SPECIAL FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURE Limpopo’s Special Economic Zones Attracting new investment is a key priority for the province’s Special Economic Zones. Enabling legislation has been passed and infrastructure installed at the Musina Makhado SEZ and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ. The Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ is targeting firms making automotive components and vehicle batteries for inward investment. South Africa’s programme to establish areas to promote investment and export value-added commodities started out as an Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) programme but was revised as the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) programme in 2007. The goal remained to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), promote manufacturing and increase export volumes. The SEZ programme falls within the National Industrial Policy Framework and has among its specific goals to promote industrialisation, regional development and employment creation. Incentives for companyies locating within an SEZ include preferential corporate tax, a building allowance, employment incentives and tax relief by virtue of being within a customs-controlled area and other tax allowances. Commenting on the role that SEZs can play in making South Africa an attractive destination for investors, Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) Acting Deputy Director General Maoto Molefane says, “By offering worldclass infrastructure, fiscal incentives, a protected environment and an easy-to-navigate business environment using One Stop Shops, SEZs have directly contributed to the country’s attractiveness.” As of 2023, the country’s zones had a total of 167 operational investors and almost half of those were FDIs. Limpopo has two SEZs, both of which plan to leverage the province’s rich mineral resource as a base for other economic activities. One is already attracting investors and the other is in the process of finalising its registration. The Musina Makhado SEZ (MMSEZ) in the north and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ (FTSEZ) in the south-east are central to the strategy of expanding Limpopo’s manufacturing capacity. In the same way that SEZs fall within a national programme, so the two SEZs support the Limpopo Development Plan (LDP) 2020 to 2025, a provincial blueprint to guide integrated development planning and service delivery. LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2024/25 14 PHOTO: ELIDZ
SPECIAL FEATURE The N1 highway in the Musina area carries a vast amount of traffic into and out of South Africa. The Musina Makhado SEZ will build on that to become a logistics hub. The LDP targets three broad areas for improvement and development: socio-economic, infrastructural and institutional. Every department of the Limpopo Provincial Government has targets within the LDP which are translated into actionable programmes to be implemented within time-frames. The plan is supported by strategies relating to a spatial investment framework in public and private sector infrastructure, an integrated public transport policy and policies on land development. Key elements of the Limpopo Development Plan are: industrialisation (beneficiation of mining and agricultural products and produce); mining (local suppliers, improved training and access to sector for entrepreneurs); infrastructure development; agri-processing; SMME promotion and ICT and the knowledge economy (establish a WAN footprint). All of these goals are supported by the SEZ programme, which combines access to substantial infrastructure (transport links, water, energy and buildings) with the benefits of the clustering approach. Musina Makhado SEZ The Musina Makhado SEZ is strategically located along the N1 north-south route from South Africa into the Southern African Development Community (SADC), close to the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. It forms part of the Trans-Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) and the SEZ is part of larger regional plans to unlock investment and economic growth and target the development of skills and employment in the area. The entity has been officially gazetted and all of the relevant governance bodies have been established. The MMSEZ has advanced to the point where bulk services infrastructure is being installed in the two geographical locations that make up the zone. The North Site in Musina (Antonvilla) will host light- and medium-manufacturing industries, including logistics and agro-processing. The South Site in Makhado (Mopani) will have an energy and metallurgical cluster and other associated heavy industries. The Limpopo Provincial Government has planned for the expenditure of more than R700-million over a medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period to build up the SEZ’s infrastructure. Related infrastructure, such as a major bypass built by SANRAL around Musina, reflects the positive knock-on effects of large infrastructure investments. Partnerships with mining houses and the local Technical and PHOTO: SANRAL 15 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2024/25
