The industry produces a range of building products and ceramics as well as glass. It contributed 3,1% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, down from 3,4% in the third quarter of 2013 and 3,6% in the third quarter of 2010. The industry reported growing exports, however,…

The industry includes textiles and wearing apparel as well as leather (much of which goes into the auto industry) and footwear. It contributed 2,7% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, virtually the same as in the third quarter of 2013 but down from 3,1% in the…

The industry contributed 2,5% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, down from 3,1% in the third quarter of 2013 and the third quarter of 2010. It appeared to be a decline, however, presumably in part because of the shift to digital distribution of media. Production fell…

This industry covers a highly varied set of products, including most telecommunications equipment as well as medical and other precision instruments. It contributed 1,1% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, with the share remaining stable from 2010. It appeared to be very strongly and successfully export…

The industry contributed 0,8% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, with its share remaining fairly constant from 2010. Production fell by 3,7% from third quarter 2013 to the third quarter of 2015, compared to an increase of 11% from the third quarter of 2010 to the…

Ports Regulation: Are we achieving the objectives of the Ports Act? Comparisons with Ports Regulators from India, Australia and elsewhere (19 November 2013). Presentation by Dr Sheila Farrell, Imperial College London:

Since 1994 the South African government has identified poverty alleviation as a key policy goal. This objective was formulated under the auspices of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy which has arguably had limited success (Hassan, 2001). In 2004 the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA)…

This document is part two of a three part report on employment intermediation. Part one provides an overview of the sector, internationally and nationally, and part three captures the recommendations for further work towards strengthening the sector. In this second part of that report, seven case studies of existing employment…

The Local Labour Promotion Project (hereafter LLPP) has been developed internally within the Overstrand Municipality which is situated in the Overberg District of the Western Cape Province. The LLPP was developed initially in 2005 to deal with the high level of municipal services arrears owed by unemployed debtors in the…

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) a third of the global workforce is either unemployed or underemployed barely eking out a living through informal work; selfemployment or as wage workers involved in precarious employment. International competitive pressures have led to a restructuring of organizations toward decentralized production networks and…

Youth unemployment is extremely high in South Africa, approximately double the national rate. While this is not uncommon internationally, it poses a special problem in South Africa where at least half of young school leavers are unlikely to find work before the age of 24. In many other countries, the…

Siyakhula, or the Western Cape Bus Operators’ Transport Cooperative Ltd, operates within the bus sector of the transport industry. A brief description of the sector follows in order to contextualise the operations of the cooperative. The transport, storage and communications sector increased its share in real output growth in the…

Street trading is the most common type of informal self-employment activity in South Africa. Traders sell a range of products such as fruits and vegetables, cooked food, new and used clothing, cosmetics, footwear, dvds, “public” telephone services and mobile phone accessories. Most traders operate from stalls or tables in market…

This executive summary is not presented in the usual manner of summarising the findings of each chapter of the report. The complexity and detail covered in the report, and the nuances in the debates, makes such an option impossible. Rather, a brief overview of the key issues and approaches is…

Improving small, marginalised producers access to modern markets has increasingly been accepted as an important element in South African policy debates on improving the employment, income and livelihood opportunities for such producers. The importance of market access arises because in the absence of such access, these producers are restricted to…

Patrick Sathorar acts as a marketing consultant for a group of 25-30 HIV-positive women in Nyanga, Cape Town. They produce textile and beaded products and Patrick facilitates their participation in the formal market by sourcing and negotiating contracts for them. Patrick’s role comprises the following: first, he meets with a…

Agriculture plays a unique and multifaceted role in the South African economy. While it contributes less than three percent to the country’s GDP, it provides almost 10 percent of the country’s formal sector employment. The sector has, according to all measures, relatively large linkage effects with the rest of the…

Within the ambit of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa, government is leading a process to define a Second Economy Strategy. One of the opportunities that has been identified is the agricultural sector, in particular fostering a larger number of smallholder agriculturalists. The study seeks to identify…

The paper argues for a broad based access to property, broader than access to title allows, with the potential for wider, quicker and more sustained reach. It motivates for a place for tenure security in the second economy strategy as a means for securing access to property, a pre-condition for…

This case study provides a comparative analysis of two different initiatives designed to promote the smallholder sector in metropolitan Cape Town. The City of Cape Town has developed an urban agriculture policy and initiated a joint venture between itself, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and private sector partners to put…