Special economic zones (SEZs) must change the economies of provinces by developing plans to create jobs and use SEZs as centres of industrialisation, hubs of manufacturing and academies of skills development, Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) SEZ Advisory Board chairperson Fish Mahlalela has said.

SEZs should provide infrastructure and unlock opportunities for small, medium-sized and microenterprises that are critical in creating these jobs.

Mahlalela noted this in a statement following his address at a two-day SEZ CEO Forum, at the Coega SEZ, in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, which aimed to align the implementation plans of the SEZs with the five-year implementation plan of the new Spatial Industrial Development Strategy (SIDS).

“SEZs are a key element to address the unemployment and youth unemployment crisis. SEZs should assist in intervening and addressing this crisis. There is a huge expectation for the SEZs to ensure they contribute and assist the country in addressing this problem of unemployment, especially youth unemployment,” he stated.

Further, CEOs of SEZs must set up skills academies in all the SEZs as part of the new SEZs model advocated by the SIDS, he said.

“One of the problems that the country is facing is the shortage of skills that the economy requires. The SEZs should play a role in developing the skills that they require.

“SEZs should also prioritise community involvement and participation in the SEZs. It is fundamental that we bring local people along, so that they appreciate the work the SEZs are doing. This will enable them to provide the necessary support that the SEZs require to make an impact in their environment,” Mahlalela advised.

Meanwhile, dtic investment and spatial industrial development acting deputy director-general Maoto Molefane said the forum would help to facilitate the integrated implementation of the SIDS for the next five years and determine how to effectively use the SEZs to address some of the challenges the country faces.

“SEZs will never be a panacea for all these challenges, but they can make a huge impact in terms of driving industrialisation and spatial development in the country,” he said.

The five-year SEZ implementation plan, under the SIDS, includes converting more than R380-billion of combined SEZ investment pipelines into operational investments and infrastructure development, while also ensuring new SEZs become operational and that the capacity of all SEZs is strengthened.

The dtic gained insights from the forum, while the CEOs of the SEZs learned how the SEZs can contribute in driving industrialisation and raised some of the challenges that inhibit the development and growth of the SEZs, such as policy uncertainty.

“We left with clear knowledge of areas of concern that the dtic will address going forward to ensure the smooth rollout of the SEZs Programme,” Molefane said.