Promoting sustainable trade and investment

Tshwane has adapted to globalisation remarkably well because of its competitiveness. The city focuses on six economic centres as priorities for development, namely aerospace, agro-processing, automotives, creative industries, tourism and manufacturing. It is indeed a smart city by virtue of the following:

• It is the home of the automotive and aerospace industries with the Rosslyn plants and the new Centurion aerospace village respectively.

• It is readily accessible to the South African
market and the SADC.

• It has a well-developed economic infrastructure and communication network.

• It is home to 138 embassies, diplomatic representatives and national government departments.

• It is part of the Gauteng global region, the wealthiest and fastest-growing region on the African continent.

• The city is a national centre for research and learning with four universities and seven of eight national research councils, namely the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Agricultural Research Council (ARC), National Research Foundation (NRF), Medical Research Institute (MRI), Veterinary Research Institute (VRI), and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).

The City of Tshwane follows the broad economic and spatial strategies and goals of the Goateng Province, namely repositioning the manufacturing sector towards more sophisticated, high value∞added production, which includes development in the automotive, aerospace, agricultural and mineral sectors.

Sector Breakdown
Almost 30 percent of Tshwane’s economy is dependent on Government services, followed by finance and business services (22.6 percent), manufacturing (15 percent), wholesale and retail (13.1 percent) and transport and communication (10 percent). The relatively low level of diversification in the Tshwane economy could impact on economic growth, especially when sectors with high growth are not well represented in the area.

The City of Tshwane’s Local Economic Development Department aims to accelerate higher and shared economic growth and development and fight poverty by:

• facilitating higher economic growth through investment, business retention, industrial development and trade linkages

• facilitating higher economic growth through the development of SMMEs and cooperatives, skills development and jobs creation; and

• fighting poverty through facilitating access to economic opportunities.

The Future
The greatest challenge for the future is to ensure continued innovative, value-added development so that the creation of jobs keeps pace with the population growth of the area.

This can only be achieved by investing in the city’s economic development programmes, especially in the trade and manufacturing industries.

Local Economic Development
Caiphus Chauke
+27 12 358 1361
caiphusc@tshwane.gov.za

Investment Promotion
Reginald Pholo
+27 12 358 1377
reginaldp@tshwane.gov.za

Trade Promotion
Riaan Labuschagne
+27 12 358 4563
riaanl@tshwane.gov.za

Trade Development
Joe Motshabane
+27 12 358 1425
joemo@tshwane.gov.za