This is according to Stefan Sakoschek, chairman of the EU Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Southern Africa, who believes “the government has a hidden agenda”.

He said: “The sentiment is that there is something happening that we [the European Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa] are not aware of.”

According to Sakoschek, policy changes seem to be biased towards the Brics bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; these countries have raised no concerns about the bill.

Sakoschek claimed that there is “preferential dealing with Russia and China”, which is a worry for his chamber.

His chamber was concerned that South Africa may go the way of other African countries that fall victim to the “Chinese vacuum cleaner, which is plundering [Africa’s] resources”.

He took issue with sub-standard Chinese goods being imported into South Africa, saying the playing field needed to be levelled.

He said that since it cost the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications hundreds of millions to dispose of dangerous and counterfeit goods in South Africa, “we urge trade and industry to implement pre-import verifications of certain goods”.

“This would ensure a fair and equitable market, as well as compliance of imports to South African standards, protect consumers, help industrialise the nation, increase customs duties collections, and be in accordance with World Trade Organisation, which South Africa is a member of.”

The Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill, which is expected to ultimately replace bilateral investment treaties between South Africa and various countries, aims to create an all-encompassing investment framework for the country.

Davies wrote in a column, published in the Business Times this month, that the underlying philosophy of the bill is to “clarify” the protection that an investor may expect in South Africa, and to promote investments by creating a predictable business environment.

“Unlike the bilateral investment treaties that only provide protection to investors from countries with which South Africa signed and ratified these treaties, the bill protects both foreign and domestic investors,” he wrote. The minister added that the bill sought to “balance the rights and obligations of investors, to provide adequate protection to foreign investors, to ensure that South Africa’s constitutional obligations are upheld, and that the government retains the policy space to regulate in the public interest”.

But the business community finds the bill vague. The EU Chamber of Commerce is not the only one kicking up a fuss.

The Banking Association South Africa said the bill provided foreign investors less protection than bilateral investment treaties.

“Certain clauses of the bill are vague. This could impact negatively on the attractiveness of South Africa Inc as a destination for foreign investment and threaten the protection of South African investments abroad,” the association’s MD, Cas Coovadia, told parliament’s portfolio committee on trade and industry last week.

The American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa said the bill in its current form would have a disastrous effect on foreign investment in the country, which would cripple growth and job creation.

It said the bill would create “flight of investment out of South Africa” because it “does not promote investment”. The chamber said investment flight was happening already, and the bill was “another nail in the coffin” of the country‘s economy.

These views are supported by Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s shadow minister of trade and industry, who said the bill did not address the many valid concerns that international investors had about the direction of government policy. “It is poorly drafted and ambiguous, and it needs to be extensively rewritten,” he said.

The European and American chambers are concerned that their investments maybe jeopardised under the new bill.

Sakoschek said the chamber was a long-term investor in South Africa.

Europe is the country’s largest trading partner, with more than 2000 companies invested in the country – representing 77% of total foreign direct investment. These companies have created more than 300 000 direct jobs and about 150 000 indirect jobs. Total annual trade between South Africa is estimated to be R460-billion, according to the European Chamber of Commerce.

The American chamber said it represented R278-billion worth of investment and 220 000 jobs in South Africa.

Sakoschek said it was not blackmailing the government or threatening it, but because of the uncertainty “some investors have started divesting and reinvesting elsewhere on the continent”.