A meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) is not on the agenda yet for the SA Aerospace, Defence and Maritime Industries Association (AMD) with resuscitation of the Aerospace and Defence Masterplan currently the focus.
The plan, developed in 2020, was said at the time to be the “last hope” of the South African defence industry (SADI). Among others, it contained goals and plans of action to stabilise and develop the SADI. One pillar was to double South African defence exports in the short to medium term. Another aimed at using government-to-government marketing to increase market access, increase export earnings and position South Africa as a regional centre of excellence for maintenance, repair and overhaul and as supplier of choice for commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturing and operations and armoured vehicles.
Like the SADI lekgotla, the Masterplan has languished. Sandile Ndlovu, AMD Executive Director, AMD Executive Chair and SA Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Export Council CEO, has it as a priority with Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau.
“The idea is that through the Masterplan we will be able to elevate SADI issues to a level where they receive the same attention from The Presidency as other sectors. We are also planning to use the planned Industry lekgotla to put a case forward that promotes SADI,” he told defenceWeb adding, “we accept that we have our work cut out for us and we are more than up to the challenge”.
Ndlovu sees the SADI as a catalyst for “greater economic development in South Africa” and as “a player in creating jobs for the future, with the skills that those jobs require”.
Ramaphosa announced the seventh administration EAC last year and chaired the inaugural meeting of the 19 member council on 15 January. Post the meeting a statement issued by The Presidency had him saying: “The Presidential EAC will play an important role in providing independent advice as we seek to ensure that our economic policy is informed by sound evidence, by innovation and by a diversity of views and opinions.”
The South African defence industry is on track to double defence exports in line with the masterplan. “There are very real, immediate and important opportunities for the industry in the short term, with the potential to at least double industry exports in the short to medium term, [and] expand production in certain key areas,” the Masterplan stated.
According to National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) figures, in 2023 South African defence exports amounted to R7.1 billion, up from R4.6 billion in 2022.
The Masterplan’s goal is to increase export earnings to R13 billion by the end of 2025 through optimisation of existing strengths and capacity, and support of viable new products to market.
