Media and marketing Clive Simpkins
ERSTWHILE marketers re-entering South Africa should be urged to consider an RDP focused and negotiated approach on their geographic location. Despite Eastern Cape Premier Raymond Mhlaba’s best efforts, Ford, who divested in 1985, has chosen not to reinvest in this, the second -largest region in the country.
Not getting a satisfactory answer to my “why?” from either Samcor or Minister of Trade and Industry Trevor Manuel’s office, I called Kim Pryor, the representative of Ford Michigan USA. She says their investment is with Samcor and that regional considerations weren’t even up for consideration. Largely because Samcor has enormous untapped production potential at the Pretoria factory and duplicating infrastructure would not make sense.
It was following Ford’s initial departure though that, that the Eastern Province region was plunged into economic gloom, on a scale unprecedented elsewhere in South Africa. The ripple effects on small businesses were incalculable.
Consequences of the decade-long economic mayhem are clearly evident in Port Elizabeth. White men stand outside shops holding muddled misery boards proclaiming the like of, “Unemployed. Wife and three children to support. Please help. Smile — Jesus loves you.” As it happened, the person holding this particular board was understandably not smiling.
One notices, as in Zimbabwe, the abnormal age of many cars running around the city and the surprisingly tatty decor of stores even like Edgars. The Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PERCCI) cites a 60 percent unemployment rate for the region. Chamber president Willie van Wyk, also managing director of Delta Motor Corporation, agrees with regional premier Raymond Mhlaba on the need for a stable labour force as a prime ingredient in reassuring potential investors.
The regional malaise has tentacles in all quarters. For example, the best hotel on offer in Port Elizabeth is three-star, with the tremendous inconvenience to the business traveller of limited facilities. Checking in at 10pm and ironing your own shirt for the next day with a “guest services” provided, is irksome.
We need a huge economic boost for the region in the form of re-marketing, reinvestment, entrepreneurship, and the development of existing industries to soak up the labour force. Departmental whispers indicate that Manuel might well consult with an advisory team of top business people with a view to steering overseas reinvestment into economically depressed regions.
Just as the previous “homeland” governments offered inducements to people willing to invest in or relocate to their puppet states, so the present regime could legitimately offer incentives. Particularly since it it’s well-known that the Nats “punished” the Eastern Province for its political activism by discouraging investment and stifling growth there during its tenure in government.
Gauteng-based Sacob president Les Weil, commenting on current Eastern Province initiatives, says: “We have a one- time opportunity. Don’t mess it up.”
If ever there was a time for a consultative business movement to remarket our country and our regions, this is it. Don’t indeed let us mess it up.