South Africa should start its industrialisation ambitions in the “rich” North West province, Parliament Select Committee on Trade and International Relations chairperson Eddie Makue said on Monday.
This emerged during a week-long oversight visit by committee members to the province to assess opportunities and shortcomings in implementing the national programmes of government and addressing key priorities of the National Development Plan.
“There is potential. Development should not be synonymous with urban and developed areas. The country should be able to filter through benefits to the most rural and destitute places,” Makue said.
The committee, which was reviewing various initiatives to create employment and bolster export earnings through the beneficiation of locally mined minerals, tourism development and agroprocessing, believed local beneficiation in the region could be meaningful.