Published on 15 January 2025

South Africa: Achievements

Since 2009, Switzerland has helped South Africa build a sustainable, competitive, and green economy, strengthen regional cooperation, and improve public services.

Skills Development, Johannesburg — © R. Bäcker/version-foto.de

Switzerland has been committed to fostering sustainable economic development in South Africa since 2009, formalized through the Framework Agreement on Development Cooperation signed in 2013. Over the years, Switzerland's economic development cooperation has focused on several key objectives. One of the primary goals has been to promote a competitive and sustainable economy, enhancing the competitiveness of the South African economy while ensuring that growth is robust, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. Additionally, Switzerland has recognized South Africa’s strategic position in Africa and has supported the country to become a regional economic hub, fostering broader economic integration. Switzerland has also provided support for climate change adaptation and mitigation, assisting South Africa in developing measures to promote resource efficiency and green growth initiatives that are essential given the country's vulnerability to climate-related impacts. Furthermore, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery has been a priority, ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are distributed equitably across the population.

The impact of SECO’s initiatives is evident in several success stories that demonstrate the tangible benefits of this cooperation throughout the years:

• Doing Business Reforms (2015-ongoing)

  Switzerland’s assistance in implementing «Doing Business Reforms» has substantially improved the investment climate in South Africa. Initially launched in 2015, this program expanded to cover all eight metropolitan municipalities, including critical support at the national level for the Department of Trade, Investment, and Competition. In the City of Johannesburg, the reforms reduced the time needed to obtain construction permits from 155 days to just 67 days, while the number of procedures required dropped from 20 to 13. This streamlined process empowers site and building inspectors to complete their work in record time, significantly enhancing the efficiency of construction projects and attracting more investments.

• Urban development in South Africa’s biggest cities (2015-ongoing)

  Switzerland’s support to South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities (home to over 24 million people) aimed to assist these cities to become better governed, to improve infrastructure planning and provision, and to enhance their ability to foster economic growth and improved climate resilience. Long term financial strategies have been developed for 6 of the metros, while an executive leadership and transversal management training programme has trained over 200 municipal official and political leaders. Eight large-scale climate resilient infrastructure projects are under development, linked to intensive capacity building and mentoring on project pipeline development. Heat assessments have been carried out in three cities and peer learning on urban flood risk management (including 12 cities across the rest of Africa). Water and sanitation turnaround strategies have been developed for all eight cities. A business plan was developed and implemented for the first ever platform of spatialized economic data that would enable city decision makers to plan better for the economic growth of cities, based on up-to-date, disaggregated data. In addition, community-based capacity building on service delivery, and the planning and budgeting thereof, has become an important mechanism to effect a change in South Africa’s informal settlements. The Asivikelani initiative has impacted directly on the lives of more than 5.8 million residents in 591 informal settlements through improved public services.

• Financial Sector Reforms (2014-ongoing)

  Switzerland has played a pivotal role in advancing financial sector and capital market reforms in South Africa, leading to the enactment of key legislation that strengthens stability and inclusivity. Switzerland’s support facilitated the implementation of the Financial Sector Regulation Act, the Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Act, and the National Financial Inclusion Policy, which collectively promote consumer protection and broaden access to financial services for marginalized communities. SECO also contributed to the launch of a Deposit Insurance Scheme, enhancing depositor confidence, and the establishment of an e-Trading platform at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which modernizes trading practices.

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