 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you so much for joining us for this press conference. My name is Kusella Digo. I'm the spokesperson to the President of the Republic of South Africa. The President today is accompanied by the Minister of International Relations, who is sitting on his right, Minister Sisulu. Next to the President is the Minister of Health, Minister Erin Mujwaleidi. I think I should stand. Just a cabinet reshuffle. Minister Jeff Khadebe is the Minister of Energy, seated next to the President. Next to him, the Minister of Health, Minister Erin Mujwaleidi. Next to him, the Minister of Communications, Mama Stella Ndabene Abraham. And next to her, the Minister of Economic Development, Minister Ibrahim Patel. Next to the Minister of International Relations, on my immediate left, is the Minister of Public Enterprises, Minister Praveen Gordon. Without wasting any time, I would invite His Excellency President Ramaphosa to deliver his statement. We'll then take a round of questions after. Your Excellency. Well, thank you. Do I need to press something? Where do I press? Right here. Oh, okay. Thank you and welcome to all of you. We're here as a team representing the Republic of South Africa. And we're delighted to have this opportunity to address you on South Africa. And we've come here, if you like, as a unified team. We call ourselves Team South Africa. If you go around this precinct of divorce, you'll find people like us wearing these scarves. It's become a distinctive identification item for people from South Africa. They come from both the private sector, trade union movement, government, as well as organs of civil society. And over the past few years, we've come as that type of team. And we are very fortunate to have a number of South Africans who come along with us as government to come and present the South African case here. And although we represent different constituencies, we have a common interest in the development of our country and the promotion of the inclusive growth path that we have embarked upon. So we therefore come here to divorce with one single message of South Africans. And this year, the message is simple and straightforward. And it is that South Africa is on a path of growth as well as renewal. Almost after a decade of economic stagnation. And may I add political paralysis? We can say without any shadow of doubt or hesitation that we have begun to tend things around for our people and for our country. We've entered what we call a period of hope and renewal. And over the last year, we've taken a number of decisive steps to correct the weaknesses of the past few years, the mistakes of the past few years. And with that, we've put the country back on the path of progress that we had embarked upon after 1994 when South Africa became a democratic country under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. We have placed the task of inclusive growth and job creation at the center of our national agenda. Around a third of working age South Africans right now are unemployed. And this is a matter of great concern to us as South Africans. Poverty in South Africa is widespread and levels of inequality are sadly amongst the highest in the world. We recognize that we cannot create work on any meaningful scale unless we grow the economy at a far greater pace. And for that, we need a number of things to be in place. But one of those key issues is that we need more investment, particularly in the productive sectors of our economy as well as infrastructure. But we want to underpin that with a vigorous program of skills development, thereby developing the human capabilities of South Africans and make them ready to be able to engage, to work in the technologically changing world on an ongoing basis. Last year on the investment side we launched an ambitious drive to raise $100 billion over the next five years. We held an investment conference last year and we were able to mobilize from both local and international business $20 billion of investment in new projects as well as to increase the capacity of the existing company projects. Now according to a recent report, which I've had sight of, of UNTEG, which was released on Monday, direct foreign investment into South Africa has increased by more than 440% between 2017 and 2018 and has risen from $1.3 billion to $7.1 billion. That is a huge increase for which we are grateful, but it follows in the wake of the changes that we are affecting in our country and the reforms that we have embarked on. We aim to sustain and further increase this growth in investment, having raised $20 billion. This year we're going to hold another investment conference where we intend to raise more and we want to hasten the pace of investments from both local investors as well as offshore investors. We are dedicating effort and resources to investment promotion and facilitation and we have done so to facilitate investment by appointing four prominent investment envoys and some of them are here with us at Davos to continue helping our country, the government, to mobilize investments and we're quite happy that some of you can meet them if you so wish. They've also been engaging investors on the concerns that investors have raised and let's admit it a number of investors have raised some concerns, but they've also raised their expectations and which are being addressed in a number of ways and one of those is how best we can make South Africa much more conducive for investments. The engagement that our investment envoys have been having with various investors has been very positive which proves the point that having appointed them, they are able almost independently to engage with investors and give them the necessary assurances and also address their concerns. Over the last year we have undertaken measures to ensure greater