Gauteng auto cluster plan rattles Eastern Cape

Leonlard Neill THE DEVELOPMENT of a R1 billion automotive component manufacturing cluster in Gauteng is a serious threat to further development in the same field in the Eastern Cape says Mlungisi Jack, director of Eastern Cape black empowerment engineering group KweziiV3. The development was announced last week as part of the Gauteng government's multi-billion rand investment initiative named Blue IQ which has identified mega projects to create an environment for local and foreign business investment, with the export drive as a major target. The new automotive component manufacturing cluster will be at Rosslyn near Pretoria, where the aim is to attract manufacturers as neighbours to the four auto groups based in the area, BMW, Fiat, Nissan and Ford. "The Gauteng people have moved fast and left the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and others here in the lurch," says Jack. "If we have had a dream of the Eastern Cape becoming the Detroit of Africa, we are losing out."