The Best of 2007

Economically, the country has continued to enjoy economic growth of around 4.5%. According to the International Monetary Fund, South Africa is starting to reap the benefits of sustained sound macroeconomic management and structural reforms and the economy received a vote of confidence from ratings agency Fitch which upgraded South Africa’s investment rating outlook from stable to positive in July.

According to global strategic management consulting firm AT Kearney, South Africa is ranked as the 18th most attractive destination for Foreign Direct Investment.

In the largest foreign direct investment in the country to date, China's largest bank purchased a 20% stake in Standard Bank for US$5.5 billion - the largest investment by a Chinese bank outside China.

In February, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel delivered what was considered to be a good news budget, with the country’s first ever budget surplus and a big increase in Government spend on education, welfare and on fighting crime and Aids.

During the year, massive infrastructure investment plans were announced by both the private and public sectors, including R70 billion for public transport, R97 billion for new power plants and R1.7 billion for township renewal in Gauteng.

After 36 quarters of uninterrupted economic growth, South Africa has seen an explosion of dollar millionaires and a rapidly growing middle class, with the number of so-called ‘black diamonds ’ growing by 30% in just one year.

Unemployment in South Africa remains high, but job prospects in South Africa are among the highest in the world for the second year running. Almost 200,000 jobs were created between March 2006 and 2007.

Crime statistics are now being release biannually and the latest, released in December, show a drop in murders, rape, assault, attempted murder and most types of robbery, including thefts from banks and cash-transit vehicles. House robbery, business robbery and truck hijackings increased in the 6 months ending in September.

South Africa’s new Aids plan received the thumbs up from the United States’ health secretary and UNICEF believe that South Africa is on track to meet the United Nations target for reducing mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2010. South Africa remains one of only two countries worldwide where HIV positive people have access to life insurance products.

In other health-related news, it was reported at the beginning of the year that nurses were returning to South Africa ‘in droves’, and this trend can be expected to continue when it was announced that public nurses would receive pay increases of at least 20 percent, as well as improved medical coverage and housing subsidies.

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup now less than three years away, the first official event was held in Durban. The Preliminary Draw was regarded as a success and an indicator of South Africa’s ability to host the tournament. At the Draw, the official slogan and poster were launched and it was announced that South Africans will get 120,000 free tickets for the tournament.

On the education front, there was good news for teachers when it was announced that they will benefit from a new salary scale from 2008 that will provide for increases ranging from one percent to 40 percent.

A South African business school - the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town – was rated among the top 10 in the world in an influential annual survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

In January, Nelson Mandela joined Oprah Winfrey in celebrating the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a private learning and residential environment for grades 7-12 aimed at developing the future women leaders of South Africa.

South Africans also excelled this year on the global sport scene. As you may have heard, the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup for the second time and cleaned up at the annual IRB awards ceremony, with Bryan Habana taking the Player of the Year award, South Africa the Team of the Year award, and Jake White the Coach of the Year award.

What else was there? Well, Nadine Gordimer received France's highest award, Mandela was declared one of the world’s top living geniuses, one of our billboards was named the best in the world, a mega-mall and a four-star hotel opened in Soweto, a South African came third in the World Series of Poker… and Charlize Theron was named the ‘sexiest woman alive’.

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