policy certainty but as well as consistency including economic reforms in sectors that have great potential for growth. For example, the mining industry which still remains a very key and important industry in our country we were able to finalize a new mining charter that balances the need for transformation with an imperative for new investment in an industry that despite the difficulties that it has had in the past could be growing and creating jobs and one of the areas that we have sought to focus on is to regenerate exploration in the mining industry because South Africa still has huge reservoir of minerals and we believe that a number of minerals still remain untapped so we want to see more and more exploration in our economy, in our country. In the telecom sector we have set in motion the process to allocate high demand radio spectrum to accelerate broadband access and promote competition in that sector. In the energy sector we have signed long outstanding agreements with independent power producers for another round of renewable energy projects and have published a new energy plan for the country for public consultation and participation. In tourism we are reforming our visa regime or regulations if you like to encourage more visitors as well as making it easier for investors and business people to visit South Africa and we are opening our country for an influx of more tourists who would like to come and visit our beautiful country. And in the wake of the recession in the first half of 2018 we announced an economic stimulus and recovery plan to reignite growth in our economy. It included a reprioritization of public spending towards sectors that we had identified such as agriculture and small business development which have great potential to make an immediate impact on a long term basis. We also announced the establishment of an infrastructure fund that would consolidate all public spending on infrastructure and leverage further funding from the private sector and developmental finance institutions. The fund will also harness private sector expertise to bolster the infrastructure management capacity that we have in the state. Now South Africa has emerged from what we termed the technical recession that we had earlier in 2018 and although growth forecasts are a bit subdued we are determined to unlock the many opportunities that exist in our economy. Another critical undertaking that we have embarked upon is the restoration of the rule of law and the integrity and credibility of our public institutions. The commission that we set up which we call the State Capture Commission which is headed by the Deputy Chief Justice has begun its work in earnest to uncover evidence of the capture of several state institutions and processes by private interests. This state capture has damaged several critical institutions in our country, damaged confidence in our economy and resulted in the theft of quite a lot of money from the people of South Africa. Now the commission itself has been hearing evidence of corruption on a scale far greater than many people had ever expected but the positive thing is that while the truth is come out it is adding to our resolve as a country and as a government and indeed as a people to fight corruption to bring it to an end and to make sure that those who have been complicit in acts of corruption are brought to book and that gives us a very firm platform to start fresh, to start anew, to cleanse our institutions and reposition them so that they can serve the interests of South Africa. As part of our drive to end corruption and to improve the safety of all South Africans we have taken steps to strengthen the prosecuting authority. We have taken steps to strengthen the South African police service and a number of other agencies that deal with acts of people who do a lot of funny acts that lead to corruption or breaking the law and through this we are seeking to reconfirm that South Africa is a place where rule of law should be the order of the day. We have also addressed challenges that our revenue service has faced, our tax collection agency and that too is being put on its proper path once again. We have also taken measures to stabilize several state owned enterprises that were weakened by state capture we have replaced boards, executive management and we are putting them on a path of good governance and good financial management as well. We are currently developing a response to the financial operation of also our country's electricity utility which is ESCOM. In the next few weeks we will be announcing a set of measures to stabilize as well as to improve the company's financial position and ensure uninterrupted energy supply to the country. We are tackling all these contentious issues and one of those that we are tackling obviously is land reform which has generated a great deal of interest globally and has also generated a lot of debate inside the country and debate has been very healthy and vibrant and informative and it has engaged South Africans in dialogue as never before and that is one of the things that we are grateful for about our democracy. We are dealing with this issue in a manner that takes the interest of all into account fully in line with the prescripts of the rule of law as well as our constitution. We are taking a comprehensive approach that seeks to ensure that there is redress about the historical injustice that was done to our people but also see this as an opportunity for greater agricultural reform or land reform that should happen in our country so as to ensure that there is improved food security, there is empowerment, job creation and poverty alleviation. The progress we have achieved over the last year and the successes we need to register in the months and years ahead ultimately depends on our ability to revitalize and strengthen