2 days ago
Coega ignoring solutions by business to develop Markman
While this expresses belief in the success of the South African democracy, a true collaborative approach will recognise that special economic zone (SEZ) employment success is modest — at best.
The Coega SEZ has come at enormous cost, failing the communities it dislocated, and is not mitigating its environmental impacts.
The inception studies for the Coega SEZ projected the creation of 100,000 jobs.
Nearly 30 years later, we're not even at 10% of that jobs target (many of the jobs claimed are not in the SEZ), communities relocated out of the Coega SEZ have been marginalised with unrealised promises (the Coega 360), and Algoa Bay marine life is being devastated while the SEZ and port authorities both abdicate responsibility.
Meanwhile, the residents of the city are incredulous at the misrule devastating our local economy.
Jobs and economic development are about strengthening the rates base of the city, and that's not happening.
As reported by The Herald ( June 9 2025), the municipality is in the process of writing off R218m of Coega Development Corporation (CDC) rates debt.
And the CDC is not paying rates for the property being managed on behalf of the municipality in Kariega.
This is not because businesses are not paying their share of rates — they most certainly are.
The rates are being withheld by the CDC due to a dispute with the municipality around who should pay for the public infrastructure serving the industries.
While agreement has been reached between the two parties to write-off the CDC rates debt, the full facts of this debacle must be considered by the oversight mechanisms of council to ensure legislative compliance.
These facts are available but are being ignored or withheld. However, the underlying principle remains, the government is on a rates boycott of itself, while diligent citizens paying for services carry the cost.
The entire saga, including the other rates write-off proposals, begs a detailed analysis.
The data is there — but the collaborative leadership to undertake it is not.
And if the leadership abdicate their responsibility, citizens must simply get under the hood, understand the real reasons for the proposed write-offs, and name and shame the elites who will benefit.
It is logically impossible for the poor to be benefiting from the write-offs being proposed as those write-offs are what would have funded service delivery.
Charles Dickens also says: 'It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.'
The wisdom of municipal representation on SEZ boards is only part of the story.
There has always been municipal representation on CDC boards but this was managed through what political analyst Ongama Mtimka has called creative politicking.
William Gumede is more blunt, attributing the failure of the public sector and state-owned enterprises to 'ideology trumping reality'.
What has prevailed is an age of foolishness, where societal objectives are displaced by economies of extraction that are dominated by political elites acting in their own narrow self-interest.
Markman Industrial Township is a case in point.
The wisdom of good road networks servicing ports for logistics efficiencies is a building block for economic growth, but it's being broken by the foolishness of misrule.
Despite clear regulation in the zoning scheme for the Coega SEZ, Markman industry continues to be illegally denied direct access to the Port of Ngqura via Neptune Road which is a public road.
In Markman, businesses religiously pay their rates, they employ more than 3,000 people, yet public infrastructure supposed to service the area has collapsed — a direct consequence of businesses being excluded from access to the public infrastructure (Neptune Road) of the Coega SEZ.
Business has workable solutions for enhancing the logistics efficiencies of the city and enabling more competitive businesses.
Business has solutions for mitigating the negative impacts of manganese on city roads, they have solutions for creating jobs, fixing infrastructure, and for diversifying the economy in ways that only business can do.
Yet five years later, the government and CDC continue to ignore the solutions being offered by business, take the rates of business, fail to provide services, and leave businesses to fend for themselves.
Business has raised these issues with every sphere of government: hosted tours by government officials, made parliamentary submissions, hosted oversight visits, and received commitments that the road would be opened.
Yet the simplest of first steps — opening a gate from Markman onto Neptune public road — has been blocked by the CDC for the past five years with demands for an access payment.
Every sphere of government has been consulted, and all agree with the proposals to open the Neptune Road gate.
Only one party is always absent when it comes to finding a collaborative solution — the CDC — and their creative politicking for survival with a dysfunctional municipality simply continues.
• Graham Taylor is the spokesperson for the Markman Business Forum (MBF), a membership based nonprofit company representative of the industries and property owners of Markman Township, that develops and maintains public infrastructure.
The Herald
