President Ramaphosa calls for infrastructure investment to rebuild South African industry
13 August 2026 | Johannesburg
SEIFSA hosted President Cyril Ramaphosa at an exclusive Presidential Business Breakfast on Thursday, 13 August 2026, bringing together leaders from across South Africa’s metals, engineering and manufacturing sectors for a direct engagement on the future of the country’s industrial economy.
Addressing industry leaders, President Ramaphosa recognised the strategic importance of the metals and engineering sector and the more than 1,300 companies represented by SEIFSA. He said South Africa was entering an important period of infrastructure investment and economic reform, presenting an opportunity not only to build infrastructure, but to rebuild the country’s industrial capacity.
A central theme of the President’s address was the opportunity presented by South Africa’s infrastructure pipeline. Government’s infrastructure programme amounts to approximately R1 trillion over the next three years, spanning transmission, rail, ports, water, renewable energy and other strategic infrastructure.
For the metals and engineering sector, the scale of the opportunity is significant.
South Africa will require around 14,000 kilometres of new transmission lines over the coming decade, alongside substantial investment in substations and transformation capacity. This will create demand for fabricated steel, towers, conductors, cables, transformers, switchgear, engineering services and other locally manufactured products.
The President stressed that this investment should also create apprenticeships, develop artisans and engineers, strengthen local suppliers and leave South Africa with greater manufacturing capacity once the infrastructure has been built.
He also challenged South African industry to look beyond the domestic market, saying the African Continental Free Trade Area presented an opportunity for South Africa to become the engineering workshop of the African continent, exporting locally manufactured equipment and engineering expertise into growing African markets.
For SEIFSA, the engagement reinforced the importance of continued dialogue between government and industry on the practical conditions required for manufacturing investment, including affordable and reliable electricity, efficient logistics, predictable regulation, appropriate trade measures, skills development and greater certainty around the infrastructure procurement pipeline.
President Ramaphosa closed with a call for government, business and labour to work together to usher in a new period of industrialisation and increase the amount South Africa manufactures and exports.
SEIFSA thanks President Ramaphosa for engaging directly with the sector, as well as the industry leaders who joined us for this important conversation.
SEIFSA also acknowledges ACTOM, Macsteel, Columbus Stainless, Reclamation Group and Colourfield for their support of the Presidential Business Breakfast.
