Osman Arbee, CEO of automotive firm Motus, has raised concern about SA’s hosting of the Brics summit and the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin attending.
Arbee told analysts and bankers at the Motus investor day last week that the Brics summit SA is due to host in August would be better off accommodated in China, saying SA’s perceived alignment with Russia was a problem.
SA had a political, economic and diplomatic conundrum after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest for Putin, raising questions about how SA would act if he attends the bloc’s annual summit in person.
The country may face the ire of its Brics partners if it fulfils its international obligation to the ICC and arrests Putin. Conversely, if it does not arrest Putin it could face sanctions from countries that want him tried for war crimes.
Earlier in June, Business Day reported that Ramaphosa would ask Putin to attend the Brics meeting virtually. The government had also been considering a recommendation for the summit to be moved to China.
It is understood the government is still looking into legal mechanisms that would allow Putin to physically attend the Brics gathering.
Arbee said the situation was in the meantime creating an environment of uncertainty.
“I think until August we are going to have this uncertainty because there’s too many people outside our country that are not happy with what we are doing. We are choosing bad friends and this ... is not helping us,” he said.
Competing with the likes of Combined Motor Holdings and Zeda in the local car hire and sales market, Motus counts the Public Investment Corporation, Ukhamba Holdings, Coronation Fund Managers, M&G Investment Management (UK) and Ninety One SA among its largest shareholders.
Motus has 80 commercial and 33 passenger dealerships in the UK and 36 passenger dealerships in Australia.
The group said in its interim results that high inflation was starting to moderate in these territories and reported an uptick in activity.
It is targeting increased contributions from its international operations for the aftermarket parts business, where the markets are bigger than in SA.
This internationalisation approach forms part of the group’s growth strategy to reduce dependency on vehicle sales while entering into non-cyclical businesses that are cash-generative, asset-light and not capital-intensive.
The spread across geographies is aimed at giving Motus access to economies of scale and achieving long-term resilience, but the expansion may be complicated by geopolitical tensions, with SA’s neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war not sitting well with the West.
Earlier this week, Business Day reported the CEO of Omnia had warned of “unofficial sanctions” against local companies in the international space should SA’s perceived alignment with Russia persist.
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