EU top investor in SA as UAE, China expand footprints
Who Owns Whom conducted an exercise for the EU to map member countries’ investments in South Africa, first in 2020 and again in 2025. It found that the EU remains the largest investor by a substantial margin, followed by the US and UK.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) did not feature in the 2020 research but recorded 63 investments in 2025. These include DP World’s R12.7bn acquisition of Imperial Logistics and Qatar Airways’ 25% minority stake in local private airline Airlink. UAE-based Network International LLC also acquired the DPO Group, now known as DPO Pay by Network, which operates e-commerce platforms in 19 African countries.
China, including Hong Kong, expanded its investment footprint in South Africa from 187 to 217 entities. These investments include prominent companies such as Wesizwe Platinum, Shanduka Group, Standard Bank, AfriSam and Safika Holdings (the latter two via Standard Bank), as well as Village Main, Buffelsfontein Gold and Simmer and Jack Investments (the latter two via Village Main). The Chinese holding company is Heaven-Sent SA Sunshine Investment Company.
Italy recorded the largest increase in foreign direct investment share, rising from 3.6% to 9.4%, driven in part by the 2024 acquisition of the Southern African operations of Greece-based Astir Vitogiannis’ Coleus Packaging by Italy’s Guala Closures, a global manufacturer of bottle caps. Ireland increased its share of investments from 2.8% to 3.1%, with a big transaction being the takeover of African Oxygen by Linde.
Though Norway is not an EU member it remains closely aligned through the European Economic Area Agreement. The Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) has recently invested in South Africa, targeting the renewable energy and food sectors, and has acquired stakes in Nafasi Water Technologies (formerly Aveng Water), Anthem Group Holdings, Mulilo Energy, the Phatisa Group and Langeberg Foods.
At the third EU-AU ministerial meeting in May last year, EU commissioner for international partnerships Jozef Sikela said the EU Global Gateway investment strategy has raised R5.7bn since 2021 to fund investment in Africa across digital infrastructure, clean energy, transport and pharmaceuticals.
Andrew McGregor
Who Owns Whom
Non-tariff barriers limit SA-Kenya agricultural trade
There is room to expand agricultural trade between South Africa and Kenya, especially in grains (“Standard Bank backs investment in powerhouse Kenya during Ruto visit”, June 4).
Kenya isn’t yet a bigger agricultural export market for South Africa, accounting for just 1%, or $141m, of South Africa’s $15.1bn in agricultural exports in 2025, mainly vegetable oils, fruit, nuts, beverages, sugar and live animals.
Yet Kenya is a major buyer of agricultural products from the world market. In 2025 it spent $3.7bn importing agricultural products, mainly vegetable oils and grains.
Non-tariff barriers are part of the problem. Consider maize. Kenya is a major importer of maize and has struggled to source supplies in recent years when confronted by drought. South Africa is a major maize exporter but has not been a key supplier to Kenya due to its restrictions on the import of genetically engineered organism (GMO) produce.
GMO maize accounts for about 80% of South Africa’s production, which accounts in part for our impressive yield gains, placing us in a position where, in the 2025-26 season, South Africa is set to produce 17.1-million tonnes of maize. Domestic consumption is about 12-million tonnes. In the absence of GMO restrictions Kenya could be among South Africa’s top export markets.
Wandile Sihlobo
Presidential envoy on agriculture & land; chief economist, Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa; senior research fellow, department of agricultural economics, Stellenbosch University
State struggles to fund promised expansion of labour inspectorate
Thando Maeko’s article refers (“Government seeking funding for 10,000 additional labour inspectors”, June 2).
It is always interesting to read articles of this nature because they expose the government’s double speak. President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his state of the nation address earlier in the year that the government would be employing another 10,000 labour inspectors. It was not an issue that was up for discussion but a promise made to the nation.
We now hear from employment & labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth that she has had to go cap in hand to the finance minister to try and fund a major expansion of the labour inspectorate.
The National Treasury does not have the funding either. In fact, the budget allocation to her department has necessitated a reduction in the funding of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration and Nedlac, both vital institutions in our volatile labour environment.
The labour inspectors we do have in South Africa are underfunded, under-resourced and undertrained. We are regularly told that the department doesn’t have the money to properly resource the inspectorate.
On an oversight visit, the portfolio committee on employment & labour was told by various officials that the IT system is collapsing and both the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund are falling apart.
Michael Bagraim, MP
DA employment & labour spokesperson
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