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South Africa made a bold push to cement its role as Africa’s premier investment destination when over 1,000 delegates — policymakers, investors, development finance institutions and industry leaders — converged on Durban’s International Convention Centre on 16–17 July 2026 for the 2nd International Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Infrastructure and Investment Conference, a two-day event designed to accelerate industrialisation and pull in fresh capital across the continent.
The conference, themed “Reigniting Industrialisation through World-class Special Economic Zones”, was co-hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA). Deputy President Paul Mashatile delivered the keynote address, while Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau and KwaZulu-Natal MEC Reverend Musa Zondi briefed the media on the conference’s key findings.
The numbers on the table were hard to ignore.
Minister Tau confirmed that South Africa currently operates 13 designated SEZs spread across eight of the country’s nine provinces. Inside those zones, 224 companies are up and running, having collectively invested R31.7 billion — a net increase of R17.2 billion over the past eight years — and generated 28,821 direct jobs. The government, through the dtic, has backed that performance with R12 billion in top structure and bulk infrastructure investment since the programme launched.
Tau also spotlighted Ford’s expansion at the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), which alone unlocked R16 billion in private investment, with an additional R5.9 billion flowing in from other TASEZ-based investors, together delivering 3,333 direct jobs to date — a concrete example of what a well-resourced SEZ can achieve when industry and government align.
Deputy President Mashatile pushed the headline figures further, citing a World Bank study that validates the zones’ ability to attract investment and support industrial development. He placed the programme’s total revenue generation at R14.8 billion and the jobs figure at over 30,000. Yet Mashatile was candid about a persistent structural weakness: some zones have attracted businesses relocating from elsewhere in South Africa rather than generating entirely new investment — a challenge that undermines the programme’s core purpose of expanding the country’s productive capacity.
Beyond the provincial pitch, the conference zeroed in on a bigger structural opportunity: using SEZs as engines for regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). Delegates from across South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) — government officials, business leaders and international SEZ experts — debated how cross-border zones and a new Spatial Development Strategy could push African economies closer together and make the continent a more competitive manufacturing base on the world stage.
Public-private collaboration emerged as the conference’s defining theme, with participants stressing that no government can build a world-class industrial zone alone; private capital, technical expertise and long-term investor confidence are just as essential as state infrastructure spending.
For young Africans watching where the jobs of the next decade will come from, the Durban conference signals that SEZs — when properly resourced and strategically positioned — remain one of the most credible policy tools governments have to industrialise fast, integrate regionally and compete globally.
