Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°16°CTCT30°17°PretoriaPTA31°17°DurbanDBN27°64%

Motlanthe calls for a sovereign wealth fund for South Africa

Published

Wheat field in front of a long mountain range at sunset.

Former president Kgalema Motlanthe told the Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum on Friday that mineral revenues should fund long-term investment. He also urged greater use of retirement-fund capital for infrastructure. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said growth is the main challenge.

Motlanthe said a sovereign wealth fund could be financed through a defined share of future mineral and resource revenues. He said it could also draw on proceeds from state assets and other fiscally sustainable contributions. He also called for property rights reforms that recognise family and communal ownership, rather than assuming individual title deeds suit every case.

Godongwana said fiscal policy alone could not generate the growth needed to address unemployment. He discussed an investment level of 25% to 30% of gross domestic product. He said that figure related to public investment and should not be treated as the total the economy needs.

Gugu Motlanthe, executive trustee of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and director of the forum, said economic exclusion is undermining confidence in democracy. She said corruption done in the name of transformation should be condemned, without abandoning the principle of black economic empowerment. Former statistician-general Pali Lehohla took part in the discussion, which Arena Holdings CEO Pule Molebeledi moderated.

Key facts

Who
Kgalema Motlanthe (Former president; spoke at the forum and called for a sovereign wealth fund); Gugu Motlanthe (Executive trustee of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and director of the forum); Enoch Godongwana (Finance minister); Pali Lehohla (Former statistician-general; questioned when investment commitments would…)
What
At the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation's Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum on Friday, Kgalema Motlanthe urged a sovereign wealth fund funded by mineral and resource revenues, and greater use of retirement-fund capital for domestic infrastructure. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana said economic growth was the main challenge and that fiscal policy alone could not address unemployment.
When
30 October 2026
Where
Drakensberg, South Africa
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll
  2. IEC says local election voting went largely smoothly
  3. IEC says about 12 million had voted by 5pm

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update