Minister of Trade and Industry (dti), Rob Davies, will next week launch the first phase of the Isithebe Industrial Park revitalisation in Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal.
Earlier this year, factories were damaged and destroyed in petrol-bombings while others were ransacked in the business area, including at the Ithala Isithebe Industrial Estate, as protests flared up following the appointment of a traditional leader and a former mayor who was running for re-election as a councillor in Mandeni.
The dti on Friday said Davies – together with KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Sihle Zikalala – will launch the R49-million project as part of the Revitalisation of Industrial Parks Programme of the department.
In a statement, Davies said Isithebe was one of the 10 industrial parks that the department had prioritised for revitalisation as part of the programme.
“The first phase of the revitalisation includes the security infrastructure upgrade, fencing, street lighting and critical electricity requirements, but in the case of Isithebe we have upgraded the roofs of some of the factories within the industrial park,” Davies said.
Davies said a large variety of industries operating from Isithebe contributed significantly to the economy of the area, providing 15,000 to 20,000 jobs.
These include textiles, clothing, weaving and dying, steel fabrication, furniture manufacturing, plastics, polypropylene bags, chemicals, paper products and packaging, foundry work, white goods, workshops and engineering, foam manufacturing and conversion, plastic injection moulding and stationery.
Zikalala, in a statement, said Isithebe Industrial Estate was one of the biggest in KwaZulu-Natal and was home to many industries and factories that had contributed immensely to the growth of the economy of the province.
“The fact that so much investment is being injected into this estate to revitalise it is not only a vote of confidence into the growth prospects of the economy of the province, but testifies to the fact that as government we have placed reindustrialisation at the apex of our list of priorities in order to grow the economy and create employment,” Zikalala said.
The Group chairman of Ithala, Mandla Gantsho, said his agency, that manages Isithebe on behalf of EDTEA, acknowledged the contribution made by the dti and recognised the positive impact it would make to the province as a whole.
Davies launched the completion of the first phase on the Free State-based Botshabelo Industrial Park which cost the department R24 million and the Seshego Industrial Park in Limpopo at the cost of R21 million earlier this year.
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