World Economic Forum opens in South Africa

The World Economic Forum on Africa began in Cape Town on Wednesday with the continent now regarded as one of the fastest-growing regions in the world.

The Forum will take a closer look at leadership capacity and political institutions which it says are fundamental to supporting growth on the continent. Other areas under scrutiny during the three day event include management of tax issues, infrastructural investment, health, education, urban design and environmental sustainability.

“We know that there are such strong lobbies trying to push [environmental sustainability] off the agenda because it requires a lot of re-orientating of the economy,” says Fr Michael Deed, coordinator of the Justice and Peace Department for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “Several big companies that have professional lobbyists try and lobby against the whole climate change [issue] because clearly it would require them to change their way of operating dramatically.”

Fr Deed said that some governments “are reliant on those companies, so will certainly be reluctant to criticise them too much because it could affect the investments.”

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