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July 9, 2019President Cyril Ramaphosa: Only Huawei can lead South Africa to 5G
President Cyril Ramaphosa participates in a dialogue with Colin Coleman, Goldman Sachs' Sub-Saharan Africa's Chief Executive Officer, at the Goldman Sachs' investor conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, The Westcliff in Johannesburg.rrThe conference brought together chief executive officers, chief information officers, chief financial officers and chairpersons of leading companies and financial institutions across all industry sectors from South Africa and other parts of the continent. 15/05/2019, Elmond Jiyane, GCIS
By Francis Otucu
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has backed Chinese technology giant Huawei saying it is the only company to take South Africa and the world to better technologies through 5G.
Speaking at the 4IRSA digital economy summit in Johannesburg last Friday said US’ action against Huawei was an example of protectionism which would affect South Africa’s telecommunications sector.
“This standoff between China and the US where the technology company Huawei is being used as victim because of its successes is an example of protectionism that will affect our own telecommunications sector, particularly the efforts to roll out the 5G network, causing a setback on other networks as well,” he said.
He added: “Telecom companies got together and wrote me a letter saying that this tussle between the US and China around the company called Huawei is going to hurt us because we can’t go to 5G and only Huawei can lead us to 5G.”
He said a number of telecommunication companies had written to him expressing concerns about trade restrictions that had been imposed on Huawei by the US government.
“We support a company that is going to take our country and indeed the world to better technologies, and that is 5G. We cannot afford to have our economy to be held back because of this fight. We are pleased that at the G20 Summit, China and US were able to meet and they said they will relax some of the constraints being imposed on Huawei, so that it can continue to deal with other various companies,” he noted.
While outlining his government’s strategy to unlock economic opportunities in the digital era, Ramaphosa said multilateral relations should also reflect an enabling posture for the global digital economy.
