Cape Town - He’s no deployed cadre, says the man charged with attracting investment to the Western Cape. Last week it was announced that former DA finance spokesman and MP Tim Harris would take over from Nils Flaatten in April as the new chief executive of Wesgro – the province’s destination, marketing, investment and trade promotion agency.
Harris has been promoting investments for the DA-controlled City of Cape Town this year, after stepping down as a DA MP.
While his appointment was welcomed by the city and the provincial government, Cosatu’s provincial secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, accused the DA of finding “jobs for pals”. He made a similar claim when Harris was appointed to promote investments for the city.
But Harris said the charge was baseless. A total of 199 applicants were put through a three-stage recruitment process by Wesgro’s independent board, he said.
“This recruitment was the furthest thing from a political process, so the accusations are entirely groundless.”
Since 1982, Wesgro has promoted the Western Cape to foreign and local investors and assisted local companies to export their products.
In his new job, Harris will need to tout the province’s competitive advantages to the international business sector.
Discussing his new role with the Cape Argus, Harris ticked off what makes the Western Cape so attractive: the quality of lifestyle means executives want to live here; it has four world-class universities and two business schools which mean an educated pool of workers; solid infrastructure lets goods flow; and a commitment to cut red tape makes business easier.
Then there are the province’s growing asset management, retail, information technology and agri-processing sectors, which he believes can bloom with the right incentives.
But the electricity disruptions, which have plunged parts of the country into darkness since early last month, are worrying.
“(It) might have a negative impact on investment in the Western Cape and the Cape Town city region, as it will across the country,” said Harris. “Over the medium to long run our region needs to investigate alternative sources of energy such as a gas turbine plant that could use liquid natural gas, and decentralised renewable energy generation that can give us more options for supply.”
Harris joined the DA in 2004 after graduating with a Master’s in economics from UCT in 2003 and a stint at Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank in Joburg.
He was elected to the National Assembly in 2009 and later became the DA’s finance spokesman, a tough job when he had to craft responses to former finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
Asked about the investment climate of the country as a whole, Harris said despite concerns, what was right with the country still exceeded what was wrong with it.
And to grow, South Africa had to start doing more business with Africa.
“We are the only country with a significant manufacturing base in one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, yet countries like Italy, Holland and Korea export more to the rest of Africa than we do.
“I think we will look back and see the African opportunity as the greatest of our generation.”
While foreign investment is sometimes criticised for not creating jobs – and not contributing to reducing the country’s high unemployment – Harris said “labour-intensive-investment” was achievable.
“I do believe that investment builds its own momentum. By this I mean, if we attract enough high-profile investment – even if the initial deals aren’t big job creators – we can change the perceptions of potential in the region and that could snowball into many more, labour-intensive deals.”
Cape Argus