The Limpopo investment conference slated for November 7-8 is expected to bring investors, industrial players, economists, business experts and academics to debate and bring about solutions for growing new industries to support job creation.
The provincial event will offer an opportunity for the business community, investors and sponsors to reflect on the successes registered by government’s investment mobilisation drive, as well as share business ideas.
This year’s conference comes just days after President Cyril Ramaphosa, accompanied by an entourage of ministers, visited the province to discuss investment and service delivery issues.
During his visit to Polokwane on Friday, Ramaphosa encouraged the provincial executive committee to start engaging the private sector to lure them with the hope for long-term investment in the province’.
Ramaphosa said he was optimistic of rapid economic growth since Limpopo is endowed with the abundance of mineral resources, locating mining as the critical sector of the economy.
“You need to identify your role as a province to unlock private sector investment. We need to go and unlock money in the private sector by creating a bright environment for those with money to invest. We should participate with them through public-private partnerships. Government also has a role to create employment through public employment programmes. These catalytic projects have immense potential to accelerate industrialisation and create more jobs,” Ramaphosa said.
“This province is well positioned to strengthen South Africa’s links to the rest of our beloved African continent under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“We must broaden our vision and lift our ambitions. We must emerge from this engagement with a clear plan of action.”
Ramaphosa said he had noted the progress that was being made at the Musina-Makhado special economic zone (SEZ).
“As a province, you have identified two mega SEZs. You need to put pressure so that those SEZs projects are taken to a higher level,” Ramaphosa said.
The investment conference, set for the provincial capital Polokwane, is set to position Limpopo’s investment and industrialisation discourse, emphasising the opportunity to take advantage of the untapped and latent business opportunities flowing from traditional and new growth sectors.
Limpopo is the natural resource treasure chest of South Africa, if not the whole of southern Africa. It boasts some of the greatest reserves of agriculture, mineral resources and tourism destinations, many of which remain under-exploited.
The province is also linked to the Maputo Development Corridor through the Phalaborwa Spatial Development Initiative, a network of road and rail corridors connecting to the major seaports will open Limpopo and surrounding regions for trade and investment.
This is complemented by the presence of airports in major centres of the province, including Lephalale, Makhado, Musina, Phalaborwa, Mokopane, Thabazimbi, Tzaneen, Thohoyandou and Bela Bela, as well as the Gateway International airport in Polokwane.
In terms of agriculture, Limpopo could be described as the garden of South Africa and the whole continent, given its rich fruit and vegetable production.
It produces the bulk of the country’s mangoes, papaya, tea, citrus, bananas and tons of avocados, tomatoes and potatoes. Most of the higher lying areas are devoted to cattle and game ranching, earning a reputation for quality biltong, a popular South African delicacy of salted, dried meat.
Premier Phophi Ramathuba said the provincial leadership wanted to focus on industrialisation as an enabler for job creation.
“Limpopo is rich in economic opportunities, particularly in several key sectors that are vital to our growth and development. Our mineral resources, including platinum, iron ore and coal, support both precious and base mineral industries, positioning us as a significant player in the national economy,” she said.
Ramathuba said an approval of the Fetakgomo-Tubatse Industrial Park as a SEZ would unlock greater potential as investors were already lining to establish industries that end.
“We have a very good advantage that Fetakgomo-Tubatse has made it into the list of top 17 most populated towns in South Africa. This means that any investment in that area will have a long-term effect on the communities,” she said.
