DRC OPPORTUNITIES WILL NOT LAST FOREVER – SA ENVOY

DRC OPPORTUNITIES WILL NOT LAST FOREVER – SA ENVOY

The Lubumbashi-based Consul-General of South Africa in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mr Mahlatse Mminele says opportunities for trade and investment that the DRC is teeming with will not last forever. 

Mminele was speaking at a function that he hosted to welcome the South African delegation to Lubumbashi last night for the second leg of the Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) organised by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). The Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise and Budget in the Katanga Province, Mr Léon Tshakwiza also attended the event.

Urging the South African businesspeople not to rest on their laurels or procrastinate, Mminele said there was already an increasing amount of competition for the vast opportunities from other countries which are keen to do business in the DRC in general, and in the mineral-rich Katanga province in particular.

“Opportunities for trade and investment in the DRC will not last forever. There is quite a lot of competition from companies that are also looking at taking advantage of the vast opportunities that are presented by the DRC,” said Mminele

He identified six key focus areas in which South African and Congolese businesspeople can work together. These are food security, energy, education, health, infrastructure development and mining.

“The DRC is the future breadbasket of Africa due to the huge potential that agriculture in the country possesses. The country has eight million hectares of arable land that is unexploited. The fact that the DRC has a population of more than 70 million people means there is already an internal market that be exploited. But paradoxically, 80% of what consumed in the DRC is imported. There is a deficit of 1.2 million tons of maize. In 2012 the country spent US$1.2 billion on imports, a substantial percentage of which was food,” said Mminele.

He added that opportunities also exist in the energy sector in the Katanga province where the mining industry is said to be operating at 50% capacity due to power deficit. He invited SA companies that can provide creative solutions in power generation, power transmission and power storage to consider investing in the DRC.

“There are even more opportunities in education and health in the DRC. The SA Consulate in Katanga processes a huge number of study permits every year for students who travel to SA to study English and then proceed to the universities there. There is a need for the establishment of English-medium schools and training institutions in the DRC because not all parents can afford to send their children to study English in SA,” said Mminele, adding that there was a great need for good health facilities and services in the DRC as many Congolese still fly to SA for medical attention.

“Infrastructure development also presents an unlimited amount of opportunities as there is a need for the development of the country’s road, rail and ports infrastructure. There are also opportunities in housing where there is an immediate need for 12 million housing units,” said Mminele.

He emphasised that mining makes the Katanga province tick but for the mines to operate maximally they require 80% South African inputs in the form of supplies, machinery and expertise.  However, Mahlatse reiterated that all the opportunities that are available in the DRC at the moment will not last forever due to the competition from other countries that are increasing their presence in the DRC economy.