MBOMBELA – The newly elected provincial government has seemingly done little beyond being sworn in and having party-specific lekgotlas to determine its way ahead, since the elections six weeks ago. However, the new MEC for finance, economic development and tourism, Mr Eric Kholwane welcomed a delegation of business people from Wielkopolska, Poland at the Mercure Hotel last Thursday.
He urged them to invest in Mpumalanga, citing its abundance of opportunities. Kholwane said the province boasted a variety of business and investment possibilities in various sectors, which were supported by world-class infrastructure.
“Mpumalanga, like the rest of South Africa, continues to face the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. To address these, we must implement economic-growth initiatives such as trade and investment promotion. It is thus an investor’s dream destination,” he said.
The Polish delegation was led by the deputy marshall of the Wielkpolska Region, Mr Mateusz Klemenski, who shared Kholwane’s sentiments by indicating that his country once had the similar problem of a high rate of unemployment. He said by investing in small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs), as well as cooperatives, a number of jobs were created and consequently the unemployment rate was drastically decreased.
They have committed to investing in the province, and indicated that they were looking for partners in household appliances, food products, soft and natural drinks, electronic and electrical appliances, trading and processing in spices and herbs, transportation (such as buses and coaches), doors-and-window making and legal fraternities.
Kholwane said local investment opportunities lay particularly in the manufacture of steel, stainless steel, petro-chemicals, food and agro-processing, paper, sugar, timber materials, mining coal, gold, chrome, vanadium, granite, and various clay, agricultural trade and investment opportunities through the cultivation and processing of corn, sunflower seed, canola, fruit and vegetables.
He also pointed to renewable energy as a source of opportunities, citing the production of smokeless stoves which use ethanol gel, solar panels, and solar water heaters. It also includes the establishment of charcoal-producing plants using agricultural, forestry and municipal waste and the supply of clean-technology equipment to Eskom’s Kusile Power Station.
Also among renewable energy sources he counted the establishment of local economic development light-production plants. The balance of trade with Poland remains in favour of the latter, but total export grew to 37,6 per cent last year, up from 25,2 per cent in 2011. In the same period, total imports increased from 11,2 per cent to 54,8 per cent in 2013.
Mpumalanga’s top export products to Poland in 2013:
• Textiles and textile articles
• Mineral products
• Machinery and mechanical appliances
• Electrical equipment and parts
• Live animals and animal products, including raw hides and skins, leather, fur skins as well as articles made thereof and saddlery and harnesses, travel goods, handbags and similar products.
The province’s top import products from Poland in 2013:
• Machinery and mechanical appliances
• Electrical equipment and parts
• Base metals and articles made thereof
• Vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment
• Articles made of stone, plaster, cement, mica or similar materials
• Optical, photographic, cinematographic measuring, checking, precision, medical and surgical instruments.
