Honourable Chairperson,
Minister Parks Tau
Select Committee Chair,
Honourable Boshoff,
Honourable Members
History, in its intricate weave of destiny and tragedy, has bound together two of South Africa’s most revered sons, Nelson Mandela and Inkosi Albert Luthuli. This month of July stands as both a solemn and celebratory moment in our collective memory.
It marks the birth of Mandela and the untimely, tragic passing of Inkosi Luthuli. These Nobel Peace Laureates, led the ANC during its most defining moments, giving us the Freedom Charter, the moral and political anchor of our democracy.
Today, as we confront persistent resistance to our economic transformation agenda from both domestic and global forcesi, we recall Madiba’s warning:
“As much as our political liberation was not easy to achieve, so will it not be an easy walk to arrive at the point of the socio-economic upliftment of all the people of our country.”
The Freedom Charter’s demand that “The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth” lives on in our Constitution, which mandates the state to pursue redress, equality, and socio-economic justice.
Honourable Chair, ours is not a neutral Constitution, it is a directive for transformation, rooted in the values of the Freedom Charter. Those who oppose transformation stand in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of our Constitution.
On Economic Transformation and Inclusive Growth
Honourable Chair, South Africa’s economy remains constrained by multiple structural and systemic challenges. Despite its resilience, the manufacturing sector continues to be undermined by weak domestic demand, logistics inefficiencies, energy insecurity, and the rising cost of doing business.
Unemployment remains alarmingly high at 32.9%, especially among black people, women, and youth, reinforcing entrenched patterns of inequality and poverty.
While our reindustrialisation efforts as the dtic are underway, economic participation remains skewed, with economic concentration and barriers to entry continuing to exclude many from meaningful participation.
It is in response to these economic pressures that, in the 2025/26 financial year, we are intensifying our efforts through the dtic family to mitigate these threats to inclusive growth and industrial resilience.
A key lever in this regard is the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which will play a catalytic role in supporting enterprises led by black industrialists, women, and youth entrepreneurs.
A total of R12 billion has been approved and committed by the IDC toward transformation-focused funding. Of this, R7.4 billion is earmarked for black industrialists, R3.5 billion for women-owned businesses, and R1.5 billion for youth-led enterprises. These efforts reflect a deliberate strategy to transform the ownership and control of productive assets in our economy.
Honourable Chair, to provide honourable members with a sense of the work underway, allow me to briefly outline some of the IDC-supported initiatives across the provinces, each reflecting our commitment to inclusive growth, and spatial transformation.
▪ In KwaZulu-Natal, we’re scaling up SMME sugarcane growers and supporting avocado producers linked to export markets.
▪ In the North West, a second round of funding is being prepared for black grain producers.
▪ In the Eastern Cape, we’re advancing green hydrogen and agro-processing through partnerships with local industry.
▪ The Free State focus is on revitalising agri-infrastructure with the provincial government.
▪ In Gauteng, through supplier development, business referrals are fuelling a strong pipeline for transformation funding.
▪ The Western Cape sees support for Black Industrialists in poultry, plastics, and solar installations.
▪ In Limpopo, a proposed R50 million aggregator farming project is expected to create over 400 jobs.
▪ And in Mpumalanga, the IDC is backing green enterprises in biofuels, recycled brick-making, and furniture production.
These initiatives reflect our resolve to build a more inclusive, spatially transformed economy that will contribute to industrial development and employment creation.
Critical Infrastructure and Catalytic Projects
Honourable Chairperson, of the R11 billion budget of the dtic in the 2025/26 financial year, 35.15% of the total budget goes to business incentives, while infrastructure investment support is 10.2% amounting to a total of R5.2 billion investment in our incentives programme.
To highlight a few catalytic projects supported through our Critical Infrastructure Programme under the Incentives Branch, allow me to briefly mention a few key initiatives at various stages of implementation:
• In KwaZulu-Natal, Nyanza Light Metals is building Africa’s first titanium dioxide pigment plant in the Richards Bay IDZ, a R4 billion investment anchored by a R200 million Technical Services Centre.
