President supports local business
President Jacob Zuma, Free State Premier Ace Magashule, left, and Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies at the relaunch of the Maluti-A-Phofung special economic zone in Tshiame, Harrismith, yesterday. The president visited several stalls and purchased some of the arts and crafts.
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma launched the Maluti-A-Phofung special economic zone in the Free State and said it would help the government implement its contentious radical economic transformation programme.
Delivering the keynote address at Tshiame in Harrismith, which falls under the Maluti-A-Phofung local municipality, Zuma said the economic zone was a special development which formed part of the effort to create economic development and growth opportunities closer to where people live.
The Maluti-A-Phofung economic zone is located on 1 038ha of land and is aimed at accelerating economic growth and development in the region.
The zone would function as a “back-of-port operation” to ease congestion at the Durban port and provide customs functions and facilities for imported goods and export goods, according to the Presidency.
It also provided road and rail logistics and handling facilities for the Gauteng-Durban port corridor and linked it to the Bloemfontein-Cape Town corridor.
The Presidency added that companies operating within special economic zones were incentivised by the Special Economic Zone Act of 2014 and “are eligible for 15% corporate tax for 10 years, building allowance tax relief, employment tax relief for low-level-earning employees and the 12% tax allowance for development of greenfield operations”.
“One of the critical components of this radical economic transformation is the notion of a balanced, regional economy and industrial development.
“For a very long time, South Africa’s economy has and continues to rely on the regional industrial hubs of Gauteng, eThekwini, Pietermaritzburg and the Cape Peninsula,” Zuma noted.
He said industrial parks and special economic zones were critical to radically transform the economy and would help attract foreign and domestic direct investment into the economy.
To date, eight special economic zones had been designated across the country.
“This is not just a launch of a special economic zone, but also a rekindling of dreams of many unemployed people, who are looking for job opportunities so they can provide for their families.”
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the National Development Plan, a blueprint to address South Africa’s socio-economic challenges, and the Industrial Policy Action Plan, put industrial development at the centre of the country’s development efforts.
Davies said the special economic zones provided “greater inclusion in the economy” and had been successful in most industrialised countries.
The Maluti-A-Phofung special economic zone had already secured R1 billion in investment from local and foreign businesses, he added.
A further R1.6bn investment was in the process of being procured.