By Gershwin Wanneburg
“Preach!” a man shouted in a thick southern American drawl.
The setting was the seventh floor of the Wesgro offices on Cape Town’s foreshore, and by the time US Ambassador Reuben Brigety rose to deliver an impromptu message, the room was primed for the word he was about to deliver.
“Yeah!” a few others encouraged as Brigety indicated that he was about to testify.
The congregants were from Atlanta, Georgia, in the US, visiting the country on a three-city mission to Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town to learn about investment opportunities in South Africa. The delegation was led by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and included 35 political, business, and community leaders from his hometown. Their visit forms part of the Atlanta Phambili initiative, spearheaded by Brigety to nurture investment between South Africa and the American city of Atlanta.
Earlier, the newly appointed US consul general in Cape Town, Allison Areias, had told the audience why they should invest in South Africa.
“South Africans are really pragmatic. They’re really resilient. It’s just a can-do, let’s-move-on attitude, and I think Americans are as well. So, you will find partners that think like you, that want to work hard like you and there’s just no drama in the relationship,” she said.
Inspired by her, Brigety took to the pulpit for the second time that morning to add an “amen” to Areias’s address.
He elaborated on the various philosophies that underpin the ethos that Areias had referenced, including Ubuntu and his favourite Afrikaans idiom, “’n Boer maak ’n plan.”
It literally means, “The farmer always has a plan,” Brigety explained. “But it’s much more philosophically deep than that…No matter what the challenge is, we will make it happen.”
That attitude was exemplified by the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for economic growth and tourism, James Vos, when he addressed the audience.
Vos listed the city’s achievements and ambitions. Over the next decade, the city government will be spending R120 billion on infrastructure to transform Cape Town into a resilient city. These investments include major projects focusing on energy security and water. The city is also investing in programmes to support manufacturing in key sectors, such as clothing, and wants to beat previous records for everything from manufacturing output to tourist arrivals.
The Western Cape MEC for Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, was equally upbeat. He mentioned the province’s ambition to become a R1 trillion economy by 2035.
Infrastructure will play an essential role in reaching that milestone. To ensure that happens, the current administration is thinking way beyond its five-year term and thus recently adopted the Distinctive Infrastructure Framework 2050. Its focus is five specific sectors which will be of interest to Atlanta; namely social, energy, economic infrastructure, technology, and ecological infrastructure.
Mayor Dickens pointed out that South Africa and Atlanta share a rich history, having produced two of the world’s greatest leaders in Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and Nelson Mandela.
Such was the affinity for Atlanta that Mandela made it one of his first international trips after his release from prison in 1990, and drew a crowd of 50,000 people to hear him speak at Georgia Tech.
“We have state departments. We have our national governments that work together and make great decisions amongst each other. But subnational diplomacy, province to province, city to city, business leader to business leader in the various sectors are important,” Dickens said.
The growing relationship between the two countries was further sealed later in the morning, when the organisers of the creative industry platform Fame Week Africa announced that Atlanta would be its feature destination in 2025.
After that, the delegates visited the premises of Veldskoen, a local shoe brand that is beginning to make a name for itself in the US and is looking for further expansion in international markets. The seven-year-old brand gained worldwide attention when it adorned the feet of the South African Olympic team at the Tokyo games in 2020.
The final stop of the day was the impressive newly launched Amazon South Africa headquarters in Observatory, where a panel of South African vendors spoke about the opportunities that the American digital retail giant has opened up to them.
The following day began with a visit to the NV Film Studios Africa in the picturesque Somerset West, set among the breathtaking mountains and valleys of the Cape winelands. The visitors were taken on a tour of the wide variety of locations that are on offer on this 4,000-hectare facility, including rivers, mountains and lakes, aside from the studios and post-production facilities. NV Film Studios Africa has hosted world-renowned productions such as Ridley Scott’s Netflix series Raised by Wolves and The History of America.
Of course, no visit to Cape Town would be complete without exploring its award-winning wines. The Wine Arc in Stellenbosch offers support to black winemakers and introduced the American delegation to the region’s industry pioneers, including Carmen Stevens, who became the country’s first qualified black winemaker in 1995. Like other black winemakers, she struggles with access to markets, despite international acclaim.
The penultimate stop on the tour was the inspiring Snake Nation, nestled in the breathtaking slopes of Hout Bay. Started by American couple, Carl and Saidah Carter, it offers support to young creatives from all over the world and aims to empower them with the tools necessary to enter the creative economy. The session offered workshops on the meaning of ubuntu, the well-being economy, the recent World Conference on Remedies to Social and Racial Inequality and a virtual tour of the African Diaspora Museum, which includes a look at the ancient Timbuktu library in Mali.
The tour ended at the residence of the Consul-General, where the DDG of DIRCO, Maud Dlomo, reminded those in attendance of the significance of this visit. She pointed out that the US-South Africa relationship went beyond news cycles and occasional disagreements.
One of the members of the delegation, Jay Bailey, who runs the Russell Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurs, summed up the enthusiasm that was evident from his fellow Americans over the two days in Cape Town.
“I’m going to make an investment in this city…There’s a spirit and soul in this soil that calls to me,” said Bailey.
“The magic that is South Africa is unknown to many Americans and that needs to change.”