• In Limpopo, Mamba Cement produces over 1 million tons annually while supporting SMMEs and delivering a bulk water project to the Raphuti community.
• In the North West, a 200MW solar PV project by African Pioneer Group is injecting R3.6 billion into the economy, advancing energy security and green industrialisation.
These catalytic projects reflect the strategic use of our incentive tools to drive reindustrialisation, localisation, and inclusive growth.
On the Cost of Living Crisis
Honourable Chairperson, the cost-of-living crisis is hitting the working class and the poor hardest, driven by high energy and fuel prices, rising food and logistics costs, and entrenched market concentration.
In response, the dtic is using its regulatory instruments to intensify consumer protection, clamp down on exploitative pricing in food, retail finance, and unsecured lending, and act against abuse of dominance.
Over the MTEF, the Competition Commission will implement key recommendations from market inquiries, including the Fresh Produce Market Inquiry, which found that concentration, limited shelf access for small and black producers, and opaque pricing were inflating food costs.
The National Consumer Commission has issued 45 compliance notices this year and will expand food safety enforcement, product recalls, and a review of the Consumer Protection Act.
Meanwhile, the National Credit Regulator will strengthen oversight of unsecured lending, with inspections, enforcement against illegal lenders, and financial education campaigns focused on vulnerable communities.
These efforts are part of a broader commitment to building a fairer, more transparent, and inclusive economy that protects consumers and confronts unjustified price hikes head-on.
On Master Plans and Industrial Policy Support
Honourable Chairperson, the Sugar Master Plan has delivered significant progress. Phase One, which concluded in March 2024, supported over 15,000 small-scale growers, with R239 million spent on transformation and R74.7 million committed for Premium Price Payments in 2025/26.
As we prepare for Phase Two, key focus areas include maintaining local offtake of 1.55 million tons, strengthening trade protection, unlocking R1–2 billion in downstream investments, finalising the block exemption for coordinated pricing, and stabilising the Health Promotion Levy. Government and industry have jointly committed to supporting 12,000 small-scale growers through the transformation programme.
The Poultry Master Plan enters Phase Two on the back of notable achievements: a 22.5 million birds/week broiler capacity, 6% growth in exports, and 20 black contract growers established.
The next phase prioritises biosecurity, responding to the R9.5 billion impact of Avian Influenza, with vaccination rollouts, local manufacturing, and the formation of a Biosecurity Council. It also focuses on expanding export markets, blended finance for producers, VAT exemption on bone-in portions to improve affordability, and tariff protections to curb unfair trade.
These Master Plans remain key instruments for inclusive growth and the reindustrialisation of our agro-processing sector.
Technical Infrastructure
Over this financial year, the dtic will focus on stabilising governance and improving efficiency across its technical infrastructure institutions, positioning them as key enablers of localisation, export readiness, and regulatory certainty.
In 2025/26, SABS will develop over 350 standards and support SMMEs through certification; NMISA will modernise measurement capabilities for sectors like green hydrogen; NRCS will intensify inspections to remove unsafe products; and SANAS will strengthen accreditation to align with AfCFTA requirements.
Collectively, these institutions are advancing a capable state and enabling a competitive, inclusive, and reindustrialised economy grounded in quality infrastructure, regulatory certainty, and support for localisation and export readiness.
Conclusion
Honourable Chairperson, as we conclude, we return to the enduring wisdom of Madiba and Inkosi Luthuli, who reminded us that the journey from political liberation to socio-economic justice is long, and often marked by sacrifice.
We table this Budget Vote in a time of great global uncertainty, as outlined by Minister Tau, but it is precisely in such moments that we must hold firm to the values that guided our democratic breakthrough.
In one of his last appeals to all South Africans, black and white, Chief Luthuli affirmed:
“History also teaches us that no power on earth can stop progress, and our struggle is for progress.”
Therefore, as we content with both domestic and global forces, we remain steadfast that we shall achieve progress. And that progress will be defined by socio-economic transformation of our country and a better life for her people.
I thank you.
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