Dr Bheka Zulu, CEO of the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone, reflects on Gauteng’s MEC for Economic Development and Finance, Lebogang Maile’s call to tackle unemployment through sustained, coordinated implementation that transforms growth into jobs.

Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, is correct in asserting that addressing unemployment in the province is no longer about isolated interventions, but about sustained, coordinated implementation that transforms growth into jobs – and jobs into dignity, stability, and hope.

This is not simply a policy statement; it is a call to action that speaks directly to the structural realities of South Africa’s economy. For too long, economic growth and employment outcomes have moved on separate tracks. Investment announcements have not always translated into meaningful opportunities for communities, and skills programmes have not always aligned with industry demand. Bridging this gap requires precisely the kind of coordinated execution the MEC is advocating.

At the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), we see daily evidence that when alignment is intentional, growth does convert into jobs. Special Economic Zones are designed to function as integrated ecosystems – bringing together government policy, infrastructure investment, private sector capital, skills development institutions, and local enterprise participation into a single industrial platform. This coordination reduces barriers to investment while accelerating employment creation across multiple layers of the economy.

The automotive sector provides a powerful illustration. Industrial expansion anchored by major manufacturers such as Ford Motor Company not only creates jobs on the factory floor, but also drives supplier development, logistics demand, construction activity, services growth, and opportunities for small and medium enterprises. Each manufacturing job can support several additional jobs across the value chain. When scaled, this multiplier effect becomes a meaningful response to unemployment.

However, coordination cannot stop at attracting investment. It must extend to localisation strategies that deepen domestic supplier participation, targeted skills development that prepares young people for modern manufacturing, and deliberate pathways for township and small businesses to enter industrial value chains. Without these linkages, economic growth risks remaining abstract — visible in statistics but not felt in households.

The MEC’s emphasis on dignity and hope is particularly important. Employment is not merely an economic indicator; it is a foundation for social stability. Work provides income, certainly, but it also provides identity, confidence, and belonging.

Communities with access to sustainable employment experience lower inequality, stronger family structure,s and greater resilience. Industrialisation, therefore, should be understood not only as an economic strategy but as a social compact.

For Gauteng to succeed, three priorities stand out.

First, implementation discipline must become non-negotiable. Plans and strategies are abundant; execution is the differentiator. Projects must move from announcement to completion faster, with measurable outcomes and clear accountability.

Second, collaboration across spheres of government and institutions must deepen. Provincial initiatives, national industrial policies, municipal planning, and private sector investment need to operate within a shared framework focused on employment outcomes.

Third, policy certainty and investor confidence must be protected. Industrial investment is long-term by nature. Businesses commit capital when they trust the stability of the environment in which they operate. Consistency and reliability in policy signals are therefore critical to sustaining job creation momentum.

Gauteng remains South Africa’s economic engine. Its infrastructure, industrial base, financial ecosystem and human capital position it uniquely to lead a new phase of re-industrialisation. But leadership will ultimately be judged not by growth rates alone, but by whether that growth changes lives.

If we succeed in translating investment into factories, factories into jobs, and jobs into dignity, stability and hope, then we will have met the challenge MEC Maile has placed before us.

And that is a goal worth coordinating around.