SA Affordable Housing March - April 2020 // ISSUE: 81 | Page 10

EVENTS
Musina Makhado SEZ
hosts packed investment
conference to transform
Limpopo’s economy
A new town complete with multiple affordable housing
developments, schools and clinics is about to start arising in Musina
in the far north of Limpopo.
I
t is the location of the recently-promulgated Musina-
Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) with links to
Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique, and three South
African provinces – making it the fulcrum of a market of 60
million people. It is Limpopo’s flagship economic initiative.
The Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) late
last year hosted an investment conference in Sandton aimed
at supplementing the R165-billion investment already
committed by a consortium of Chinese investors, Sino, to
operate mineral beneficiation operations. Several cooperation
agreements were signed with various entities such as Mintek,
Safcol, Transnet and Roads Agency Limpopo, all aimed at
facilitating the successful implementation of MMSEZ.
Limpopo Premier Stanley Mathabatha anticipates
investment of R200-billion to R250-billion once local
investment was added to the R165-billion already committed,
“and that is enough to build a new city in Musina-Makhado”.
He says that 24 000 jobs were expected to be created in the
initial phase of construction. These are workers who will not
only be constructing housing – but requiring affordable
homes for themselves.
The location of the MMSEZ neighbouring Zimbabwe,
Botswana and Mozambique, with Limpopo also
neighbouring the three provinces of North West, Gauteng
and Mpumalanga, means logistics will be a key focus area.
All developed regions of the world have a high proportion
of their trade as inter-regional: in the case of SADC this was
just 23% compared to 60% in Europe. Consequently, it is
initiatives such as MMSEZ – and the bringing of border posts
such as Beit Bridge up to 4th Industrial Revolution standards
of automation for rapid transit - which would transform the
economic landscape of SADC.
Much of the groundwork was now completed: the MMSEZ
8
MARCH - APRIL 2020
SAAffordHousing
board under the chairmanship of Rob Tooley and CEO
Lehlogonolo Masoga had been appointed, says keynote
speaker and MEC for LEDET, Thabo Mokone. A meeting with
neighbouring countries had been hosted to ensure an
all-inclusive approach to developing a new export hub with
increased access for the SADC region as a whole. This was
being facilitated through a ‘one-stop investment shop’ which
has been established by a dedicated team to manage all the
government red-tape on behalf of foreign investors who may
be unfamiliar with South African laws.
This one-stop-shop will be launched by February 2020 in
provincial capital Polokwane, sponsored by the dti, says
Lekota, emphasising that the provincial government gives its
full backing to this project; that ease of doing business will be
central to all investment initiatives; and any challenges
experienced by investors in this area will be swiftly dealt with
by the one-stop-shop. Central to this concept, and the entire
MMSEZ is the Beit Bridge border post with Zimbabwe – the
busiest border post in all Africa - and discussions are ongoing
to convert this into a seamless and automated one-stop
border post.
Tooley says the single biggest challenge for the region is
water, exacerbated by the current drought in SADC. “Meetings
are currently underway between Limpopo and Zimbabwe to
bring in water to the MMSEZ,” he explains.
Limpopo is one of the least industrialised provinces in
South Africa, albeit having the lowest unemployment rate and
highest tourism market both of local and international
tourists, in the latter case second only to Cape Town.
Limpopo Premier, Stanley Mathabatha, signals the ‘almost
limitless’ opportunities as varying from manufacturing and
mining, to food processing, the automotive sector to
pharmaceuticals and logistics. “This project is at the very apex
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