the social compact between the government, labour, business and community organizations in our country because we have pivoted everything around collaboration amongst all these key role players because it is only when all these key role players work together that we will be able to deliver what the people of South Africa really want. This is well within our means, partnership and dialogue are integral to the South African DNA in more ways than one. Now as Team South Africa we call on all our people and all our friends across the globe to join us as we have embarked on this very meaningful journey of repositioning our country, renewing our country and revitalizing South Africa and reforming many aspects of the economic life of our country and I can say without any doubt that South Africa is on a great path of renewal and growth of our economy is within hand and we expect that with all the measures that we are taking, attracting investments, the reforms that we have put in place we are repositioning South Africa as to be able to benefit from the growth that lies ahead. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Your Excellency, Mr President. We'll take two rounds of questions. I'll take three questions per round. If I could see any hands, so I note you, sir, you'll be in front. Ma'am, we'll follow. And then I've got the gentleman at the back there. We'll take those three first. And those who ask nice and difficult questions will have the benefit of the various ministers sitting here to answer them. So ask difficult questions and they will answer. Keith Bradshaw, New York Times. Is it a tougher environment already to get more investment this year when you see rising interest rates, when you see the European economy slowing down, the Chinese economy slowing down? Is it becoming a tougher environment for emerging markets like South Africa as the world seems to be slowing down economically? Thank you. Three quick ones, Mr President. Where is the Minister of Finance? Secondly, can you explain what innovations we are making to our education system to help us to meet the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution? And then thirdly, with regards to the efforts by our society and our state and many others to restore the rule of law in the country, are you not worried about the attempts in South Africa to collapse the State Capture Commission through a sea of fake news and various other suffrage measures? The gentleman right at the back. That's a question for the President. It's Mark Bendine from Reuters. The first question is about land reform when you plan to implement land reform and how you've managed to do that and still realise your goal of economic growth this year. And secondly, I understand the ANC wants the Reserve Bank's mandate to be expanded. So I'd like your thoughts on that and how you'd plan to retain Central Bank independence. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll allow the Commander-in-Chief to marshal the forces who will answer. Okay. All right. Minister Patel will take the first one. How we intend to marshal growth in a world that is declining. Minister Khadebe will take the one on the collapse of the Commission, the rule of the US. The Minister of Finance is in another session. So he has not gone a wall. He's busy as we speak. We were with him in another session earlier and another session. And when you're a Minister of Finance, you're pulled in all directions. So he's working just as hard as all of us are working. So he has not gone a wall. And yes, we'll divide the questions like that and I'll answer the land reform one. Minister Patel. Thank you very much, Mr President, to answer Mr Bradshaw's question. The global environment is clearly more fragile for growth. But within that environment there are opportunities. The IMF projections is that growth would still be at 3.5% globally. But with significant variations across the global economy. The UNCTAD report that the President referred to, I think illustrates this very, very well. Globally, foreign direct investment is down. In fact, quite sharply, if you take the global storyline, it's down by 19%. But if you take the South African story, it's been a significant increase. If you take developed countries as a whole, it's down by something like 40%. But if you take developing countries, it's up by 3%. And the point I'm trying to illustrate is within this more complex environment, and given that yes, the aggregates are more fragile, we need to find opportunity. So what South Africa has done is it's put its focus on attracting foreign direct investment. We think the stall, there's been an investment gap that we're addressing now. So there's a little bit of traction that we can play on in 2019, 2020, probably for the next three, four years. Secondly, we're focusing on expanding production and trade within the African continent. The launch of the Continental Free Trade Agreement provides, I think, significant fuel for domestic growth in the next few years. The third area is we've revamped our approach to infrastructure investment, greater partnerships with the private sector, but also just unblocking, getting things moving, and that is a source of growth. And of course, in a rapidly urbanizing environment, and South Africa is a rapidly urbanizing society, there are new sources of demand, which some of our companies are exploiting. So I think you're right in pointing to a broadly tougher environment, but within that the trick is to find the tailwinds that can power our economy. