WATCH: Special Economic Zones scrambling for investment

SOUTH Africa’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are scrambling for investment, following the harsh 18-month lockdown period due to Covid-19, which led tenants to negotiate rental holidays and other special concessions. Despite massive pressure on the country’s budget, there are state resources on offer, although sometimes these are unappreciated, poorly understood - and sometimes even ignored - by businesses. More than 50 percent capacity is currently available at SEZs, divisional heads of the SEZs, OR Tambo, the Dube Trade Port, Saldanha Bay Trade Port and Richards Bay said at a webinar recently. To talk about Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in South Africa and what makes them special, as well as the criteria applied by government when companies want to locate in an SEZ as well as how they can manage to locate in and access the benefits of an SEZ, I’m joined now by Tumelo Chipfupa, Joint Managing Director at Cova Advisory; Bianca Romans, Manager at Cova Advisory; Benedicta Durcan, Saldanha Bay IDZ, Ease of Doing Business Executive and Maidei Matika, Chief Investment Officer at Gauteng IDZ​