With the manufacturing sector in constant change as the Fourth Industrial Revolution takes hold, the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone, through its’ training academy, is making sure that workers are equipped for this future.

The TASEZ Training Academy celebrated the graduation of 163 learners, presenting them with certificates of achievement on Thursday, 15 August 2024.

With the graduates demonstrating exceptional dedication and skill in their training, the event was seen as an opportunity to recognise the learners’ hard work and commitment.

The celebration showed the special economic zone’s commitment to providing much-needed skills development in a rapidly changing automotive industry.

“Now is the time to lead a skills revolution in this country,” says chairperson, Lionel October TASEZ, adding that the TASEZ’s academy was set up to close the skills and technology gap.

“As articulated in the South African Automotive Master Plan, the industry needs to be expanded, becoming more inclusive,” says CEO, Dr Bheka Zulu, adding that “a skilled, agile and adaptable workforce is essential to achieve this.”

TASEZ, Africa’s first automotive city, is ideally placed to make an impact on inclusive jobs creation and upskilling. “TASEZ is delivering on its vision to be the benchmark for special economic zones in South Africa while contributing to the growth of the automotive sector,” says Dr Zulu.

As the automotive industry is gearing up for production of new energy vehicles and for exports to markets that have set targets to reach a carbon neutral environment, South African manufacturers will need to move swiftly to embrace Fourth Industrial Revolution skills.

It is against this backdrop that the Automotive Master Plan has set a number of ambitious targets to be met by 2035, including:

• Growing domestic vehicle production to 1% of global output (projected to reach 140 million units annually by 2035);
• Increasing local content in South African assembled vehicles to 60%;
• Increasing employment in the automotive value chain to 224 000 jobs;
• Improving the industry’s competitiveness levels to that of leading international competitors;
• Achieving industry transformation across the value chain; and
• Deepening value addition.

The automotive industry is one of South Africa’s most important economic sectors, contributing 4.3% to the country’s gross domestic product.

The industry is also the country’s fifth largest export sector accounting 18.1% of total exports.

However, the sector – as the country – faces the intense challenge of unemployment alongside an unskilled labour force.

Figures are disheartening, with Q2 numbers indicating the highest unemployment rate since 2022. Currently South Africa’s official unemployment rate stands at 33.5.9% for the second quarter of 2024, up from 32.9% for the first quarter of 2024, according to StatsSA. The expanded unemployment rate, which includes those who are no longer actively looking for employment, increased to 42.6%, up from the first quarter figure of 41.9%.

These numbers represent the 8.4 million people who are now unemployed, with more than 76% of those having been without a job for more than a year.

A focus on skills development and training has never been so important, notes Dr Zulu.

“Skills development has the potential to turn the tide against unemployment,” he adds.