Growing up in the shadow of the Volkswagen South Africa vehicle assembly plant in the Eastern Cape, Wamkele Neme saw first-hand the social and economic benefits of a thriving motor industry. He recalls how, when the Uitenhage company was about to launch its first export programme, a neighbour who worked for the company was sent to Germany for quality training.
The free trade area officially came into being last year but remains a work in progress. Though nearly all Africa’s states have signed the agreement, actual free trade remains a long way off. South Africa is one of the few to ban used imports, except under special circumstances, though the moral high ground it likes to occupy in discussions with other countries was undermined this week when Kia South Africa MD Gary Scott revealed that about 55,000 used imports enter South Africa illegally each year. In all, he estimates there are about 440,000 on the country’s roads.
Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria are among countries with high hopes for their relatively small motor industries. Several others have the potential to contribute — if not as vehicle manufacturers, then certainly as suppliers. Rubber, leather and copper, says Neme, are among raw materials in demand by the global motor industry.