Western Cape Business 2019 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
their part in attracting visitors and new partners.
Underpinning the economic planning of
the Western Cape Provincial Government is a
commitment to getting four major things right.
Called “enablers”, these are issues that must be
looked after for other economic plans to work.
The four are water, energy, broadband and skills
development. On this sound footing, various
agencies of the provincial government and the
municipalities of the province have developed a
range of plans designed to attract investors, and
they are proving attractive.
The Western Cape is also the country’s bestperforming
province in terms of audits. Of 55
provincial departments, municipalities and public
entities for the 2016/17 year, 44 received clean audits.
This kind of performance helps to boost investor
confidence.
Another thing that has been attracting the
attention of the world is the astonishing display of
resilience by the citizens of Cape Town in getting
through a long-term drought. As the dreaded “Day
Zero” approached, news items started appearing on
television screens from Zurich to Zagreb about the
impending calamity.
The fact that Cape Town survived was
applauded but there were serious conservation
issues that arose, not least because people in
other parts of world quickly realised that what
was happening in Cape Town could easily be
replicated anywhere. The world needed to
confront a “new normal”.
Greater Cape Town’s ability to reduce water
usage by more than half was nothing short of
remarkable. “Resilience” has become a new
buzzword and a selling point for the city and
the province. A tourism campaign #ItsAllStillHere
mixes enticing pictures of surfers cutting through
beautiful waves with reminders of how Cape Town
had found a way to come through the extreme
dry spell.
Within the province, economic confidence is
improving. Alan Winde, then MEC for Economic
Development and Tourism, noted in his budget
speech in March 2018 that business confidence had
reached the 50-point mark, the highest level since
2016 (Bureau for Economic Research).
Investment and trade
Between 2014 and 2018, the Western Cape received
more than R7.2-billion in investments and trade
deals to the value of R11.1-billion were closed (SOPA).
The provincial government’s African Expansion
Programme has secured R691-million in deals so far.
The Western Cape has had an Invest SA One
Stop Shop since September 2017. The UK’s
International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, was
the first international minister to visit the facility,
which was interesting in that Britain’s position in
relation to trade with the world is about to undergo
a massive change because of its withdrawal from
the European Union.
In the period 1997-2017, fully a quarter of foreign
direct investment (FDI) into the Western Cape came
from the UK. Cape Town is the only African city on
the FDI ranking chart of fDi Intelligence, a division
of the Financial Times. The list ranks which cities
have the best foreign direct investment strategies.
Cape Town’s Economic Growth Strategy includes
the creation of a unit (Invest Cape Town) to promote
investment, upgrading infrastructure, pursuing
broadband rollout, improving energy supply and
improving direct air links between the city and the world.
Many of these strategies are pursued with partners.
During Dr Fox’s visit, he met with companies in
sectors that have traded with the UK for decades
such as fruit, wine and tourism, but he also was also
exposed to new areas in which the Western Cape
is growing its expertise, creative, tech and service
industries.
Since Britain’s vote to the leave the EU, trade
delegations into South Africa from countries like
France and Italy have increased.
The Invest SA One Stop Shop Western Cape is
an intergovernmental facility operated by Wesgro,
in conjunction with the Department of Trade and
Industry (dti) and the Western Cape Provincial
Government, that aims to provide strategic guidance,
and reduce regulatory inefficiencies and red tape.
DEDAT has also established a Red Tape Reduction
Unit to smooth the path of investors and businesses
wanting to expand.
Wesgro is the Western Cape’s official tourism,
trade and investment promotion agency. In its
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