President Cyril Ramaphosa says his special envoys on investment have held 150 meetings with investors in total - visiting Johannesburg, Cape Town and nine countries over five months.

This as Ramaphosa updated Members of Parliament in a written reply to questions on one of his earliest economic interventions as president: the team of special envoys on investment. 

Ramaphosa replied to questions from Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier, saying meetings with investors took place in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China, Canada, Ireland, London and Poland.

“Envoys are volunteers who are deployed to convey messages about the investment climate and to generate goodwill with investors. They are not tasked with deal-making, but with opening doors,” said Ramaphosa.

At the end of September, Ramaphosa announced a stimulus package aimed at pulling South Africa closer to economic recovery after the country fell into a fresh technical recession.

Maynier also asked Ramaphosa about his plans to draw $100-billion (over R1-trillion) investment into the economy.

Ramaphosa said it was still up to the government to pursue the investment opportunities where appropriate, or to resolve the issues that may be blocking private sector investment. 

Maynier asked another question on where Ramaphosa hoped the investment funding for the $100-billion would primarily come from.

Ramaphosa said the $100-billion investment call targets both the private sector, public companies, unlisted companies, general government and State-owned enterprises.

“The investment drive seeks to encourage investors to invest in the economy through greenfield and brownfield projects. While the emphasis is on fixed investment, government is not prescriptive on the investments,” Ramaphosa said.