Ido Lekota reports back on how KZN’s Ocean Economy could be the catalyst for massive job creation in the region.
KwaZulu-Natal – as part of Africa’s largest coastal region, second only to Mauritius – must tap into its natural marine resources to drive economic inclusion and address South Africa’s pressing challenges, which are currently not being met.
This message emerged from a recent Frank Dialogue on the future of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), attended by stakeholders including black business leaders, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) such as the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), civil society members, black professionals, researchers, and activists.
The Dialogue highlighted how KZN’s over 600 km of coastline, combined with government-driven transformation of the ocean economy, could unlock 600 000 to 1 million jobs by 2033. These opportunities span sectors like marine manufacturing, transport and logistics, aquaculture (rearing of marine animals), fishing, and marine protection.
For instance, a government- and business-driven transformation agenda in KZN, in collaboration with the private sector, could reverse the current reality where South Africa services only 1% of marine transport ferrying goods along Africa’s western coastal region. This shift could spawn marine services companies owned by youth, women, and other marginalised groups – directly advancing the country’s transformation goals.
Suggestions to turn the tide included enhancing B-BBEE policy to fix shortcomings that fuel high youth unemployment, even in underserved communities within Durban and Richards Bay that fall under the KZN ocean economy’s nodal reach.
Proposed solutions also encompassed reviewing the current Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) architecture to ensure better return on investment in skills output. Dialogue participants urged business to stop complaining about skills shortages, noting that it knows the required skills and has the moral obligation – and resources – to help develop them.
Most critically, academic and political analyst Professor Tladi Lehotla linked the economic exclusion of township and rural areas in KZN’s ocean economy to the government’s extractive economic model, which benefits big business at the expense of marginalised communities.
Lehotla argued solutions lie in a people-centred developmental model, akin to the abandoned Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This includes overhauling the country’s education system, which perpetuates socio-economic disparities by producing graduates unfit for building a society aligned with UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Ido Lekota is a media practitioner and an independent socio-political commentator.