South Coast region standing strong against double blows
Mainstays agriculture and tourism both under fire from drought
THE SOUTH Coast Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) has had to learn to roll with the punches brought on by persistent drought dealing decisive blows to the agriculture and tourism sectors, the province’s mainstay revenue generators.
Chamber president Vijay Naidoo said both the South Coast district and its local economies relied heavily on agriculture and tourism, with gains being slowly clawed back by major infrastructural developments.
“The past few years have been challenging for our region, particularly as the challenges faced affected the two sectors and therefore the greater local economy. The drought caused a major contraction in the agriculture sector and, perversely, at the same time the major interruptions in our potable water supply at the height of the holiday season had a drastic impact on the tourism sector,” he said.
According to Naidoo, the South Coast Tourism statistics indicated that water shortages during both the mid-year and the end of the 2016-17 season had an impact of between 30 and 50 percent on water availability in large areas.
He said this resulted in tourists cancelling their bookings while others left earlier than scheduled. A slight saving grace was the offset from visitors who did not travel to Cape Town because of the drought challenges there during the year.
While the SCCCI did not have conclusive figures of the impact on agriculture, Naidoo said banana and sugar cane farmers were affected as at some point a local mill had to close down for some period.
The chamber, affiliated to the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as the Kwazulu-natal Business Chambers Council, said other challenges facing its membership mostly included issues around municipal service delivery and administration as the municipal procurement processes had been under the spotlight.
SCCCI had to be active in encouraging the municipalities to up-scale their local procurement efforts to prevent leakage from the district. The close to 200-member chamber with businesses spanning throughout the various economic sectors said it was pleased with the spread of services, manufacturing and retail enterprises that comprised some of the largest employers.