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The Asset Class: Alastair Herbertson · Strictly Business

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  You're listening to Strictly Business Podcast with Lindsay Williams.
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  The 2026 SONA, that's the State of the Nation Address for the Republic of South
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  Africa,
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  was delivered by the President Cyril Ramaphosa recently and it was generally
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  well received.
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  With me now is Alistair Herbertson, Managing Director, Emerging Market,
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  Alternative Credit at 91 in Cape Town.
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  Let me read something to you first, Alistair, before we go into the points
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  that you want to cover.
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  The 2026 SONA was a strong statement on the turning point in South Africa, it says
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  here,
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  for an improved future in many areas, highlighting, and a quote from the
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  President now,
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  we are leaving behind an era of decline and turning towards an era of prosperity
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  and growth.
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  Our economy, he goes on to say, is growing again and this growth is gathering pace.
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  Very, very optimistic opening.
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  Did you find that, Alistair?
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  I did think that the recent Sona, the Sona presented in February was...
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  much more positive and actually captured a lot more results that were achieved
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  through the course of the year.
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  So instead of being aspirational in terms of what needs to be done or what's going
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  to be done,
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  it really did capture what has been achieved,
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  what have we seen coming from the work we've done in the last couple of years.
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  Yes, and that all goes back to, I think, Voolindlela,
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  the initiative that is now going into phase two.
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  And one of the things that's been so important, and I've recently conducted an
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  interview with one of your colleagues on this matter, is infrastructure.
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  Infrastructure seemed to be front and centre of the SONA.
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  I think it's been a long-running theme within the SONA speeches that
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  infrastructure is critical
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  for giving the economy the opportunity to grow.
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  Because it's only through a growing economy that we can hope to create the
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  jobs.
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  And it's only through creating jobs that we can hope to address.
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  poverty in the country.
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  So this is certainly one of the key aspects of the Sona series.
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  Did the President talk about participation from the private sector, which is, of
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  course,
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  so important and has been lacking in the past?
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  He did bring that up.
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  There has been a lot of discussion around how the private sector can contribute,
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  facilitate,
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  support the government in its efforts to build infrastructure.
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  But of course, This is a massive undertaking.
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  There is a huge amount of infrastructure required,
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  and it ranges from what is typically publicly provided infrastructure right
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  through to what we see as economic
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  infrastructure being used by our businesses.
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  So there is always a role, and certainly we think that there's a strong opportunity
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  to invest in
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  infrastructure across that whole spectrum.
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  One of the things that has been, again, phrased front and centre, over the years
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  has been energy stability.
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  And when you think of energy stability, you think of load shedding.
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  I haven't heard the phrase load shedding for a long time.
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  I have heard about problems on the railways and in ports.
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  And I'm increasingly hearing, and this is something that I'm saying now,
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  water is the new electricity because water shortages are now a fact of life in many
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  parts of South Africa.
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  I think water is a very important aspect or consideration that we have to be
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  worried about.
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  because it has been neglected for many years.
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  It's been neglected for longer than the electricity sector was neglected.
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  And unfortunately, it actually takes longer to resolve the water sector when we
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  apply our minds to it.
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  So it's going to be a long-running concern and constraint on the economy.
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  So I do think it's important that it's been highlighted as a new prerogative or a
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  new aspect to consider.
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  Yes, and apart from that, there's the digital element of the sonar speech,
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  digital expansion and spatial.
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  planning, they were all highlighted in the SONU.
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  Which of the sectors within the infrastructure umbrella are the most
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  important to you, would you say?
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  I'm going to give you a very broad answer to that is that they are all critically
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  important.
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  So if we look at the factors of production, you know, it's the energy, the
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  waters required, the technology, the understanding,
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  the knowledge that people have, the actual people in labour,
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  that every component is important and it doesn't work if it goes out of balance.
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  truly important is making sure that we never neglect one of the sectors such that
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  it becomes a bottleneck
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  and prevents the rest of the economy from growing.
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  So I think that it's almost more important to make sure that we balance the
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  investment across the board.
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  And speaking of investment, it's not just the government, of course, and this is
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  where 91 comes in the SA Infrastructure Fund.
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  When you sat down after the speech and went through it, were you encouraged that
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  this
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  This vision from the president might actually aid your fund and at the same
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  time your fund could aid his vision.
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  So the fund has been a number of years in the making.
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  It's been operational now since last year.
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  And what we have found is that there are definitely strong opportunities to invest
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  into infrastructure.
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  I think we're seeing the government now focusing on what's important for the
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  government to do,
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  which is creating a stable governance framework,
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  mitigating the crime that we see in the country and giving the law and justice an
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  opportunity to just
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  let the private sector grow and expand at a rate that will contribute to the
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  economy.
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  So yes, I'm very excited with the new Sona.
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  Okay, say that to me.
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  I'm a private investor, or I'm an institutional investor.
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  What makes the South African infrastructure space at the moment
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  potentially so exciting?
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  So we've always seen that infrastructure has had a pretty stable return profile,
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  whether that's in the debt or the equity space.
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  And that's because of the nature of infrastructure.
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  It's long lasting.
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  So for all of our clients who are looking for a stable return over many years,
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  who might not want the volatility of sort of a high growth sector,
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  this definitely gives a more stable, longer term investment opportunity.
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  And it's in line with what is the government's prerogative.
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  The government has decided that this is where they will be in focusing the growth
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  in the country.
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  So we think it's an opportune moment to become an investor in infrastructure in
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  South Africa.
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  Alistair, very good.
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  Thank you very much for your time and your optimism.
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  Alistair Herbertson is Managing Director, Emerging Market Alternative Credit at 91
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  in Cape Town.
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  The views and opinions expressed in these podcasts are those of Lindsay Williams and
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  various contributors and do not reflect the policy,
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  position or opinion of any other agency, organisation,
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  employer or company associated with StrictlyBusinessPodcast.com.
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  And since we are critically thinking human beings, these views are always subject to
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  change,
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  revision and rethinking at any time.
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  Please do not hold us to them in perpetuity.