The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau, says South Africa plans to phase out current Semi-Knock-Down (SKD) operations and no longer provide policy support for any new SKD facilities in the country.
He was speaking at the SA Auto Week event in Durban, which also marked the first day of the KwaZulu-Natal Investment Conference hosted at the International Convention Centre (ICC). The speech was delivered on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This decision comes as government working with naamsa – the Automotive Business Council, the National Association of Automotive and Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) and organised labour unions, review the Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP2).
Tau explained that this development will exclude Medium and Heavy commercial vehicles.
“We will work to strengthen the legal definitions around what we determine as Complete-Knock-Down (CKD) manufacturing. We have agreed that the strategic competitiveness of South Africa’s ladder frame LCV segment warrants formal investigation. There was also alignment that any additional protection should be accompanied by reciprocal commitments relating to production, localisation, employment, transformation, exports, and investment. I will be instructing ITAC to undertake this investigation to reach a final determination on the matter,” he said.
During his address, he acknowledged that the current period is the greatest turning point this sector has faced in a century, and the way vehicles are powered, built, owned and used, is changing all at once.
He further indicated that New Energy Vehicles and South Africa’s commitment to carbon emission targets, as well as the Critical Minerals Beneficiation Strategy, are key focus areas in placing the sector on a path to success.
“If we do not build the vehicles that markets such as Europe and the United Kingdom will buy, we will lose those markets, and with them our plants and our jobs. At home, in the first seven months of this year, South Africans bought almost as many new energy vehicles as in the whole of last year. The automotive industry is where the beneficiation strategy meets our reindustrialisation programme. Every new energy vehicle sold today will one day reach the end of its life, and so will its battery. Government has begun work on an End of Life Vehicle policy, as part of the decarbonisation pathway in our Industrial Development Strategy. Recycling batteries and giving them a second life is a new industry in its own right. South Africa intends to build it from the start,” he said.
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau addresses delegates at the South Africa Auto Week and first day of the KwaZulu-Natal Investment Conference, hosted at the International Convention Centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Media Enquiries:
Kaamil Alli – Ministerial Spokesperson
Mobile: +27 82 520 6813
WhatsApp: +27 82 520 6813
E-mail: KAlli@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and
Competition (the dtic)
Follow us on X: @the_dtic
Or
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Mobile: 079 5083 457
WhatsApp: 074 2998 512
E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)
X: @the_dtic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedti?mibextid=ZbWKwL
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedtic
Website: https://www.thedtic.gov.za/
Share this:
