According to Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA) Executive Director Kaizer Nyatsumba, South Africa’s economy is underperforming and has called for better partnering between Government, business and labour. Speaking at the federation’s inaugural breakfast yesterday, he noted: “Instead of developing, there are parts of our country that have been going through a process of de-industrialization, with some businesses and State-owned enterprises choosing to procure products and services from abroad, in the process worsening our trade deficit instead of supporting local manufacturers,” Nyatsumba said.

SEIFSA’s chief economist, Henk Langenhoven, the engineering sector’s growth prospects are looking moderately better than last year’s, growing by 3 per cent in the next year, and by as much as 5 per cent over the next two year’s. “It [the sector] has been through a few tough years, like other sectors, due to the global crisis, but now there is recovery internationally, including in Europe, China and Africa…the potential is out there and it is incumbent on us to exploit this opportunity”

The key factor driving this growth in the engineering sector is the 5% increase in public sector investment into infrastructure, based on the large investments expected from National Development Plan strategic infrastructure projects.