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. President. The rule of law in South Africa is going ahead. We have moved a great deal from the apartheid era of a rule by law to a rule of law. As we have noticed since last year, the President has been very aggressive in attending to all those elapses in terms of public institutions, especially those that are in charge of the rule of law. He has already indicated about the Zondo Commission, the Deputy Chief Justice, which is heading a commission for state capture. There was this a new joint commission as well into SARS. There is currently as well the current commission to look at officials in terms of the National Prosecuting Authority. So that's an indication that we're moving very steadfast in ensuring that we restore confidence of all these public institutions. The Minister of Police has been very aggressive in fighting crime and corruption with the reinstatement of many specialist units to fight against gangsterism, as we have seen in the Western Cape in particular and in Johannesburg, where the President has recently appointed the new Director of Public Prosecutions, who is beginning on the 1st of February as yet another indication that we are very serious about fighting crime and corruption in South Africa. But all this will not happen if there is no partnership and collaboration with communities because where crime occurs, somebody can see or hear what is happening. We want to ensure that that collaboration with communities, with business, with labour. Ordinary South Africans, we can go a long way in uprooting corruption and crime from the rest of society. So those that spread fake news, they will have no place to hide. Thank you. Thank you. Minister Gordon on the Reserve Bank issue. Thank you, Mr. President. The South African Reserve Bank has its mandate clearly defined in the Constitution. And its independence as well. So the first thing we want to confirm is that as far as government is concerned and many of the stakeholders, if not all in South Africa, the operational independence of the Reserve Bank is sacrosanct. Nobody will interfere with that. The second, in respect of the mandate, the Constitution makes it clear that its mandate is price stability in the interest of balanced growth. But equally importantly, when the Great Recession affected South Africa in 2009, in 2010 a letter was sent from the Finance Ministry to the Reserve Bank asking it to be mindful of exogenous factors with a particular reference to growth and employment issues as well. So it takes that into account as the Governor has been repeatedly saying in its various considerations. So as far as we are concerned, no interference in the operational independence of the South African Reserve Bank or any doubt about that as well. The one question that does arise in South Africa will be one of the, I think the President says, some countries in the world that has some level of public participation in the shareholding of the South African Reserve Bank. And there's over a long period of time been some problematic issues in relation to that that have raised concerns. And the object there at some stage is that the Reserve Bank should be carefully managed in the public interest. Thank you. Okay, let me just add one or two paragraphs on some of the issues my colleagues have touched on and then I'll deal with the land issue. With regard to just prospects for growth in the light of subdued growth globally, Goldman Sachs I think it was last year suggested that South Africa was a hot stock in one of its reports. And they did that after a good analysis of obviously global situation and also our positioning in Africa. Now our positioning on the African continent is a rather important and a special one. We see ourselves as the gateway into Africa and Africa is the next best growth story in the world. And in fact some six or eight or seven fastest growing economies have been in the African continent in the past year. And we think that will continue to be so despite the fact that growth levels in other parts of the world are a bit subdued. You may argue that because Africa is starting from a low base but it is pumping ahead and improving the lives of many of its citizens. And South Africa is well positioned as the gateway into Africa. And we see the opportunity of the free Africa trade area as a great opportunity for South African firms. And we continue to be the most industrialized country on the African continent with the better and greater manufacturing capacity. And we are focusing on revitalizing our manufacturing processes and industrializing. And the market that we are beginning to focus more and more on is the African market. And so we are well positioned to have the endowments, yes emanating from our past of being more industrialized than many others to have a very strong energy resource of about 47 megawatts of power. And we are dealing with the challenges that we have and fairly well skilled staff which is able to drive the manufacturing process although we need to improve our skill base. So we think all that and the fact that in the recent past we have been able to attract investors into our country and we intend to do so based on the investment drive that we are pushing ahead with, I think that positions as well. So even as other parts may not grow we think we should still be able to have a good measure of growth. On the Zondo Commission, what is pleasing is that we've got not only an independent judiciary but we've got what I call a headstrong judiciary. A judiciary that will not cow down to be intimidated. A judiciary that has fierce commitment to the rule of law which will not allow any task they have been given to collapse in their hands. The Zondo Commission, much as various machinations are underway to either seek to undermine it, to release information in proper manner, is not going to allow that commission to collapse. Nor will we as the government allow that commission to collapse. That commission is very important in the life of South Africa because it is executing a very important and historical task of getting South Africa to go to the bottom of