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The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will shine the spotlight on Limpopo this week when it hosts two significant events in the province in two successive days. Both events, the seminar on the country’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Programme taking place at Bolivia Lodge on Wednesday, 27 July 2016, and the launch of the renovated Seshego Industrial Park on Thursday relate to critical national government interventions that will add impetus to the economic growth of the Limpopo Province.  

In Seshego, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies will be accompanied by Limpopo Premier, Mr Stan Mathabatha, MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environment, Mr Seaparo Sekoati and the Managing Director of the Limpopo Economic Development Agency, Mr Ben Mphahlele. 

The industrial park in Seshego, for which the dti has spent R21m for the first phase of its upgrading, will be the second that Minister Davies will be launching after Botshabelo in the Free State. The upgrading of the parks is part of the dti’s Revitalisation of Industrial Parks Programme. Its main objective is to promote industrialisation, create jobs and increase the contribution of the parks to job creation and the country’s economic growth.

“the dti has recognised that industrial parks have the capacity to serve as catalysts for broader economic and industrial development in their host regions, mainly townships and rural areas. We would like to see them contributing to economic growth, diversification of economic activity, attracting investments to the areas they are located in, job creation and addressing the problem of  inequality,” says Minister Davies. 

Minister Davies’ visit to Seshego will be preceded by delegation of senior officials of the department who will address a seminar on the SEZs at the Bolivia Lodge on Wednesday. The delegation will be led by the Deputy Director-General of the SEZs and Economic Transformation, Mr Sipho Zikode.  It will interact with potential investors as well as provincial government officials to share ideas on the implementation of the SEZ Programme in the province and how the provincial government and investors can access funding provided by the department as part of the programme.

The seminar is part of the national roadshow that the department is undertaking throughout the country to ensure that all stakeholders understand the importance of the SEZs in the country’s economy, and the role that each stakeholder will play to ensure the successful implementation of the SEZ programme. 

”The South African government seeks to transform the economy into a globally competitive industrial economy, built on the full potential of all citizens and regions and the zones can help achieve this mission. SEZs are one of the critical tools that have been identified for the purpose of giving effect to the industrialisation agenda in the country,” says Minister Davies.

The seminar follows an announcement made by the dti last week that Cabinet has approved Minister Davies’ decision to designate the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone. Soon thereafter the dti also announced that more than R40 billion will be invested by a Chinese consortium to establish an industrial park in the Musina-Makhado SEZ.  About 21 000 jobs are expected to be created in the park. Both announcements caught the attention of businesspeople whose keenness in investing in the SEZ is proven by the enquiries the department is receiving on the proposed SEZ.

Issued by Department of Trade and Industry