Examination of Witnesses (Questions 160-163)
27 JANUARY 2004
MR CHRISTOPHER
PATERSON AND
MR ASHLEY
ROE
Q160 Chairman: Mr Roe,
you are not perhaps as directly involved as a consultancy, but
what is your perception of the effect on business and investment
arising from that policy? Mr Roe: The policy
is right, it is the only way they can move forward, but they have
to do it in the right way. It causes us some difficulty in terms
of developing our operation in South Africa, but we will have
to come to terms with it if we are going to expand and we will
find a way of doing it.
Q161 Chairman: As you
know, our Committee makes recommendations to government. Where
do you see any failings which might be improved? If you were making
recommendations to the Foreign Office in respect of their own
operation in South Africa, where do you think improvements might
be made? Mr Paterson: Having dealt with the
Foreign Office for over 20 years in terms of conversations about
our business environment, the thing which worries me is not the
quality of advice and the helpful attitude of the Foreign Office,
it is that people change their jobs so often. I know the reason
for that is that the Foreign Office traditionally feared that
people would go native if they stayed on one patch too long, but
I do think that some of the problems we have got into over the
Zimbabwe issue have been the result of the general memory being
rather short. I just find it amazing, when one talks to the Foreign
Office, that every three years there is another face and this
is in a position of some power and some influence over what policy
should be on the ground. I just wonder whether this old practice
is really helpful in the modern world— when one is spending
a lot of energy on a part of the world like southern Africa, which
has a history but is changing rapidly, if you lose that history,
you lose a lot of your advantage.
Q162 Chairman: I suppose
they would answer that locally engaged employees provide a degree
of continuity. Mr Roe: Yes, you are right, locally
engaged employees do. However, there is also the fact that the
change is disruptive. On our side we have to get to know somebody
else and they have to get to know the government people in South
Africa and that continuity is broken.
Q163 Mr Olner: That is
an excellent point and a point it might well be worth the Committee
making when we write our report. It does not only apply to South
Africa of course. I know Severn Trent's core business is water
and water management. Severn Trent also have a plethora of portfolios
under the counter. Do you have discussions and debates on them
in southern Africa or other countries with which Severn Trent
are involved? Mr Roe: No, we do not. The reason
for that is that they have their own focuses. Severn Trent Water
International are there to take the expertise we have in the water
industry in the UK outside the UK. Mr Paterson:
One thing I should like to say, if I may, about black empowerment
is that our Association did have a very successful conference
last year on black empowerment in co-operation with the South
African High Commission. That was a persuasive conference; it
was very well attended and in fact it was over-booked. We had
several ministers there from the South African Government and
I think many of us who were there were impressed by how benign
the policy actually is when you get to describing how it is going
to work in practice. We are planning to have another one, because
we were not able to cover the financial services charter at that
time and one is planned for after the election. I do think that,
given that there are difficulties with the South African/British
relationship at the moment, if the Foreign Office felt that it
could be more involved in this kind of initiative it would pay
dividends in terms of the relationship with the South African
Government. Chairman: That is a helpful suggestion
and the Committee will bear that and your other comments in mind.
Thank you both very much
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