Infrastructure essential for Limpopo’s continued growth
Mining, agriculture and tourism identified as key drivers of growth
Strengthening governance and curbing corruption while addressing skills shortages, especially among the youth, are two of the number of key steps that Limpopo must implement to realise the province’s economic potential.
This is according to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who delivered the keynote address at the Limpopo Economic Summit last week at the Ranch Resort in Polokwane.
The summit, held under the theme An Industrialisation Path Towards Creating Sustainable Jobs and Reducing Poverty for Limpopo province, was attended by representatives from government, the private sector and civil society.
Ramaphosa said that a good governance framework is key to boosting investor confidence. “We want to see government officials acting in a non-corrupt manner to achieve good governance. Corruption must be brought to an end in our country and Limpopo should take the lead,” said Ramaphosa.
He told delegates that investors are attracted by sound planning, stability and astute leadership and emphasised his belief that Limpopo leadership can deliver in this area. Ramaphosa said Cabinet recently approved a framework for the participation of the private sector in infrastructure delivery.
“To grow our economy and develop our people, we need new roads, rail lines, broadband networks, port facilities, dams, power stations, colleges and clinics. We need them on a significant scale, and we need them without delay,” he said.
Limpopo is host to a number of key infrastructure projects including the Waterberg railway line, which transports coal to Richards Bay, as well as water projects such as the Groot Letaba Water Augmentation project and De Hoop Dam.
Ramaphosa told the summit that helping young people earn work experience would help South Africa address youth unemployment. He said that the tide could be reversed if the private sector worked with government. “What many young people lack today is experience in the world of work. All they need is to be given a chance.”
He urged the province to emulate the South East Asian tigers, economies that were grown with little or no natural resources though investment in education and infrastructure.
Investment destination
Seaparo Sekoati, MEC for economic development and tourism, noted that Limpopo has a number of distinct advantages as an investment destination. The first is its proximity to a number of neighbouring countries; it is therefore a strategic location that can serve as a regional hub for regional integration in Southern Africa.
Seaparo Sekoati, MEC for economic development, environment and tourism, noted that Limpopo has a number of distinct advantages as an investment destination. The first is its proximity to a number of neighbouring countries; it is therefore a strategic location that can serve as a regional hub for regional integration in Southern Africa.
“Limpopo’s mineral, agricultural and tourism endowment is unmatched and attractive to investors,” said Sekoati, pointing out that the province hosts the eastern limb of the bushveld mining complex and has platinum, chrome coal and copper reserves. He also noted the province’s proximity to Gauteng as a financial hub and its agricultural and other outputs.
“The tourism sector is also a key foreign exchange revenue earner and a key attraction for the province,” Sekoati said of a sector that is seeing improvement in the length of stays of foreign visitors.
He said the Limpopo government has identified mining, agriculture and tourism as key drivers of growth, spread across five growth regions of the Musina-Makhado corridor, Lephalale, Tubatse, Mogalakwane and Polokwane. The MusinaMakhado corridor will benefit from a R42-billion investment aimed at creating 21 000 jobs through a metals metallurgical complex in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
The province has adopted a Limpopo Development Plan, which will run from 2015 to 2020. The key feature of the plan is that the province plans to move up the value chain by investing in beneficiation in mining and in agro-processing. “This [will] allow us to add value to our primary goods and reduce dependence on primary industries,” said Sekoati.
The Lephalale area, recently boosted but also “overwhelmed” by the slow development of the Medupi power station due to a lack of infrastructure is envisaged to be a petrochemical hub and energy complex once Medupi’s construction is complete. The Tubatse area will also see the development of a mining industry supplier park along the lines of the automotive supplier park in Rosslyn, Gauteng. Polokwane is to become a regional logistics hub and business travel centre that will see the construction of an International Convention Centre to attract the events, conference and exhibition industry.
Challenges in mining
Anglo Platinum chief executive Chris Griffith praised the efforts advanced at the summit and acknowledged that his company is operating in a tough environment; in the case of Limpopo this is because of the historically high unemployment rate. “Collaboration between private sector and government is important to tackle many of the challenges,” said Griffith, who serves on a technical working group that works with government in a range of areas. He noted that delivery by municipalities is important to help create an environment where the private sector can come in and make an impact on development. He also emphasised the need for good governance to achieve desired goals. Griffith said that the commodity price slump makes it tougher for all parties to realise their objectives: “Falling revenue means there is less money for the mine to do what it would like for the community, but it also means less payments for the municipality and less tax for national government to invest in what they would like to do for the communities.”
‘Limpopo’s mineral, agricultural and tourism endowment is unmatched’