It's not all that bad in SA!

This from Fin24.com:

SA cities score in global poll

Oct 28 2008 07:14

Theunis Strydom

Johannesburg - South Africa has performed well in a survey of the best cities for business in the developing world.  The project, funded by MasterCard, indentified cities with the highest potential for commercial activity.

South Africa has more cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban) among the top 40 cities than any country outside of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC nations).

Johannesburg, in the 11th position, has fared better than any cities in Russia, India or Brazil. China has four cities amongst the top ten.

"South Africa is clearly on the move and worth watching," says the report, which goes so far as mooting the country as a possible future Bric component.  South African cities performed well in a number of categories, including the tax system, the ease with which an enterprise can be established or shut down, and the effective enforcement of contracts.

Johannesburg also scored well for its standard of financial services.  Cape Town, in turn, came first for quality of city life, while Durban and Cape Town shared first place in terms of safety.  In the safety category Johannesburg took eighth position among the 65 cities rated.

Emerging economies will, according to MasterCard, soon contribute 12 times as much to world growth as the developed world does.

- Sake24

So, it's not all doom and gloom is it?