SA’s industrial trajectory is being recalibrated in response to shifting global trade dynamics, domestic infrastructure constraints and mounting climate pressures, trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau said on Friday.
During the tabling of the department’s budget vote for the 2025/26 fiscal year, Tau unveiled a departmental strategy centred on diversification, decarbonisation and digitalisation, supported by a R700bn investment pipeline and R339bn earmarked for transformative energy projects.
“Budget vote 39 signals a pivot from crisis management to enabling growth,” Tau said, citing improved performance in electricity, rail and logistics as core enablers of industrial competitiveness.
To accelerate the project’s rollout, Tau confirmed the pending introduction of the Omnibus Fast-tracking Act, aimed at streamlining licensing and permitting for high-impact investments. But with legislative timelines still unconfirmed, concerns persist around regulatory bottlenecks and provincial implementation capacity.
Tau also positioned SA’s trade diplomacy as a buffer against rising protectionism, warning that the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could “create an almost 1% contraction in GDP on the African continent”.
He stressed that “the multilateral trading system with the WTO [World Trade Organisation] and the UN must be preserved until all member states are able to reach their developmental goals”.
Tau said the department was committed to championing this message at the WTO ministerial conference in Cameroon.
On bilateral trade, Tau confirmed that SA had “signed a condition precedent document with the office of the US Trade Representative”, following submission of a framework deal in May.
He acknowledged the political risk posed by the proposed US-SA Bilateral Relations Review Act, but said the government’s response hinges on collective work with business, organised labour and civil society.
Tau also promoted Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as strategic nodes for inclusive growth.
“Each new zone reinforces the same goal: to turn once-isolated areas into hubs of inclusive industrial growth,” he said, citing developments in Limpopo, the North West and the Vaal SEZ as part of a broader spatial industrialisation effort.
A new Spatial Industrial Development Strategy is currently under review with the World Bank and the National Treasury.
Broad-based BEE (BBBEE) formed a key part of Tau’s address. He noted measurable gains in JSE directorship and management control, and praised equity equivalent programmes across sectors from ICT to manufacturing.
“We have recently gazetted the legal sector code,” he said, “through this we will see black and particularly black female ownership in law firms rise.”
Although the Appropriation Bill has already been passed by the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) debates continue in accordance with parliamentary procedure to ensure provincial interests are reflected in national spending.
The NCOP is expected to vote on the budget before the end of July, in line with statutory deadlines. The department’s budget strategy signals a move from reactive policy firefighting to co-ordinated re-industrialisation and global positioning.
Deputy minister Zuko Godlimpi spotlighted transformation funding, confirming that the Industrial Development Corporation will deploy R12bn in 2025/26 including R7.4bn for black industrialists, R3.5bn for women-owned businesses and R1.5b for youth-led enterprises.
“This reflects a deliberate strategy to transform the ownership and control of productive assets in the economy,” he said.
Godlimpi detailed agroprocessing and infrastructure initiatives across KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, but long-term sustainability, market integration and provincial delivery mechanisms were not discussed.
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