A svelte Jacob Zuma greeted me yesterday on the steps of Genadendal, the presidential residence in Cape Town. “You have been working out at Virgin Active,” I said. “Mens sana in corpore sano” (a sound mind in a sound body) he replied, or rather words to that effect.
He had just come from the parliamentary debate on the State of the Nation address. Neither verbal assaults from the red brigade nor the exigencies of high office had dented his good humour.
He was rather upbeat about the call he had just received from President Trump. “The body language was good and we had a most convivial exchange.”
They discussed areas of common interest such as trade and security, including the increasing role of the South African National Defence Force in peace-keeping roles in Africa. Zuma agreed with me that a strong America is good for South Africa. Despite a more protectionist industrial policy, the US would need increased imports of commodities and minerals from this region.
He also agreed that some rapprochement between the US and Russia would be positive, not just because more peaceful co-existence is desirable, but because there is something of a virtuous triangle in the trade and dependencies of the US, Russia and South Africa.
I first met Zuma when visiting South Africa as British minister for Trade and Industry in 1994. I was accompanying then prime minister John Major on an official visit to meet Nelson Mandela and to stimulate trade and investment in the new era of political relations between our two countries.
We have maintained the friendship we struck up then and in my subsequent capacity as a banker.
We still meet occasionally to chew the cud and in particular to discuss promotion of trade and investment. I firmly believe that the best years lie ahead for South Africa and that seems to be reflected currently in the pick-up in business and the economy.
But as a well-wisher, I also have anxiety that the conversation in South Africa is introspective, obsessed with racial resentment, blames current failures on past transgressions and focuses more on redistribution than growth.
None of that attracts international investment. So what is the message to business?
“We want business to prosper and profit here," he says. "We recognise that investors come not to create jobs, but to make money. Jobs may be created by such investment but it is not the principal motivation.
"We are therefore focussing on the competitive advantages of South Africa and constantly reviewing the burden of taxation and regulation.
“But we do still have problems to overcome. In recent years, our population growth has exceeded our national income growth, impacting most on the poorest. And, because the majority black population was marginalised for so many years, particularly in educational opportunities, our reservoir of skills has been drained.
"That is why in the Sona, I identified the initiatives we are taking to promote employment and transform the workplace. The privatisation of education and the provision of 900 new schools should build on the recent improvements recorded in mathematical and scientific outputs. The emphasis on small, medium and micro enterprises should leverage the latest employment gains announced. And InvestSA is charged with assisting new businesses bypass red tape.”
One of the ideas we discussed was the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund. South Africa is one of the few major countries in Africa without one.
Its rich mineral and natural resources are depleting assets. The idea is to put some money from their sale aside every year to build a “Next Generation Fund” with contributions from a variety of sources, public and private, and reinvest the income and profits in the intellectual capital of the next generation.
The concept of recycling mineral wealth into human development is one that I know appeals to Zuma and could be an important bequest in his legacy.
What do you want to see as your legacy? And what are the foremost achievements of your administration? “For me, education comes first. I was denied the benefit of early learning and Mac Maharaj had to go abroad because he was denied further education. It has to be different, much better, for the next generation.”
I suggested that the trade unions and corruption in education were holding this back, but he said the power of the teaching unions had waned and there was a new determination to put pupils and students first. “Secondly, we have a direction which was lacking eight years ago. The National Development Plan maps the agenda for our country. It remains the benchmark by which we shall calibrate our future growth and prosperity.”
I left Genadendal with some relief and admiration that the brickbats hurled at high public office have neither dented Zuma’s confidence nor diminished his resolve to improve the lives of all South Africans by the time he steps down.
* Nelson is a former British Treasury and Trade Minister, and banker