President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Wednesday of the Automotive Industry Transformation Fund closes a circle for us in the motor trade. It’s a wise and considered intervention, and it comes at a critical time.
We admire the achievement. With the extension of the Automotive Production and Development Plan until 2035, the department of trade & industry has created an environment for the manufacture of cars that would not exist without its interventions. The motor industry does much for SA: it contributes nearly 12% of manufacturing sales and more than 16% of merchandise exports. Directly, it makes up nearly 3% of GDP but, including our retail and production supply chains, the number is 7.7% of GDP.
I’m proud to represent a company that leads in many measures of transformation. In socioeconomic development, management and control, skills development and supplier development, we are leading contributors. However, this is somewhere we as an industry believed we could do better. The fund’s power is that it has been founded by the companies that will use the services of the new businesses. We are the demand, and we’re intent on creating the supply. Opportunities for private capital and other government initiatives to co-invest will also help to create momentum.I see this as a profoundly transformative opportunity.
BBBEE and Affirmative Action are racist laws against whites in South Africa empowering only the black elite. BlackPrivilege