The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has heaped praises on world golfing champion, award winning golf course designer and investor Ernie Els, for always backing KwaZulu-Natal as his investment destination of choice.

In a written correspondence to the South African-born global icon affectionately known as The Big Easy the Premier acknowledged the investor’s loyalty to his home country and commented that the golfer’s investment decision is a practical vote of confidence in the economy of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

This week Ernie Els signed a deal with Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed IFA Hotels & Resorts to create a golf course and associated facilities at the R10 billion Zimbali Lakes development on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

“We are quite excited at the fact that this global investor has seen value in our offering as a province and decided to back us as an investment destination in the most unequivocal manner. With fierce global contestation for investment, we have no doubt that Ernie Els’ decision was not driven only by sentiment, but by the comparative and competitive advantages that we offer as a destination,” said the Premier.

Just this week Queen Mary 2, one of the largest vessels to grace South Africa’s shores docked in Durban. This momentous occasion marked a significant milestone for tourism industry reflecting the resilience and vitality of KwaZulu-Natal as a premier destination for global travellers and investment.

The arrival of Queen Mary 2 followed hot in the footsteps of the launch of two strategic investment projects in the Province. Two weeks ago President Cyril Ramaphosa accompanied by Premier Dube-Ncube unveiled the Newlyn Park Bayhead Rail Terminal project which has injected some R3.4 billion in investment into the province while creating over 4 000 direct jobs during construction. On the same day the President and the Premier reopened Tetra Pak processing and packaging plant in Pinetown following a substantial investment of about R500 million.

“The plans unveiled by Ernie Els and his partners recently, the mega investment projects that we unveiled with the President some two weeks ago, and the R1 billion NPC Simuma Expansion Projects in the South Coast, underscore the success of the province’s Economic Recovery Plan. We are convinced these are signs of great things to come. We have certainly turned the corner and we are on our way back to our positioning as the prime investment destination. As the government, we pledge to continue playing our enabler role and to make sure that doing business in KwaZulu-Natal is made even easier,” concluded the Premier.

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For more information contact the Head of Provincial Government Communications Bongi Gwala on 072 793 4757 or Acting Media Liaison Joseph Cubai on 060 534 4187

ISSUED BY KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT