An evaluative analysis of industrial development zones and export processing zones with reference to the Coega Industrial Development Zone

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:South Africa is experiencing similar problems as those occurring in other developingcountries. Such problems include: large scale poverty; unequal regional development;inefficient policies; fragmented transport systems. The list goes on. This is largelydue to apartheid policiesthat were implemented.After 1994 a series of new policies and programmes was implemented. Their aimwas to eradicate apartheid planning; to provide equal and fair development foreveryone and to stimulate and boost the economy. The Reconstruction andDevelopment Programme (RDP) was the first policy of its kind, followed by theGrowth, Employment and Redistribution programme (GEAR). The aim of these twopolicies was to stimulate the economy, especially in areas where there is a need foran economic boost. This ultimately led to programmes such as the SpatialDevelopment Initiative (SDI); Local Economic Development and Export ProcessingZones or as they are better known in South Africa, Industrial Development Zones.Programmes or initiative such as these were aimed at boosting the economy,providing employment and utilising resources in a region. This is the shift that hastaken place in development planning, from traditional regional policies towardsincentive driven policiesthat try to attract investment into under-developed regions.Programmessuch as Industrial Development Zones however have a long history, notall of it positive. These zones have been known as sweatshops and that they usechild labour. The largest problem of these zones is that labour legislation is almostnon-existent.In 2001 South Africa declared Coega the first Industrial Development Zone in thecountry. The zone will link to the Spatial Development Initiative programme thatwas implemented in 1996. An uproar followed when labour organisations such asCOSATUlearned that the government is going to use Industrial Development Zones,which are similar to Export ProcessingZones, to stimulate the economy and to solvethe problem of unemployment in specific areas of the country. However the labour legislation of South Africa will be applied in the IndustrialDevelopment Zones. That just leaves the problem of efficiency and effectiveness.Will these zones really address and solve the employment problems in South Africa?Zones such as those in Mauritius have been a success, but there are cases where thezones did not create employment and more money was spend on putting in theinfrastructure and services in the zones, than was made in the zone. Time will be thejudge in the case of Coega Industrial Development Zone.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University