President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA), delivered on February 6, has been met with cautious optimism. The Bureau of Economic Research (BER) commended the SoNA’s focus on the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP), which aims to boost economic growth to over 3% through large-scale infrastructure investment.
National employer federation the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has expressed concern over recent comments by US President Donald Trump against South Africa and the impact this will have on the metals and engineering sector. “While we will have to get used to the idea that President Trump will continue to use social media and all other channels to give effect to his views and policies, what is undeniable is that, by virtue of the sheer economic size of the US, what is said will have an impact on the metals and engineering sector,” Seifsa warns.
Automaker Volkswagen Group Africa has announced new models to be introduced to the market this year, including a special edition Polo Vivo for its fifteenth anniversary, a new T-Cross, the Golf 8, a seven-seater model called Tayron, a new Transporter and the Vivo Express.
The group, during its yearly indaba held at its Kariega plant, in the Eastern Cape, on February 5, also announced the addition of motorcycle company Ducati South Africa to its stable, which will start retailing in the country from May.
The City of Cape Town is commissioning treated effluent irrigation connections at a number of city recreation and parks facilities in a move it says will likely save between 2.5-million and 3.5-million litres of drinking water a day. Treated effluent is wastewater that has been purified at wastewater treatment works, where contaminants are removed before it is reused for irrigation or industrial purposes.
South Africa’s Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) for the five-year period to 2029 will incorporate the 3% GDP growth target announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA). In a briefing after the SoNA, Minister in the Presidency for Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Maropene Ramokgopa said the MTDP had been thoroughly canvassed among government of national unity (GNU) participants and was scheduled to be approved by Cabinet on February 26.