Special Economic Zones Several SEZs are focussing on green energy and green technology.
A
play to regional strengths. Limpopo has two SEZs, both of which aim to use the province’s rich mineral resource as a base for other economic activities. One is already attracting investors and the other is in the process of being registered. The Musina-Makhado SEZ (MMSEZ) in the far north and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ (FTSEZ) in the east are central to the strategy of expanding Limpopo’s manufacturing capacity. Building new industrial parks and reviving existing areas support the same goal. As of February 2020, Shaanxi CEI Investment Holdings had committed to a $5-billion investment in a vanadium and titanium smelter project at the MMSEZ and a further $1.1-billion had been pledged from other sources. The first-phase focus is on energy and metallurgical processes but agroprocessing, logistics and general manufacturing are expected to follow. The FTSEZ is located in the heart of the one of the most mineral-rich localities on earth, the
key component of the strategy to boost the value of South African mineral and agricultural products is to develop infrastructure where manufacturing can take place, namely Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial parks. South Africa has 12 registered SEZs and several more are in the planning or registration phase. National and provincial incentives are in place to attract investors to the SEZs, with the added benefits of existing infrastructure and access to companies relevant to an investor’s value chain. A 2021 report by the Centre for Development and Enterprise has suggested that the zones are not sufficiently special, and that experimentation with greater flexibility in terms of labour regulations would reap dividends. The CDE notes that if companies were exporting, the issue of competing with local concerns would not arise. The CDE has suggested the Coega SEZ as the site for such an experiment. Each province has been allocated SEZs that
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2022
16