what really happened with state capture. And it may well be a cathartic moment for South Africa but it is also a moment of truth and we also wanted to be a moment of redemption. So we see the Zondo Commission as being a moment of truth for us as South Africans but also it must be a moment of redemption so that we put right what went wrong in the past and never ever ever again. Have the spate of corruption that is being revealed through the Zondo Commission. And our judges are very strong. We had another commission into SARS which other people also wanted to collapse with a whole range of challenges caught wise and demonstration wise. And the judge, former judge Nugent was very firm, was very very committed to executing and finalizing his task. So I do not expect the commissions that we have put in place to be intimidated, to be cowed down with all these attacks and things that are happening. We want those commissions to finish their work and to produce the result that the people of South Africa expect. On the issue of the Reserve Bank, Minister Gordon has stated it out and I think it's important to separate the issues. The issue of the ownership of the Central Bank and the issue of its independence and he has dealt with both. Now many Central Banks in the world are owned by the government, they're owned by the state. And only a few Central Banks still remain under private ownership of some sorts. The Central Bank of the UK was privatized, was, if you like, taken into public ownership in 1946 and they went through a process of getting to that. Now the governing party has taken a resolution that the Central Bank should come under public ownership, that is a separate matter, it's being processed. The issue of the independence of the bank, as Minister Gordon said, is an important one and we ascribe a great deal of importance to the standing and the independence of the bank and we do not seek to interfere with its independence. The constitution of our country is very clear on how independent the bank should be and we respect that. But we also respect the fact that as the Central Bank gets on with its task on monetary policy, it has to do so in consultation and discussion with the Minister of Finance. And that relationship is a well balanced relationship that continues and has never sought to interfere with the independence of the bank. And that is how we are committed to moving forward with this. The land issue, as I was saying, we've gone through what I really see as a most wonderful debate through the length and the breadth of our country and our people and pay tribute to them, participated in these discussions with a great deal of enthusiasm and they came up with a number of wonderful proposals rather. Now the matter is in the hands of our parliament now, parliament is going to consider and has considered the report that has come from the consultation process and the one issue is the amendment of section 25 of the constitution. And we've been very clear that the issue of land in South Africa is going to be handled in accordance with the rule of law, as I said earlier, in accordance with our constitution and if we do, and when we do get to looking at amending our constitution, it is going to be done within the framework of the existing constitution and if anything it will also be seeking to clarify what our constitution already embeds, what already exists in our constitution. Now as adjacent to this process, we also going to look at the expropriation of land bill. A general law which the constitution says that we should pass, a law which will govern how land will be expropriated and that law is going to be debated in our parliament as it is currently drafted. It identifies a number of portions and parcels of land that should be looked at when it comes to expropriation. Now the ownership of land that we envisage is classified in a number of pockets which is envisage private ownership of land, secondly public ownership, ownership by trust and communal ownership and all this will be done in seeking to ensure that there is security of tenure, not only for a few South Africans but all South Africans. Our past regime of land ownership only gave security of tenure to a few South Africans and we are saying in order to have social justice, in order to be equitable to all the people of South Africa, security of tenure must be made available to all the people of South Africa and as we do this we will deal with the process of land reform in terms of our constitution. This we have articulated in various for us throughout the world and given clear assurances that we are not going to allow land grabs in South Africa, land reform is going to be handled in terms of our constitution but as it is being handled we are going to take care that those of our people who were denied the right to own land get equity. Everything should be done on an equitable basis and that is the only way we can ensure that South Africa does indeed become a prosperous country where all the people of our country do benefit from what South Africa has to offer in the way of a better life for all. So I think we are on a good path and when investors, let me add and conclude on this, when investors have had our approach on the issue of land they have been rather relaxed because we have been very honest, open and straightforward and we have not had any hidden agenda and I would say it is for that reason that at our investment conference we were able to talk to investors about our approach to land reform and they were able to make commitments that came up to 20 billion dollars because the land issue has ceased to be the ugly ogre that many people thought it would be. It isn't. It is very much in line with our transformation process of making South Africa better, of making it an investable destination and I think it's important to look at the land issue in that way and I conclude by saying we are a country that has always handled challenges in an orderly manner. The DNA that was bequeathed to us by Nelson Mandela continues and we will continue on that path. