South Africa has designated 12 special economic zones (SEZs). The pitch has not changed in a decade: provide tax breaks, customs benefits and bulk infrastructure, and manufacturing investment will follow.The theory is sound. The practice is not. The department of trade, industry and competition has set a target of 100,000 jobs this financial year. Director-general Simphiwe Hamilton has stated that the target is to operationalise 10 of 12 SEZs. Cabinet’s Industrial Development Strategy commits to decarbonisation, diversification and digitalisation. The policy framework is in place. The question is execution.Three years after the last major SEZ designations, progress remains slow. Only four of 12 zones have attracted meaningful investment since 2014. The R25bn the government has already invested risks delivering another decade of land, fences and announcements unless three gaps are closed: skills, market access and finance.The skills gap is structural. A factory shell can be built in 18 months. Producing a qualified artisan or process engineer takes three to four years. Most SEZ tenants import technicians. They poach from each other. They delay expansion.The link to technical & vocational education & training (TVET) colleges and sector education & training authorities (Setas) exists on paper, but curricula are not aligned to investor needs in Coega, Atlantis or the Dube TradePort. Current incentives reward capital expenditure and jobs pledged. They do not reward apprentices who complete and remain.The department has stated that SEZ-based skills academies will be established with TVETs. That commitment must become a licensing condition. No operator should receive full SEZ benefits without a signed TVET partnership and annual apprenticeship targets. At least 40% of incentives should be weighted to verified, skilled jobs created and retained. Procurement rules should also mandate that 20% of spend in each SEZ goes to suppliers within a 50km radius, with training included. A zone must not be an island.Market access is broken. SEZs were positioned as export platforms. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa), and EU trade deals provide the market promise. The department has renewed Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) commitments to regional industrialisation.A market on paper is not access to a buyer. Most SEZ manufacturers face high logistics costs, border delays and a lack of trade finance. Zones were designated without securing corridors. Rail is unreliable. Ports are congested. Getting through Beitbridge can still take days.AfCFTA requires more than tariffs. South Africa needs SEZs physically plugged into regional value chains. The country currently has none. Every SEZ must be anchored to one corridor and one port or rail line, with service level agreements. Operators should receive rebates when lines fail. The government should establish three border SEZs focused on AfCFTA: Beitbridge, Lebombo and Maseru. Their mandate should be agroprocessing and auto components for the Southern African Development Community (Sadc). The department must also create an SEZ export desk. One window for standards certification, export finance and market intelligence will remove the need for investors to deal with five departments to ship one container.Finance is missing. A 15% corporate tax rate helps. It does not build a factory. Patient capital does. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and commercial banks were meant to fund tenants. According to the department, up to R4bn will be disbursed through incentive schemes to broad-based BEE-compliant enterprises.Black industrialists and SMMEs still face 150% collateral requirements. The IDC and NEF are not co-ordinated with SEZ operators. The result is anchor tenants with empty supplier parks around them.Without finance, South Africa gets enclaves instead of ecosystems. The World Bank SEZ study findings point to the same problem. The government is considering privately owned SEZs following those recommendations.The answer is an SEZ investment fund using blended finance from government, development finance institutions and private capital. The fund must support both anchor and supplier tenants. Risk guarantees will allow banks to lend to SEZs at lower cost. Government procurement must also be used as an anchor. Commitments to buy from SEZ firms for three years will derisk investment and provide cash flow.South Africa does not need more SEZs. The country needs to select three, which must close all three gaps. The model must be proven to work. Success must not be measured by investment pledged; measurement must focus on goods exported, skills transferred and suppliers financed.Tax breaks and infrastructure started the process. Skills, market access and finance will determine whether South Africa’s SEZ programme delivers industrialisation or just more announcements.• Maseko is an independent political economy analyst and researcher.