The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Economic Development and Tourism urged industrial developers to meaningfully transfer skills to local people when major projects were implemented.
This would enable the country to have adequate skills, said chairperson of the committee Mafika Mndebele, when they visited several multibillion-rand plants in the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ) recently.
The committee visited Nyanza Light Metal and Wilmar and other plants being constructed. The committee commended the RBIDZ for creating a conducive environment for businesses to thrive. Mndebele said this had seen investments worth billions of rand being pumped into the economy of the province.
Nyanza Light Metals’ is a multibillion plant that will produce 80 000-ton titanium dioxide pigment per annum when completed in the next three years. The committee also visited Wilmar, another multibillion-rand plant that imports, stores, and trades unrefined products. Mndebele received a comprehensive update on the upcoming investments, stating that the legislature delegation felt the special economic zone was performing exceptionally well.
He said that he received a detailed report on all projects that the RBIDZ has facilitated, and that they were expected to be completed in the next few years. He said the committee had noted challenges that needed to be addressed to ensure that the special economic zone continued to execute its mandate of attracting investments. The CEO of RBIDZ Thabane Zulu said that since its establishment in 2002, the RBIDZ had successfully attracted more than R25bn in investments, and that operations were running smoothly, with strong demand from investors eager to establish industrial and commercial proiects.
Portfolio committee member and ANC Chief Whip Bangokwakhe ”Super” Zuma said the ANC had a multifaceted approach to economic development, rooted in its historical context as a liberation movement and its ongoing commitment to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities.
DA spokesperson on Trade, industry and Competition Toby Chance said the Nyanza Light Metals’ was planning a R15bn plant to extract minerals from sand deposits and convert them into titanium dioxide. Chance said it was still a way off from financial closure.
“We drove south to KZN's biggest industrial estate, Isithebe, near Mandeni. Employing around 20000 people in some 180 factories, warehouses and other premises, it was built in the mid-1970s. Today, it's a bit run down but still home to some impressive businesses that are manufacturing export-quality products.
"One of the recurring issues is how to counter aggressive and sometimes illegal Chinese trade practices which are out-competing SA businesses," Chance said.