How policy uncertainty fuels SA's corporates to hoard R1.8 trillion

SOUTH Africa's wealth and children’s futures are entirely different.

- MASABATA MKWANANZI

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) warns that the fact that non-financial firms hold a record of R1.8 trillion in cash while 21% of children under five suffer from malnutrition exposes a serious economic and moral crisis.

John Endres, the CEO of IRR, cautions that while millions of South African children go hungry, corporate investment has been paralysed by broken policies and growing risks.

“These figures are a stark indictment of South Africa's policy environment. Companies are not hoarding cash out of greed - they are responding rationally to policy uncertainty, collapsing infrastructure, crime, and burdensome race-based regulations that make investment risky. The result is corporate paralysis and frozen capital, while millions of children go hungry.”

He added that the government cannot force businesses to invest through punitive taxes or expropriation; capital follows confidence, which relies on stable, transparent, and growth-focused policies.