By Michael Currin
South Africa's investment story is increasingly moving beyond pledges and conference commitments. It is taking shape on factory floors, industrial parks and manufacturing hubs, where production lines are being modernised, facilities expanded, workers retained and upskilled, and businesses positioned for long-term growth and global competitiveness.
Investor confidence is increasingly being reinforced by evidence that commitments are translating into implementation. This demonstrates that South Africa’s investment story is becoming more compelling because it is grounded in delivery, not promises. Because of its extensive infrastructure, industrial capacity, skilled labour force, advantageous location, policy backing, and access to both African and international markets, South Africa continues to be a desirable place for investment.
South Africa’s automotive industry provides a powerful example of how investment commitments are translating into real economic activity. Toyota South Africa Motors’ R10.4 billion investment in the production of the ninth-generation Hilux at its Prospecton plant in eThekwini is a strong vote of confidence in the country’s economic potential. The investment will support the modernisation and expansion of manufacturing capabilities, strengthen local production capacity, retain jobs, enhance skills development and reinforce South Africa’s position as a competitive vehicle manufacturing and export hub.
The significance of this investment is reflected in the broader contribution of the automotive sector to the economy. The sector contributes around 5% of South Africa’s gross domestic product and supports more than 115 000 direct manufacturing jobs, making it a key driver of industrial development, economic growth and export earnings.
The value of this investment extends well beyond new machinery or production capacity. Every manufacturing investment creates opportunities for workers, strengthens supplier networks, supports young people entering the workforce and bolsters small businesses connected to manufacturing value chains. In this way, the benefits ripple throughout the economy, reinforcing manufacturing value chains and enhancing the country's competitiveness.
Chery’s decision to acquire Nissan’s former Rosslyn manufacturing facility in Gauteng reinforces this point. The company has committed to retaining 692 employees, while the project is expected to create nearly 3 000 direct and indirect opportunities across manufacturing, logistics, supply chains and related services. Its vision of transforming Rosslyn into an African manufacturing, export, research and development, supply chain and skills hub shows that investors see South Africa not only as a market, but as a platform for regional growth.
A crucial part of the success of South Africa’s automotive sector rests on two of government’s long-term industrial policy interventions. Firstly, the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) has helped position South Africa as a globally competitive automotive manufacturing hub. Through this programme, the country has attracted leading international manufacturers, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, BMW and Volkswagen, while strengthening the domestic automotive value chain and creating an enabling environment for sustained investment, production growth and job creation.
Secondly, South Africa’s network of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) has become a key pillar of the country’s industrialisation, investment attraction and regional economic development strategy. SEZs are designated geographic areas where government provides targeted support, including serviced industrial land, infrastructure, regulatory assistance and other incentives, to attract businesses and encourage production. By creating an enabling environment for companies to establish and expand operations, SEZs help channel investment into strategic locations, stimulate local economies, create jobs, develop supplier networks and promote inclusive industrial growth.
South Africa’s designated SEZs are already showing measurable progress. They host 224 companies with a combined investment of about R31.7 billion and have supported more than 28 000 direct jobs. These figures matter because they show that the SEZ model is moving beyond policy design into operational impact. Investment is becoming visible in buildings, production activity, logistics networks, exports and livelihoods.
The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone is an excellent illustration of what can happen when infrastructure, policy, and anchor investors come together. The zone provides enormous efficiencies by bringing together automobile manufacturers, component suppliers, logistics businesses, and skills institutes in a single ecosystem, lowering manufacturing costs, increasing competitiveness, and strengthening local supply chains.
This is why SEZs remain at the centre of South Africa’s investment and industrialisation strategy. They are essential to attracting foreign and domestic investment, accelerating industrial growth, promoting beneficiation, strengthening exports and bringing micro, small and medium enterprises into industrial value chains. At a time when South Africa must grow its economy more rapidly while ensuring that growth is more inclusive. SEZs provide a practical bridge between investment and inclusive development.
South Africa remains committed to strengthening the conditions that ensure investors choose our country. That means reliable infrastructure, efficient logistics, faster approvals, policy certainty, competitive incentives, skills development and stronger partnerships between government, business and labour. Investment attraction cannot be treated as an event; it must become a continuous delivery system.
The opportunity is to now convert the country’s investor confidence into long-term competitiveness. Sustained manufacturing-led growth creates demand for suppliers, raises the need for technical skills, supports logistics services and gives young South Africans a route into advanced industries.
The investments by Toyota and Chery and the continued expansion of SEZs all point to a country that can manufacture at scale, expand its export base, innovate with confidence and create jobs. The task ahead is to build on this momentum by ensuring that every investment strengthens the country's productive capacity and lays the foundation for faster, more inclusive and more resilient economic growth.
*Currin is Deputy Director-General at the Government Communication and Information System.
