Speaking at the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa Presidential Business Breakfast in Ekurhuleni, in the country’s Gauteng province, on Thursday, Ramaphosa said public investment should expand the productive capacity of SA.
“Every transmission line we build, every railway we rehabilitate, every port we expand and every water system we construct should contribute to expanding the productive capacity of our economy,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that metals and engineering companies face weak demand, logistics constraints, costly electricity, infrastructure bottlenecks and growing import competition. “We cannot accept the continued erosion of SA’s industrial base,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said reforms implemented through Operation Vulindlela are changing electricity, logistics, water, telecommunications and the visa system.
Although load shedding has ended, Ramaphosa said electricity affordability remains an existential challenge for energy-intensive industries. “The next phase of electricity reform must focus not only on security of supply, but also on reducing the cost of electricity,” Ramaphosa said.
The SA Wholesale Electricity Market is expected to begin operating in 2027, allowing multiple generators to compete. Government is also working towards establishing an independent, state-owned transmission company.
Over the next decade, SA needs about 14 000 km of new transmission lines, along with substations and additional transformation capacity. “This should become one of the great industrial projects of our generation,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said the programme should create demand for locally manufactured towers, cables, transformers, switchgear and fabricated steel while training engineers, electricians, welders, boilermakers and technicians.
Government is investing approximately $1.5 billion annually through grants for municipal water and sanitation infrastructure. The wider public infrastructure programme is worth about $62 billion over the next three years, based on the August 13 exchange rate. “We should view this not simply as a construction programme. We should view it as an industrial strategy,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said localisation must remain competitive, meet technical standards and deliver quality products on time. Government must also publish a clearer long-term procurement pipeline so manufacturers can invest with confidence.
Ramaphosa said companies must modernise factories, improve productivity, develop suppliers and train young people. “SA should aspire to become the engineering workshop of the African continent,” Ramaphosa said.
–ChannelAfrica–
