Gauteng and, more specifically, the City of Ekurhuleni should be used as a base for South Africa’s reindustrialisation programmes and drive the unfolding fourth industrial revolution, Premier David Makhura has said.

Ekurhuleni, South Africa’s oldest industrialised region, remains the manufacturing hub of the country’s most populous province and reflects the potential of industrialisation, despite significant setbacks over the past few years.

Considering its history, Makhura believes Ekurhuleni, deemed Gauteng’s manufacturing, logistics and transport hub, is the “right place” to reindustrialise and, in so doing, return the region to its former manufacturing glory.

Crucially, it also hosts Africa’s busiest airport, OR Tambo International Airport, and is the main hub of Gauteng’s Aerotropolis.

Closing proceedings at the third yearly Manufacturing Indaba, he explained that Ekurhuleni was the second-largest municipality in terms of population holding 25.7% of the province’s population and contributing 18% to Gauteng’s economy and 7% to the national gross domestic product (GDP).

However, the region had been hit hard as industries across the board had in recent times shed some 195 000 jobs – 111 000 of which were manufacturing related – with the bulk of Gauteng’s manufacturing activities based in Ekurhuleni.

Interventions, Makhura told delegates, were required in South Africa’s main city regions to ensure the biggest impact.

“If we want to make changes, revitalise and grow the economy . . . it all needs to happen in the cities,” he said.

While the importance of the nation’s other various cities should not be underestimated in positioning and driving the economy, said Makhura, Gauteng should be the driver.

“Gauteng remains the economic and industrial hub of our country and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region,” he pointed out.

Gauteng as a broader city region contributed a massive 35% to South Africa’s GDP and accounted for 40% of employment and 42% of industrial output. Further, the province contributed up to 10% of Africa’s GDP.

“Our cities are the key drivers of the national economy,” he added, noting that Johannesburg accounted for 15% of the national GDP, Tshwane 9% and Ekurhuleni 7%.

“We want to position Gauteng to drive an industrial revolution,” he said, pointing to the province’s well-developed financial, technological and logistics corridors and clusters.

The City of Johannesburg, as the central development corridor, was considered the hub of the finance, services, information and communication technology and pharmaceuticals industries.

The northern development corridor, the City of Tshwane, was South Africa’s administrative capital, the hub of the automotive sector, and a central cog in the research, development, innovation and knowledge-based economy, in addition to its tourism and agroprocessing industries.

The western development corridor within the West Rand district, traditionally a mining economy, would be the base for the development of a new diverse economy, comprising tourism, agriculture and agroprocessing, Lanseria Airport City and renewable-energy industries.

“At a subnational, city level, we can revitalise manufacturing,” Makhura assured delegates at the conference.

Going forward, the region’s priority areas included machinery and capital equipment, where the country was already “very competitive”, as most mining equipment in Africa was imported from South Africa.

“We can triple the volumes,” Makhura said.

South Africa had not fully exploited the opportunities in Africa and, with an already established, expansive footprint, there was significant space to grow this sector.