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we are running out of time so please keep it to one question each. We are already over. Are there any hands on this side? I haven't taken any yet. Mam, you'll be the first one. You'll be the second one and then Sir, you'll be the last one. Thank you very much Honourable President and Team South Africa. I'm Audrey Sennicott from Business Report. The question is, I know that the post office applied for a license to form the state bank. When can we expect an announcement in that regard and who would be the stakeholders involved? Thank you. Who would be there? The stakeholders involved. It is Fifi from CNBC Africa, Mr. President. How has Davos been like for you in terms of raising investments? I know that there's quite a bit of interest in South Africa's renewable energy space. Perhaps Minister Khadebo, you can add to that. The $20 billion in commitments that you referred to investors making at the SA Investment Conference last year, global conditions have changed a little bit. We've had the IMF recently downgrading growth forecasts for the global economy. How worried are you that those commitments might not be realised? Sorry, last one. Since the Minister of Finance isn't here, Minister Patel, perhaps you can give us feedback on that economic colloquium symposium. I'm not too sure of the phrasing that was convened at the weekend. What was discussed, the outcomes? Thanks. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'm Akira Sano from Japan's Nikkei. I'd like to ask about the DRC Congo situation. There's a conflicting report about the results of the presidential reaction. And there's obvious difference between African Union stance and the Saduk stance, which came out last week. So could you elaborate about your standing point? Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Oh, you understood. Well, let's ask Minister Gordon to take the post bank. He has been trying to get an account with the post bank for a long time, so maybe he should answer that. And Minister Sisulu will answer the DRC one. And Minister Patel, you've already said that he should answer another one, also the FDI one, because he was also deeply involved in the organizing of the conference. Yeah, maybe let's handle it like that, and I'll do some infills if necessary. And, yeah, Davos investment climate as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll talk briefly about the regulatory part, although I'm sure the Minister of Communication might want to add with your consent, Mr. President, on the state bank. It's basically the post bank that we are talking about. And essentially the post bank would be like any other financial institution that if they want to convert into a bank, will have to go through the regulatory hoops that the South African Reserve Bank has through its banking regulator. So it's made its application, and this is normally phased in a number of different steps that each institution needs to take, and as they meet the criteria of each stage, they progress to the next stage. So it's in the process of, let's call it, certification through the regulatory process. Mr. President, if the Minister of Communication wants wishes to add, she may do so. Mr. Patel. Thank you, Mr. President. Before you do, Minister Hadebe has to go to another session on renewable energy. He'll very briefly deal with the renewable energy issue, which I think was raised, and thereafter Mr. Patel can answer. Mr. Prime Minister, if any Abrams needs to add on the post bank, she will do so. Thanks, Mr. President. Just quickly, on renewable energy, when President were here last year, there was a lot of talk about renewable energy and the whole issue of uncertainty in terms of the direction. We're happy to say that one year later, as the President has highlighted, we signed 27 IPP agreements on the 7th of April 2018, which brought about 4.9 billion US dollars of investment into the South African economy, which is equivalent to 56 billion in South African runs. Going forward, as the President has alluded to, we are finalizing the integrated resource plan, but according to the draft that we released in August 2018, there is a strong showing of renewable energy as well as solar, as well as wind and other complementary technologies that are going to be seen. But I cannot predict what cabinet will decide, but I'm very confident that renewable energy, which is the future we are rushing to, Mr. President, to deal with the energy transition, not only in South Africa, but across the globe. So there's a lot of appetite in terms of investors into the South African economy to bring in those technologies so that we can be able to pump the South African economy. Thank you. Thank you, Minister. Minister Patel. Thank you, Mr. President. We start with the investment conference outcomes. The companies, there were about 31 significant pledges made during the conference to commit to the expansion of existing operations, some green fields investment, one major global development finance institution also made a commitment, a significant commitment. And all of these were really based on commercial rationale. It made sense for these companies to make these commitments in the light of the policy announcements by government and the greater focus on implementation that the President had outlined in the State of the Nation speech in February last year. So our job really is to hold investor hands, to make sure that where there are challenges or blockages that we address those, and to monitor it and to see what we can do to be supportive while we prepare for the second phase