Welcome to the July 2026 issue of Dataweek. As you can see from this introduction, Dataweek’s regular editor, Peter Howells, is on extended leave and I am filling the void in his editor’s column – hopefully without being too boring. My usual job is editing SMART Security Solutions, so an electronic engineering publication is an interesting change.
Readers of Dataweek and SMART Security Solutions do have one thing in common, however. Both industries rely on technology and have seen local manufacturing decline over the years. We all know the reasons for this, one of which is the influx of cheaper goods from China. Far from the time when any ‘Made in China’ label meant cheap and low quality, Chinese manufacturers today have shown that they can compete with the best. If you buy cheap, you still get what you pay for, but that is not the manufacturer’s fault.
When it comes to local manufacturing, it is often said that Chinese companies have an advantage due to government subsidies. While some will see this as an unfair advantage, those subsidies have driven Chinese manufacturing to the point where it now sells products and components both domestically and internationally, making it a manufacturing powerhouse.
Those types of subsidies are worth their weight in semiconductors when looking back over the years at the growth they have created. Which brings me to the question of why the South African government is not supporting local South African industries?
Subsidies that are carefully allocated to selected industries, businesses that actually produce stuff and not your chommies who pay ‘commission’ on the loot, would have a tremendous effect on local manufacturing. On the one hand, local businesses will be able to operate at full capacity, invest in training, and create jobs while competing on price.
Excluding export/import costs will also benefit the entire supply chain, right down to the end customer. Local can be lekker and affordable, feeding the economic engine and creating even more demand. Offering quality products at competitive prices could also drive offshore demand, creating an export market for local goods, boosting employment and even government tax revenue.
Of course, the export idea only works when the transport functions, like ports, are efficiently managed and operate properly – not to mention rail and roads. It will also require professional auditing to ensure subsidies are allocated to real companies and that the money is spent in accordance with predetermined rules. Of course, the previous sentence is not something we regularly see in South Africa, but if run correctly, there is no reason it cannot be done.
The impact will extend far beyond a single sector of the economy or even the supply chain. Each new job created and every person upskilled will have an impact on their own mini-environments, reducing poverty and bringing more people into the economy. It could even lead to new businesses, creating more jobs and economic benefits.
The catch is that it does not happen overnight, and the planning and management of such policies should have been done years ago, but it was not (not to the extent that it has a significant national impact). We cannot go back in time, so when would be a better time to start?
If government is willing to engage in real public/private partnerships, put real money on the table with real governance and compliance rules enforced from day one, and implement real outcomes-based processes and management structures, the impact would be immense, from the national down to the individual level. First, however, we need to get the bugs out of the machine (tinyurl.com/msj6bjmd).
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