By Thapelo Molefe
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) said it aims to facilitate more than 100,000 employment opportunities in the 2026/27 financial year through industrial programmes, incentives, and investment initiatives.
The plan was outlined when DTIC Minister Parks Tau led the department’s leadership team in tabling its Annual Performance Plan (APP) before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition on Tuesday.
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The department said the APP is aligned with government’s Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP), which prioritises inclusive growth and job creation, poverty reduction, addressing the high cost of living and building a capable, ethical and developmental state.
“This APP will outline our priorities for the coming financial year, including placing emphasis on our new industrial policy, our investment targets and our trade relations, emphasising implementation and moving from the foundation we built in the previous financial year,” Tau said.
Director-General Simphiwe Hamilton said the department will intensify industrialisation through its Investment and Spatial Industrial Development programme, with a focus on revitalising industrial infrastructure and expanding Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
“Within this programme, our target this financial year is to ensure 15 Industrial Parks are revitalised into competitive infrastructure platforms to support sector diversification in marginalised areas.
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“We are also gearing to operationalise 10 of 12 Special Economic Zones, equip up to 300 learners in various industry-related skills within these industrial zones. We envisage that in this area we should enable us to facilitate up to 6,000 jobs,” Hamilton said.
He added that the department will also deploy up to R4 billion in incentives to support qualifying enterprises under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment framework.
Deputy Minister Zuko Godlimpi said the APP focuses on turning improving economic conditions into real industrial growth and employment.
“South Africa is entering a period where the foundations for growth are being rebuilt through greater stability in energy, logistics and fiscal conditions, and the responsibility of the dtic is to ensure that this momentum translates into productive sectors of the economy,” Godlimpi said.
“Our focus in the year ahead is to deepen re-industrialisation, expand exports, strengthen investment mobilisation, and advance transformation through practical instruments that widen participation for Black-owned enterprises, SMMEs, women and young people.”
Deputy Minister Alexandra Abrahams said the plan is centred on enabling economic growth through investment, industrial expansion, and enterprise development.
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“The dtic’s approach this year is therefore grounded in creating the conditions for businesses to grow, compete and employ more South Africans at scale,” Abrahams said.
“Sustained job creation will come from a stronger, more competitive economy, supported by practical policy interventions, improved coordination across government, and consistent implementation that translates commitments into measurable outcomes.”
A key focus of the department is also increasing investment through the proposed Omnibus Industrial Development and Investment Acceleration Bill.
The legislation aims to speed up industrial development, improve the ease of doing business and reduce regulatory red tape.