which the President spoke about, and that is to get the next set of investment commitments. I think the UNCTAD report that was released is in a sense good news for us because it's picked up on that storyline and it's indicating that the numbers show that the investment is beginning to come through the economy in 2018. Turning next to the question on the investment colloquium, our focus over the last number of months has been on effective implementation. Not lots of new ideas, not lots of new plans, but basically buckling down to getting things done. And from time to time we talk to people, we share what we're doing, we get their views. The colloquium that was referred to us, the second that has been held, we held one in December, we held one in January. We're asking people in South Africa and abroad how are we doing? What are your thoughts on growth? What are your thoughts on jobs? And the advice, the opinions, the suggestions, all of these of course enrich our implementation program. So these are valuable lessons. It's always good to see what the rest of the world is doing and to tweak where we need to. But I think our focus now is really on getting implementation of the many commitments we've made over the last number of years. Thank you very much. Thank you. The issue of Minister Dabin Abrams, you want to say something? Yes, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Just to add to what Minister Gordon has spoken about in terms of the regulations. One of the things that we discovered as we applied for the license was the fact that the Banks Act does not allow the state-owned companies to own banks, which therefore meant that we need to go and amend the Banks Act. And that's a process that can only be done by Treasury and we believe it's in the process right now. They had showed us that before elections Parliament would have passed the amendments. So that's where we are. Thank you. Just, Mr. President, before I put it back to you, there was a question on what are the innovations that we're bringing in terms of making sure that we transform education. You will remember that after the announcement of the metric results, the President again, together with the Minister of Basic Education, they did talk about the digitalization of the education services, which is something that is done between DBE and private sector, including the operators that we're working with. In the next coming weeks, we'll be making concrete plans or announcements in terms of saying this is how these are the provinces that we're going to and this is how we're going to roll out the program. Thank you so much. Good. Minister Mutual Lady wants to add a word on something, Minister Mutual Lady. Thank you, President. I'm just noticing that nobody's asking me any question. Give us a chance. No, even at home it happened. Silently they're asking. He feels left out. Yes, they're asking what does a Minister of Health have to do with economy? The world has been asking that wrong question for a long time. The fact remains that there's no economic growth anywhere in the world without the good healthcare system. It will never happen. And that has been proven in West Africa through Ebola. When the economy of Sierra Leone was growing at 14%, it took nine months of a virus of Ebola which could not be handled to put it into negative economy. So we've been invited to Davos, President for the first time in 40 years since 2015. After that. Now, as you talk about investment, remember that there's also a lot of investment in health. Right now the world is moving towards universal health coverage, as you know. There's going to be a high level meeting in New York. What does it imply? We are giving access to fewer people in the world, access to health, to fewer and fewer people in the world. Now if you are going to invest, access to lots of people, then it means there must be a lot of investment. Thank you. Thank you. The issue of the DRC you've asked from Japan. You are most interested in that. Because it's quite involved and it's not only the DRC, there's an unceasing question that people has arrived in Switzerland have asked Zimbabwe and all that. So we are going to have another mini engagement after this on just South Africa's take on foreign issues and Minister Susulu will be dealing with precisely that point. So that one will be dealt with. I'm sure you will be interested to be part of that. And more directly about to conclude to address the question of how have we found divorce? Divorce has been most welcoming to South Africa. Divorce has been a place where we've been engaging in the most if you like, profitable manner. I have had a number of bilaterals with both various governments as well as companies and a number of companies that made commitments at our investment conference are also here. And one, they have reiterated those commitments and two of them have said Mr. President, actually we miscounted. We want to go way beyond what we had committed at the conference. So we are engaging at a very, very strategic level with the number of people, companies that attended the conference and divorce is really the oasis where everybody comes and this is where we also engage to foster and to advance our investment project. And we are engaging with many, many companies that want to invest. So much as the globe is going through a bit of a downturn we are finding divorce to be a place where we are catching a lot of fish. I'm a fisherman myself and it is when they say that the fish are not biting that one uses once wonderful fishing skill to catch fish and we are bringing home a full basket of fish that we will have caught here in divorce. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for making the time. Let me thank the president and the ministers present. We do apologize for having gone over our time. Thank you so much.