Update on W-Cape’s economic recovery interventions
As prelude to today’s State of the Province Address (SOPA), Western Cape premier ALAN WINDE released these facts and figures on Sunday
Throughout our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Western Gape Government has worked hard to balance saving lives with protecting livelihoods. In addition to advocating for the safe reopening of business, based on scientific evidence, we have also provided a support package to businesses to protect jobs and grow the economy.
By promoting investment, providing financial and non-financial support and through innovative interventions, we have attracted billions of Rands of investment into the Western Cape over the past year, helped to create or support thousands of jobs and economic opportunities, and assisted small and informal businesses to stay afloat.
To support SMMEs, the R39-million Covid-19 Business Relief Fund was established and provided a lifeline to 257 businesses across the province, sustaining 2,041 jobs.
To support the wine tourism economy so battered by restrictions and the collapse in tourist numbers, we registered 1.165 employees for the Wine Tourism Workers Support Stipend.
To support the creative economy, R4.7-million in relief funding was allocated to 753 successful Arts, Culture and Heritage applicants. We worked with the Deeds Office and helped reduce the construction industry’s backlog by over 25.000 applications.
We also facilitated the fast-tracking of 11 EIA applications, which has resulted in R130-million in investment value opportunities created. To support the youth, we facilitated the placement of 3,500 young people in workplaces.
We assisted each district with the formulation of their own recovery interventions to stimulate growth and job creation. To support exporters, we assisted the Port of Cape Town in improving their operational challenges, especially around the processing times at container terminals.
We also supported the tourism economy by ensuring that George Airport was reopened, after initially not being on the approved list announced by the minister of Transport.
In a collaborative effort between our departments of Economic Development. Tourism and Health, and ACSA, we were able to find a solution that enabled Covid-19 screening. This intervention resulted in 34.239 travellers being assisted and will sustain over 2,000 jobs.
Our tourism promotion agency, Wesgro, also launched its domestic tourism campaign to promote the Western Cape among visitors from other provinces in South Africa.
While the campaign was interrupted by the second wave and nonsensical beach ban, it was able to secure 20.000 seat bookings through its microsite.
To support the informal economy, we partnered with the EDP on a pilot project that supported the township economy and the humanitarian response by giving community kitchens vouchers to buy stock from local spa/a shops.
I will be visiting some of those who benefited from this project with finance and Economic Opportunities minister David Maynor.
Since the start of the financial year in April, our entities have facilitated nine investments into the Western Cape Economy – five by Wesgro, three by the Saldanha Bay IDZ, and one in the Atlantis SEZ. Together, these three entities have helped secure over R4-billion investment which will create over 1.000 jobs.
We have also supported small businesses to stay safe and adhere to Covid-19 safety protocols by providing 11,000 safety kits to be distributed across the province, and distributed over 100.000 masks to agri workers.
When delivering my SOPA in Genadendal on February 17, I will outline our next steps to boost the economy and stimulate job creation. I can assure residents and businesses alike that the Western Cape Government will continue to fight for jobs, advocate for business, and build partnerships that lead to increased trade and investment while also reducing red tape.