SEIFSA Applauds Establishment of DTIC Industrialisation Think Tank but Disappointed by No Steel Industry Representation

SEIFSA applauds the establishment of an Industrialisation Think Tank housed in the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (DTIC) but is concerned by the absence of representatives from the steel industry.

SEIFSA congratulates the appointment of representatives from across the political, business, and research spectrum and looks forward to their contribution in formulating and recommending policies to reignite the economy with a focus on industrialisation, re-industrialisation, and economic transformation.

South Africa is grappling with low growth, high unemployment, widening inequality, entrenched poverty, and failing infrastructure. The steel industry is critical to the reconstruction and recovery plan for the South African economy, particularly in the manufacturing, mining, construction, engineering, and transportation sectors, which are at the centre of industrialisation, localisation, and beneficiation programmes.

The country has been praised for introducing impressive policies to reignite the economy, but it has also faced criticism for failing to implement them effectively to transform one of the continent’s largest and most industrialised economies. Minister Parks Tau has established the Industrialisation Think Tank with a broad mandate to formulate recommendations on manufacturing plans with the aim of advising and influencing government’s industrialisation policies over the seventh administration.

SEIFSA has long advocated that for the economy to grow, the steel sector must survive. South Africa’s steel sector is the bedrock of the country’s supply chains and central to its economic potential and resilience. In the current climate of geopolitical turbulence, the contributions of the homegrown and local steel sector must become central to South Africa’s industrial policy. The absence of direct steel representatives, particularly leaders of industry and industrialists with hard-earned expertise, is disappointing.

Related News Articles