This archive report was first published on 8 July 2019.
On July 8, 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke out against protectionism during the 4IRSA digital economy summit in Johannesburg, where he emphasized the importance of Huawei's role in the country's 5G network implementation.
South Africa will be turning to Huawei to implement its 5G network, despite the US action against the Chinese technology giant. Ramaphosa described Huawei as a victim of protectionism, which he believes will affect South Africa's telecommunications sector.
"This standoff between China and the US, where Huawei is being used as a 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," Ramaphosa said.
According to Ramaphosa, several telecommunication companies had written to him to express their concerns about trade restrictions imposed on Huawei by the US government. He stated that the country cannot afford to have its economy held back due to the US-China trade tensions.
"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 the 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," Ramaphosa said.
