WeeklySA_AdminDeploy: Multidisciplinary teams deployed across the country to dismantle organised criminal networks…
By Monk Nkomo
Multidisciplinary teams were being deployed throughout the country’s nine provinces to dismantle organised crime networks and to root out police officers complicit in working with criminals, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In his closing remarks at the 2026 South Africa Investment Conference that was held in Sandton, Johannesburg, Ramaphosa also announced that government was strengthening the independence and capability of agencies such as the Special Investigations Unit , the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks to investigate and prosecute cases relating to corruption.
Government was also reforming the criminal justice system and tackling crime and corruption so that businesses could invest and operate without fear. By the middle of the year, government would also be finalising the new Public Procurement Act regulations that would enable them to root out corruption in public procurement.
Ramaphosa also announced investments worth billions of rand by major companies across the country’s nine provinces. The companies included Sasol which has committed R60 billion to upgrade their plants and to deploy the latest technologies in Mpumalanga and the Free State.
The others are :
* Toyota which has invested R10,4 billion in preparing for the energy transition in the automotive sector in KwaZulu-Natal.
* In Limpopo, Valterra Platinum was investing new mining shafts, a smelter and other operations , providing key inputs to the products of the future.
* In North West , Mulilo was investing R14, 8 billion in a total four renewable energy products in the province as well as in the Free State and Western Cape.
* In the Northern Cape as well as the Hillside smelter in KZN South 32 , was investing R3,9 billion in rail infrastructure upgrades at the manganese mines.
* In Gauteng and Western Cape, Actom, a black-owned electrotechnical manufacturing company, was investing R250 million in equipment to support grid expansion , including transformers, high voltage equipment and batteries for energy storage.
* In the Eastern and Western Cape, Teleperformance was investing R145 million in global business services – an investment that will create 2600 jobs.
‘’ Ten years ago, we were in the throes of State capture. Our economy was stagnating and policy was higher than ever before. Today, the green shoots of renewal are emerging. We have turned a corner and confidence in our economic trajectory is rising. We will not rest until it is complete and until every South African benefits from the fruit of economic progress’’, said Ramaphosa.
This conference, he added, had demonstrated that South Africa’s economy was entering a new phase of growth.
The structural reform agenda, Ramaphosa added, was irreversible and firmly embedded within the State. ‘’ We have anchored the reform agenda to ensure lasting, measurable change. We must now leverage its momentum to close the gaps, together.’’
The government would soon be establishing a new criminal justice reform initiative modelled on the success of Operation Vulindlela in advancing economic reform. It would focus on organised crime, corruption, the illicit economy and illegal firearms.
The deployment of multidisciplinary teams across the country followed the recent exposure of the rot of corruption that has permeated most of the police top brass following claims that they worked in cahoots with criminal syndicates. Some of those implicated had since been suspended following the shocking revelations before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
Ramaphosa said the investment conference had demonstrated that the country’s economy was entering a new phase of growth. ‘’Having witnessed and heard the announcement of commitments of investment that will be made in our country, I can confidently say there is a strong case for investment in South Africa’’.
The pledges made had highlighted many of the government’s unique advantages – a sophisticated financial sector, deep capital markets, unparalleled wind and solar energy resources, cutting-edge digital infrastructure, and above all a young and growing population.
The President stressed that more importantly, South Africa was a constitutional democracy whose supreme law was the Constitution. The rule of law was central to South Africa’s constitutional democracy. It underpinned legal certainty, rights protection and accountable government and was essential for social justice and economic development.
‘’The cumulative value of the pledges made at this conference are the highest we have achieved since the first South Africa Investment Conference. It is also the highest number of projects. Much of this is domestic capital—demonstrating the strong and growing confidence of South African investors in our own economy’’.
As government, Ramaphosa said, they were more than coming to the party, matching their commitment to sustained reform with capital with the largest infrastructure investment intervention in the country’s history. The task before them was to double fixed investment that was currently at 15 per cent for a sustained period of time.
