Gauteng Business 2023-24

SPECIAL FEATURE
Special Economic
Zones are multiplying
Ford Motor Company was an initiator of the Tshwane Automotive SEZ (TASEZ).
Gauteng is investing in SEZs as a way of supporting specific
sectors and boosting regional economies.
The Gauteng City Region is a big driver of
the South African economy, with particular
strengths in manufacturing, retail, industrial
production, real estate and finance.
Five corridors for concentrated economic
growth have been identified and within those
areas, Special Economic Zones have either been
inaugurated or are to be rolled out. At the same
time, there are plans to link these developments
with initiatives to revive or boost the economies
of townships and to focus in a more general
sense on 10 high-growth sectors.
As defined by the National Department of Trade,
Industry and Competition (dtic), Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) are geographically designated areas
of a country set aside for specifically targeted
economic activities, supported through special
arrangements (that may include laws) and systems
that are often different from those that apply in the
rest of the country.
South Africa’s Industrial Policy Action Plan,
IPAP, identifies SEZs as key contributors to
economic development. They are growth engines
towards government’s strategic objectives of
industrialisation, regional development and
employment creation. The purpose of the
SEZ programme is to: expand the strategic
industrialisation focus to cover diverse regional
development needs and context; provide a clear,
predictable and systemic planning framework
for the development of a wider array of SEZs to
support industrial policy objectives like the IPAP
and National Development Plan (NDP); clarify
and strengthen governance arrangements;
expand the range and quality of support
measure beyond provision of infrastructure; and
provide a framework for a predictable financing
framework to enable long-term planning. The
same principles apply to various Industrial Parks
which are either being built or revived.
Apart from attracting foreign direct
investment (FDI) and boosting employment, SEZs
can be instrumental in adding new sectors or
subsectors to an economy. An obvious candidate
in that category is renewable energy which
needs manufactured components such as solar
panels and towers for wind turbines.
Incentives include tax breaks from the South
African Revenue Service, subsidised interest rates
from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC),
GAUTENG BUSINESS 2023/24
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PHOTO: Ford