The MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Hon. Abraham Vosloo tabled the departmental policy statement (budget vote 2022/2023) on Tuesday, 28 June 2022 in Carvavon, Pixley Ka Seme District.` This policy statement is consistent with the Northern Cape provincial government strides to turn the economic fortunes of our people through initiatives championed by the Premier, Dr. Zamani Saul in positioning the province an investment destination in our endeavours to grow the economy and create much needed jobs.

ON EMPLOYMENT AND JOB CREATION

The Province experienced a slight decline in unemployment rate which decreased from 26% higher than the fourth quarter of 2021 to 24.9% in the first quarter of 2022 which translates to an increase of 57 000 which is 21,6% higher than the previous quarter. The formal sector employment grew by 48 000 quarter-on-quarter, with the mining sector showing strong recovery with an additional 20 000 jobs created, the informal sector employment also grew by 6 000 from the previous quarter while the resilience of the agricultural sector was noted on both the yearly and quarterly analysis, as the sector employment increased by 9 901 and 8 325, respectively with the private households shedding close to 5 000 jobs.

These indicators are attributed to our own Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan which was developed and approved by the Northern Cape EXCO to resuscitate the economy of the province to propel an enabling environment for growth and job creation.

ON INDUSTRIALISATION

The MEC highlighted the importance of Trade and Investment drive and the outbound missions aimed at driving Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) in our key centres of industrial excellence which are found in the Northern Cape

Industrial Corridors cannot be over emphasised.  These centres include Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Upington Industrial Park, Kathu Industrial Park and Boegoebaai Harbour and Green Hydrogen Cluster.

Thus far, the Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has attracted a number of potential investors with a potential investment of R 980 million while the Upington Industrial Park which is designated by the Department of Trade,

Industry and Competition has secured a funding to the tune of R50 million.

The Prieska Power Reserve and several others, including the SASOL prefeasibility on the Green Hydrogen Project that can unlock billions of rands of investment are also supported with a key anchor been secured for the first 5GW of electrolyser capacity and furthermore, the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has also been fast tracked for the construction of the Port in Boegoebaai, Namakwa District. All the above clusters will either export or import commodities via planned Boegoebaai Harbour supported by via the planned rail line extending from Gamagara Mining Corridor to the Boegoebaai Port.

ON ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

The Kimberley Diamond and Jewellery Incubator (KIDJI) has supported ninety-two (92) SMME’s of which 12 were newly established, on business development, financial management and technical jewellery manufacturing skills. The incubator also participated in the Kimberley Diamond Cup event which was held in March 2022, these SMME’s created 31 job opportunities and generated total revenue to the tune of R7,9 million through their trading activities.  The Department was also integrally involved in the Ministerial Roadshow during March 2022, which was graced by Minister Stella Ndabeni- Abrahams and Premier Dr Zamani Saul which did a handover of industrial equipment to informal traders under the Micro Enterprise Development Programme (IMEDP) in Namakwa, Hopetown, Carnavon and Douglas. The total of 103 enterprises who applied for assistance received equipmentto use in their businesses.

In the previous financial year, 288 enterprises received non-financial support from the department; this assistance includes CIPC services and referral to SEDA for business plan development. Ten (10) founder members of different enterprises received accredited garment manufacturing training from SEDA in Upington of which 9 were from

ZFM and 1 from JTG district municipalities. The Department also facilitated “Behind the Arts” master class the Northern Cape Arts Theatre in Kimberley which was attended by over 500 young people and will fund a recording studio to support entrepreneurs in the Arts Industry to the tune of R 1,5 million. The projected is expected to be launched before December 2022.

The Department has also set aside R 10 million for Township and Rural Economy Strategy which will be directed at providing support to township, rural, micro and formal enterprise during this financial year. This will be done in collaboration with the District Municipalities and the process will be initiated by enterprises from across the province registering on the departmental database. A quantum up to a maximum of R100 000 is targeted per enterprise and it is anticipated that this support will be sufficient to stimulate brown field enterprises that are experiencing difficulty to escape ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ON EXTENDED PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME (EPWP)

 The Department received a total allocation of R1 960 000 towards the EPWP conditional grant. The implementation of this resulted in a total of 192 Work Opportunities through the following projects:

- Sol Plaatjie Langley Resort created 60 employment opportunities
- Eradication of Invasive Alien Vegetation in Pixley created 40 job opportunities
- Goodhouse Removal of Prosopis trees created 36 employment opportunities
- Mhlanga Cleaners created 16 employment job opportunities
- Inner City Revitalisation project created 40 work opportunities

ON TOURISM SUPPORT

There is a major improvement in the number of visitors to the Northern Cape, the number has increased from 194 633 in 2019 to 320 758 to date amid various alert levels of Covid-19 lockdown which severely restricted people’s movement for almost 6 months of the year and thirty (30) black owned small tourism enterprises benefitted from financial support provided to develop their business acumen and product offerings. The Northern Cape Tourism Authority (NCTA) has assisted 159 tourism enterprises through the implementation of SMME Market Access Framework and their offerings include the following:

-      Market access and linkages in the tourism value chain and facilitation
-      Mentorship and upskilling of technological and operational best practices
-      Participation on various trade and online platforms and
-      Facilitation on media which has resulted in 15 with a potential audience reach of 17.2 million estimated media value of R8,2 million.

Eight Association Business Events were held in the province during 2021/2022 period with 1 317 delegates contributing approximately  R3 million to the provincial economy and NCTA supported 57 provincial events during 2021/2022 period and 830 temporary job opportunities were created from R 1 million investment from NCTA.

ON CONSUMER PROTECTION AUTHORITY

The work of the   Northern Cape Consumer Protection Authority resulted in total savings of R1 553 943.80 for consumers for the 2021/2022 financial year Two hundred and six (206) complaints were received and investigated, of which 19 complaints were held for the financial year. Twenty-four (24) Court sittings were held for the financial year ending 31 March 2022 and thirty-seven (37) compliance notices were issued during compliance inspections.

ON REGULATORY AUTHORITY

 The Liquor Board received 233     license applications of which 149 were supported, 26 declined and 58 were postponed. Three Thousand and Sixty-eight (3068) Compliance Inspections and Festive Season Operations were conducted an all five (5) districts throughout the financial year. Joint Operations were conducted with relevant stakeholders and illicit alcohol to the value of R320 000.00 was confiscated while 26 illegal shebeens were raided and 150 litres of concoction alcohol was disposed. Four liquor traders were arrested in Kimberley for contravening the Disaster Management Regulations.