South African Minister of Trade and Industry (the dti), Rob Davies, on Sunday said every effort must be made to boost local manufacturing, create black industrialists and make the country advance technologically so that it can benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Speaking at the Progressive Business Forum (PBF) breakfast on Sunday morning, Davies said that South Africa should be prepared for the challenges that are going to be posed by the new digital revolution as electronic commerce continue to shape the modern world.
Davies said that South Africa needs substantial change in the composition of its economy which would only come through diversifying, industrialising and moving up the value chain as a response to calls for radical economic transformation.
“South Africa needs to adapt to changes moving up the industrialization ladder. Our efforts to industrialize are going have to take place outside our border. South Africa as a country can learn a lot from other countries such as China in terms of stimulating the technological business sector,” Davies said.
“We are integrated into the world economy as producers and exporters of primary commodities, minerals or agricultural unprocessed primary commodities, and we are importers of finished goods and services from around the world, and that is the least lucrative place to be. As technology changes, the proportion of the value of the final product that is constituted by the raw material in it is a diminishing proportion.”
Davies highlighted the dti’s incentive programme, which aims to create 100 black industrialists and strengthen the scorecard for the Black Economic Empowerment programme, as some of his department’s efforts to boost inclusion and participation of previously excluded groups in the economy.
The PBF is hosting a series of breakfast briefing sessions on the sidelines of the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) in Nasrec, Johannesburg, focusing on various sectors in the economic cluster.
The ANC is set to elect new national office bearers to lead the party for the next five years on Sunday following delays to adopt delegates’ credentials.
– African News Agency (ANA)
