Our Background
The automotive industry in the Eastern Cape is the backbone of the provincial economy, with a collective experience spanning 100 years when Ford assembled its first vehicle (model T) in 1923, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha). This was followed by Volkswagen in 1951 when it assembled its first Beetle in Kariega and then Daimler-Benz in 1954 when it assembled its range of W-models in East London.
Following the establishment of these OEMs in the province were a network of component manufacturers who play a critical role in the assembly process and the export of finished vehicles. This industry that employs thousands of people in the province is supported by a range of policy instruments and incentives managed by the dtic at the national level.
For the first time, the Provincial Government has taken deliberate decisions to augment the dtic's effort in supporting the industry by setting aside its support instruments towards maintaining the province's competitiveness as an exporter and assembler of vehicles.
MEC Mlungisi Mvoko: Chairperson of ECPAAC
About the AIDC-EC
An Eastern Cape Provincial Government entity, established to focus on assisting the automotive sector in the Eastern Cape to remain competitive.
VISION:
To be a catalyst for a transformed, growing and sustainable automotive sector in the Eastern Cape
MISSION:
To facilitate collaboration between government and all its automotive sector stakeholders to achieve competitiveness of the Eastern Cape.
VALUES
Integrity: honest and having strong moral principles
Respect: hold our stakeholders in high esteem
Excellence: quality performance in everything we do
Service: always based on customer perspective
Responsive: responding as quick as possible
Transformative: able to cause important and lasting change
Collaborative: driven by purpose to accomplish a common goal
Industry Collaborations
The AIDC-EC is the Secretariat of the Provincial Automotive Advisory Council for the Eastern Cape, with MEC Mlungisi Mvoko as the Chairperson. The Council facilitates and coordinates effective communication channels between industry and government toward the development, progress and understanding of challenges faced by the automotive industry in the Eastern Cape.Stakeholder Engagement is paramount for the AIDC-EC as a state-owned entity (SOE)
Partnerships, collaboration, coordination, and consolidating our collective efforts in the growth of the automotive sector of the Eastern Cape.
The Provincial Automotive Advisory Council (PAAC) leads the beacon of our sector coordination work, chaired by the MEC of DEDEAT and Treasury, Mlungisi Mvoko and AIDC-EC, the Secretariat, represented By the CEO, Thabo Shenxane.
This is a critical and strategic platform established to provide updates, reflections, challenges, and progress on items of high importance to attaining SAAM 2035 targets by strengthening the Provincial support for the automotive sector of the Eastern Cape.
ECPAAC participants comprise national industry bodies, including NAACAM and naamsa, government departments, Transnet, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), dtic, Eastern Cape-based OEMs, CEOs and organised businesses.
The Council provides connectedness of Government and Industry representatives to ensure momentum and progress and facilitate consensus and actions that address matters of importance to grow the automotive sector in the province.
The Eastern Cape Provincial Automotive Advisory Council is a landmark occasion for several salient reasons.
-
The Eastern Cape has under-advocated itself regarding its national importance to the Automotive Industry. The presence of the country’s key stakeholders at the council is a significant milestone. It also demonstrates a collective understanding of the importance of automotive sector growth in the Eastern Cape.
-
The Eastern Cape as an Automotive Hub represents the heart of South Africa’s automotive manufacturing capability, yet it has broadly adopted a more reactive approach to this growth rather than a proactive one, which is now clearly required.
- The investment of Eastern Cape based OEMs has been approximately R20 billion over the past five years. It is the lifeblood of the provincial economy providing around 30 000 core jobs, supporting a much wider periphery of dependents and local economies.
- As the country’s largest exporter of vehicles, its vulnerability, in the context of the dynamic technology shifts taking place and referred to above present a catastrophic sized risk to the Eastern Cape economy and the country’s socio-economic and socio-political stability.
Provincial Commitment
In the context of the aforementioned points on the importance of the Eastern Cape Automotive Sector and even more present challenges, including infrastructure development and efficiency, skills and supplier development, energy and utility management, and transformation and inclusion, remain critical.
In his State Of the Province Address (SOPA) 2022, 2023, and 2024 the Eastern Cape Premier announced major projects that the Provincial Government is in partnership with the industry.
The AIDC-EC will implement numerous projects on behalf of the province, and they seek to promote engineering skills amongst youth, promote the after-market industry, support component suppliers with competitiveness programmes, lobby and advocacy, develop EV charging stations, policy and general awareness about the economic contribution of the sector in the province.
EV vs ICE = EFFICIENCY
The HOD of the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Eastern Cape Ms Mickey Mama was one of the key stakeholders who attended the 2022 EV Roundtable discussion, "Flip the Switch", from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) to Electric Vehicles (EV) and supports the province engaging in dialogues on this pertinent subject matter from Policy incentives to Skills and Economic Infrastructure.
Some of the key resolutions emanating from the Round Table were:
1
Creation of a Provincial Strategy Driven by Incentive Instruments
2
Serious consideration is given to grid capacity and a balanced energy mix promoting true industrialisation.
3
Increase recharging availability throughout the Eastern Cape.
4
Identification and implementation of strategic projects to promote the development and retention of skills.
5
Working together to ensure local communities welcome the incoming transformation of the industry in the Eastern Cape.
6
Education on the future of EVs.
Publications:
-
News
-
Tenders
-
Vacancies
Operating Hours
Mon - Fri: 08h00 - 16h30