Manufacturing should be the leader of industrialisation in the country, according to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
He was speaking at Bell Equipment’s manufacturing facility and head office in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, where he attended the handover of the company’s 50 000th vehicle.
The Minister said the manufacturing sector has proven that it can be the driver of industrialisation. “Manufacturing is the driver of economic diversification and the generator of employment. Even if most of the jobs don’t reside in manufacturing, the sector also supports and sustains an extensive range a service jobs which are high quality and more secure because they are rooted in a growing manufacturing base.”
According to the Minister, a strategy of Government’s Infrastructure Development Plan is to drive industrialisation with all spheres and agencies of Government requiring that a proportion of inputs used in infrastructure development come from locally manufactured sources as a means to support local manufacture.