Dubbed the long-term socio-economic development roadmap, the NDP is a policy blueprint aimed at eliminating poverty and reducing inequality in South Africa by 2030. Among other things, the plan identifies the key constraints to faster growth and presents a roadmap to a more inclusive economy that will address the country’s socio-economic imbalances.

Eighteen Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) that would support economic development and address service delivery are identified in the NDP. The SIPs, which are expected to provide a much-needed stimulus to South Africa’s stagnating economy, would provide new infrastructure as well as rehabilitate and upgrade the existing one.

“However, since the NDP’s introduction and adoption by the ruling party in 2012, very little, in the form of implementation, has taken place and, with the country’s stagnating economy showing no signs of recovery, hope that the SIPs would be rolled out urgently is beginning to fade,” Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa Kaizer Nyatsumba said.

He added that the Government’s cost-cutting measures announced through Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2016 Budget Speech added to the business community’s concerns that the much-needed implementation of the NDP would not take place urgently.

But, were the SIPs to be implemented next year, would South Africa have the skilled human capital to see the successful implementation of the projects? Answering this question and unpacking this important topic will be:

  • SEIFSA Human Capital and Skills Development Executive Mustak Ally,
  • University of the North-West’s Potchefstroom Business School Professor Raymond Parsons,
  • SA Academy of Engineering Vice President Mr Trueman Goba, and
  • Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry Geordin Lewis-Hill, among others.

The Southern African Metals and Engineering Indaba will be attended by policy and decision makers, business owners, senior executives and other stakeholders in the metals and engineering sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, and will focus on the following topics, among others:

  • The Economy, GEO-Politics and Manufacturing: Has Brics negatively affected South Africa’s Economic Relationship with the West Irrevocably?
  • Partners, Not Adversaries: How to Forge A Stronger Partnership Between Business and Labour to Improve Southern Africa’s International Competitiveness
  • A Delicate Balancing Act: The Link Between the Metals and Engineering Sector and the Mining, Construction and Car Manufacturing Industries
  • Parasitic or Symbiotic: Relations Between Small Business and Big Business in the Metals and Engineering Sector
  • Southern Africa and the Huge Infrastructure Backlog – How to finance it.

Organised and hosted by SEIFSA in partnership with the IDC and the Department of Trade and Industry, the Indaba is aimed at encouraging growth in the metals and engineering sector, which has under-performed over the past five years.

The list of the 2016 Indaba speakers and panelists includes Former President Kgalema Motlanthe, Shell South Africa Executive Chairman Mr Bonang Mohale, Black Business Council Vice-President Mr Sandile Zungu, International Monetary Fund Senior Resident Representative Dr Axel Schimmelpfennig, Executive Chairman of the EU Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Southern Africa Mr Stefan Sakoschek, and US Embassy Economics Minister Mr Laird Trieber.