Name of the Project
Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) Energy and Metallurgical Cluster.

Location
Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, in Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Limpopo Provincial Government.

Project Description
The project involves the establishment of an energy and metallurgical industrial park in the MMSEZ.

The SEZ programme is one of the initiatives identified by the South Africa government through the Industrial Policy Action Plan to boost the country’s industrialisation and manufacturing capacity.

The industrial park will include  power, coking, ferrochrome, ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, pig iron metallurgy, lime, steel and stainless steel plants.

Potential Job Creation
The project is expected to create about 22 000 jobs.

Capital Expenditure
A consortium, led by Hong Kong Mining Exchange, will invest more than R40-billion in the park.

Planned Start/End Date
The projects will be implemented over five years.

Latest Developments
Various civil society organisations, including environmental protection organisations, have voiced strong criticism of the decision by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support the heavily coal-dependent industrial zone in the MMSEZ.

The organisations argue that the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the UNDP and the MMSEZ State-owned company in March 2022 “violates every principle of sustainable development which the UNDP purports to serve”.

The Vhembe Biosphere Reserve is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation- (Unesco-) registered Biosphere Reserve.

The Centre for Environmental Rights, Natural Justice, the University of the Witwatersrand's Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and Living Limpopo have further criticised the agency for the shortcomings of its grievance mechanisms.

The cohort of nongovernmental organisations and academic signatories contend that the MoU lends this “fundamentally flawed project undeserved credibility that is being used to attract investors and deflect criticism”.

In the MoU, the UNDP declares its support for the MMSEZ to “tackle South Africa’s triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment”.

However, many organisations and persons, who have registered as interested and affected parties, contend that the MMSEZ will worsen poverty, inequality and unemployment in Limpopo by aggravating water insecurity, climate change vulnerability, pollution and environmental degradation, the disease burden in an impoverished rural community, job losses in other collaterally damaged sectors of the economy, and the national fiscal debt load.

The civil society organisations have called upon the UNDP to demonstrate its commitment to human rights and environmental legal standards, as well as its own principles, by retracting the MoU and officially communicating its retraction.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Limpopo Provincial Government, tel +27 15 287 6000.