SOUTH Africa and the Eastern Cape must become more competitive, better coordinated and safer if they are to attract investment and expand trade, Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC) Board Chairperson Simpiwe Kondlo said.
Addressing the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Trade and Investment Promotion in Municipalities in KuGompo City – hosted by ECSECC and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC), Kondlo said that many of the challenges identified in 2011 remain unresolved. These include institutional duplication, poor coordination, limited investment promotion capacity, and a shortage of properly packaged, bankable investment opportunities.
He called for a shared approach between government, municipalities, business and other stakeholders, with greater support for municipal-led trade and investment initiatives.
Kondlo said government’s role in trade promotion was to help SMMEs become export-ready, access market information, showcase their products and reduce barriers to entering international markets.
Investment decisions, he said, were increasingly shaped by market access, infrastructure, resources, skills, logistics, technology and the cost of doing business. With global supply chains under pressure from geopolitical tensions, trade disputes and climate change, he said South Africa needed to diversify markets, strengthen local industries, improve infrastructure and build more resilient supply chains.
But competitiveness alone was not enough. “Safety, security and the rule of law are the foundations for business to thrive,” Kondlo said.
He warned that vandalism, looting and lawlessness undermine investor confidence and threaten economic recovery.
“We are a country at war with itself,” he said, stressing that protecting businesses, communities and infrastructure must be treated as an economic priority.
Kondlo said the Eastern Cape now needed to turn its investment potential into real projects by improving municipal capacity, packaging bankable opportunities, removing regulatory obstacles and ensuring that stakeholders worked together.
