Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) president Mervyn Naidoo has called on government to urgently close the prevailing gap between its stated commitment to support industrialisation through localisation and the manner in which public procurement is being implemented.
“The problem is not the rhetoric,” Naidoo argued at a Seifsa's Ministerial Business Breakfast event in Johannesburg on June 24, attended by government officials.
“The problem is the gap between what is promised and what actually happens on the ground,” Naidoo, who is also Actom CEO, said.
Speaking against the backdrop of ongoing deindustrialisation and amid warnings that South Africa risked losing its historical capability and capacity in the metals and engineering sector as imports surged, Naidoo described industrialisation as a deliberate policy choice.
Delivering on that choice, however, required not only clear policy intent, which Naidoo said was largely in place, but also “long-term consistency and disciplined execution” rather than policymaking that reacted to crises or short-term shocks.
