Gauteng's gateway status into Africa is over

The African continent is fast

evolving and the role of

Gauteng as a gateway into

Africa is over.

According to Duncan Bonnett of

Whitehouse & Associates, while the

province remains the undisputed

gateway into southern Africa, the

same can no longer be said for the

continent at large.

“Gauteng as the economic hub of

South Africa was the gateway into

many of the African regions for

a long time, but even in southern

Africa this is starting to change,”

he said. “It is no longer even the

gateway into countries such as

Angola.”

He said the developments on

the continent were happening so

quickly it had become a far easier

environment to work from.

“Doing business in East Africa

for example no longer needs to be

driven from South Africa. It can

easily be done from Addis Ababa

in Ethiopia, Dar es Salaam in

Tanzania or Nairobi in Kenya.”

The same can be said for West

Africa with developments in areas

such as Dakar in Senegal and Accra

in Ghana leading the way. North

Africa has historically had very little

dependence on South Africa anyway

and the impact of a province

such as Gauteng on decisions and

developments in the region have

been insignificant for the most part.

“Not only has there been real

political stability in many of these

countries but they have also seen

phenomenal growth and maturity

which is leading to the arrival of

multinationals on their shores – and

this is no longer being driven from

South Africa,” he explained. “These

are world class multinationals – be it

in the extractives industry or hotels

and tourism.”

He said a lot of procurement

was still being done from Gauteng

to areas such as Katanga in the

DRC. “That is a domain where we

continue to play a role and also

where South African companies

are very strong and have a lot of

linkages, but as far as the East, West

and North are concerned the impact

of South Africa has significantly

diminished and will continue to be.”

Whilst Gauteng – thanks to

its infrastructure in the financial

and manufacturing sectors – has

historically been an important

continental player, the attention

has moved away as countries

in Africa have started to create

environments where there is no

longer the requirement of a third

party involvement.

“Companies can now head

directly to Ethiopia or Ghana. They

no longer need to first establish a

Gauteng base and then scope and

strategise from there – and they

are increasingly doing just that and

heading directly to the countries

they are targeting for business,” said

Bonnett.

And with many countries

showing far better economic growth

than South Africa there are far

better business propositions to

consider.

“Regionally Gauteng is also

going to start losing ground

as developments unlock new

opportunities and new supply

chains,” said Bonnett.

Developments around corridors

and transport routes such as the

Nacala corridor, the Beira corridor

and the Lobito corridor are also

diluting attention away from areas

such as Gauteng.

“And in regions where we have

had a strong presence, such as

Katanga in the DRC for instance, we

can expect some changes. One will

be able to get goods into Katanga

far more easily through Dar es

Salaam than Durban in the future.

There will be fewer stops and fewer

blockages. The same will happen

once the Lobito corridor is up and

running. The links with Angola will

diminish even more.”

He said taking the high cost of

logistics in Africa into consideration,

it simply made no sense to use the

port of Durban, transit goods to

Gauteng and from there distribute

into southern Africa going through

five, six border posts at a time.