”, which gives students each year opportunities to study ICT. The programme has so far empowered 20 000 young people.
We have seen the collaboration with China really stretch and benefit ordinary South Africans who would not have had these opportunities had there not been an appreciation of the relationship and interests we share with China. The investments have translated into jobs for our people and, as we heard at the Chinese jobs fair that was held earlier this year, these jobs have a huge impact not only for those employed, but for other dependants entirely. At the fair, a young lady named Lerato Mashele narrated her story as a worker for COSCO Shipping Africa. Lerato had been a stay-at-home mother and was returning to corporate in 2018 when she joined COSCO. She spoke eloquently about the pleasant working environment and how staff members were reassured by the management of the company that no would lose their job as a result of the pandemic. With the President’s announcement on the extension of the Durban Harbour, this will create greater longevity for companies such as COSCO and the people employed by these companies. The other benefit that was mentioned by Lerato was the opportunity for cultural and people exchange that is presented by a company as integrated and as diverse as COSCO. Lerato also narrated her excitement at the training and upskilling programmes that were offered by the company, keeping her competent and confident in her work and ability.
Whatever the nature of the investment and the interaction, one thing rings true – there are boundless opportunities to be had and explored between South Africa and China. Opportunities for learning, opportunities for partnership, opportunities for development and opportunities for growth and investment. Year on year our relationship with China seems to be accelerating forward. We need to embrace this as South Africans and ensure that the future is one of shared prosperity.
Buyile Matiwane is the deputy president of the SA Students Congress.