It is not too difficult to get carried away by one’s emotions. Only minutes before I sat down to write this piece, my beloved Sharks had beaten Western Province in the Currie Cup final.

That said, I quite possibly have not done the teams’ sponsors any service by not prefixing their names with the names of the sponsors. Truth be told, I have not yet acclimatised to it, and I do not think that I ever will. But then, why advertise? In business and, for that matter, in politics – you might say in life as well – nobody does anything nowadays simply for the love of doing it. As Jerry Maguire aptly said in a 1996 movie, “Show me the money!!!”

That is exactly what President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling on business – more so foreign business – to do. South Africa apparently wants foreign business – or more aptly, needs it – and desperately so. Do not be fooled. You might well recall that the President set a target to attract U$100-billion in investment over the next five years. As for the type of investment, I cannot recall if this was specified. But, ignoring the type of investment, what would the preferred investor be? Would it be new investors or exiting investors making additional investments? If the latter is what is preferred, would such investment not occur during the normal course of business? Surely, it is fair to assume that a business will only make an additional investment in its business if this is warranted.

The day before I wrote this piece, South Africa was hosting the Investment Conference 2018, the theme of which was ‘Accelerating Growth by Building Partnerships’, at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg. This was in line with a commitment that Ramaphosa made when he delivered his maiden State of the Nation address in February.

The conference website states: “The investment conference will provide a platform to showcase growth and investment prospects in an economy with vast potential and enormous resources. Investors will have the opportunity to hear from – and engage with – government representatives on its progress towards political and economic renewal, strengthening the credibility of public institutions and unlocking the latent potential and innovative spirit of South Africa’s economy. “South Africa is open for business and the most diversified African economy, with a host of unique advantages and unique features as an investment destination and trade partner. This conference will present domestic and international businesses with a portfolio of investment projects in several sectors. “The investment conference is also a platform for information exchanges between government, and local and international businesses on the country’s most exciting investment opportunities.”

At the conference, pledges of R400-billion were apparently made towards the $100-billion target, with the bulk of these pledges seemingly targeting existing ventures and new investments seemingly mostly planned for mining. Spotted anything of interest in the last two sentences? It is the word ‘pledges’. Just how certain can we be that these pledges will be fulfilled?

There is another aspect to these pledges: the significance of South African businesses’ own commitment to investing in the South African economy. Well, the President is asking for investment of R1.5-trillion, yet it is understood that R1-trillion can be found on South African businesses’ balance sheets. If this is true, then South African businesses appear to be quite content to simply sit on this money, while it is not rendering any return, instead of risking it by investing it in the South African economy.

The President has quite a challenge to convince foreign investors to invest in South Africa, while South African business is evidently not inclined to do so. Surely, this must be an issue of grave concern.

Concerning pledges, let me remind you of the adage ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch’. We should only celebrate when the pledged investments materialise.