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The auto industry needs to embrace disruptive technologies and reconsider its strategies, says TASEZ CEO Dr Bheki Zulu.

TASEZ has appointed  Ms Vangile Nene as its Executive for Corporate Services, reporting to the CEO Dr Bheka Zulu. Nene previously worked with government as Chief Director: Professional Services and State Technical Capacity at the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. Here, Nene designed, developed, and oversaw the execution of frameworks and policies. She also oversaw the implementation of human capital investment, engineering, and professional services capacity building programmes in addition to providing marketing and public relations experience. She took up these positions after spending almost six years in the financial services industry, which gave her a good grounding for her career development. Most of Nene’s roles have involved developing strategies and ensuring the successful execution thereof. In addition, she is also highly qualified, with an MBA from Regenesys Business School, during which she studied 14 modules across a range of disciplines, which followed public management and marketing courses. Nene has also attended a range of further education symposiums across a variety of aspects.

Gauteng is using the automotive sector as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation. However, there is room for more private sector participation as the province moves ahead with its aims of realising its 2030 plan. Speaking at the recent National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa South African Auto Week, MEC for economic development in Gauteng, Tasneem Motara, shared the province’s economic vision with the conference delegates. “There remains a huge need to trigger the economic recovery of our province and reposition it as the centre of industrialisation through the auto sector.” The province’s 2030 and beyond plan is a blueprint to ensure that it remains South Africa’s economic hub. Among its aims are to invest in transport nodes to better serve underprivileged communities. At the same time, it named the automotive, aerospace, and defence sectors as being among its ten targets to help grow employment. Motara explained that, in producing what was then a ten-year plan, the province engaged with numerous stakeholders. One of the tools at its disposal are Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which Motara says will boost manufacturing, increase exports, grow employment, and expand social infrastructure developments in support of the province being the gateway to Africa. “These are a critical enabler of jobs.” Together with the private sector, the hubs have been a success, such as the Tshwane Automotive SEZ, which was established in May 2020 and was Gauteng’s first such hub, she adds. In 18 months, it attracted 12 investors, creating more than 5,000 direct jobs during the construction phase. Some 40% of the construction contracts, worth R1 billion, went to black female-owned enterprises. The hub has had a positive impact in terms of contributing to jobs created across the supply chain, as well as local content, and has seen the entry of three new foreign companies that were previously strangers to South Africa’s shores. Toyota Motors has started the second phase of its development, which will also focus on “deepening economic participation through the development of innovation,” says Motara. The Ford Motor Company, which recently started production of the next-generation Ranger, has invested R15.8 billion in South Africa, the last tranche going into the Tshwane SEZ, at which its facility boasts 585 robots. To continue growing hubs, which bring with them other advantages such as the development of communities and a supporting ecosystem, government must create additional infrastructure, she says. To this end, the province will be “ensuring the participation of local communities”. However, the motor sector has been hard hit by the recent Transnet strike as well as downtime on the railways due to cable theft. Motara said that government is working on a solution and has prioritised the matter as the state logistics company needs to be brought up to speed so that its rails and ports work efficiently, helping enable Gauteng’s vision. At the same time, government, in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, committed R5.8 billion to it to repair aging infrastructure. Government is making progress. However, to meet its aims, more private sector partnerships are required, which are seen as critical. “We wish to build on great partnerships with private sector, civil society, universities, research institutions, and innovation centres to maximize the potential of future generations. We invite you to join us on this ambitious economic exercise. “As the leading auto manufacturing hub in the country, we are committed to the development of our projects to tackle the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment, and inequality,” Motara said.

As South Africa starts to shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), there is no doubt that these will become more popular than traditional internal combustion engine cars, LDVs, and trucks, and this move has government’s backing. This is the word from Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, who was addressing the recent South African Auto Week conference. He said that sales of passenger EV cars will outstrip those of combustion engines by 2035. Industry is, however, awaiting the conversion of a Green Paper on this subject into a White Paper. Initially published in May 2021, it was meant to be with Cabinet for its thoughts by October 2021. However, this has not happened, due to financing constraints as government’s purse is stretched as it deals with infrastructure and socio-economic issues. This delay has drawn criticism from those in the industry. However, a costing exercise involving original equipment manufacturers and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has been completed, which led government to the conclusion that it needs to shift from a singular focus on incentives to a broader one in terms of greater production of EVs. The balance of timing of production and consumer incentives is “absolutely critical,” he noted. South Africa cannot afford to be left behind as it is a major exporter of vehicles to the UK will be around 75% of cars made locally are shipped there – and that internal combustion-based engines from 2030 will be prohibited by the European Union. “That costing exercise convinced us that we needed to rethink the elements of the package that we had in mind, shifting from an initial focus to see how we can incentivise the consumer market in South Africa, into a shift with a greater emphasis on the production of electric vehicles,” Moneyweb quoted him as saying. Given the recent Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, Patel was hopeful that work could start based on the National Budget to be tabled next February as there are signals South Africa is heading in the right direction. South Africa’s automotive sector accounts for five percent of gross domestic product. However, energy constrains need to be considered. Fortunately, government has opened up the grid so that independent power producer can add power to it without limits. Eskom’s rolling blackouts are costing the country around R4 billion a day when stage four hits. If not for the loadshedding, the economy could be between eight and 10 percent bigger.

Government and the private sector have invested more than R8-billion in TASEZ to support South Africa’s automotive manufacturing capacity. The recent oversight visit by representatives from the dtic, the national and provincial departments of Treasury and the Gauteng Department of Economic Development demonstrates TASEZ’s importance as one of the key implementors of government’s industrial development policies. Some of the significant achievements of TASEZ during itsconstruction phase included: The creation of more than 5 000 job opportunities in phase 1 Over 2 000 direct job opportunities created in theoperational phase Over R1-billion procurement spent on 214 local small,medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) More than 300 SMMEs benefitted from accredited trainingprogrammes Procurement spent on SMMEs, with TASEZ’s assistance,resulted in the improvement in Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) grading.