In the last couple of years, there has been much talk about township economies. Sadly this talk has never been matched by actions. The neglect by the government of township entrepreneurs is heart-wrenching.  One of my enduring passions has been about the development of thriving local communities through the creation of sustainable local enterprise. I have come to believe that there is no community cohesion without an adequate economic system that sustains local livelihoods.

Our townships are buffeted by crime and other social ills for a number of reasons and one being the dire economic situation that has birthed a terrible miasma of despair. Whilst the township economy and its potential is firmly ensconced in the government’s economic agenda, there has been little in terms of actualisation. The concept has gained currency with our public officials and is now in vogue but examples of successful implementation are thin on the ground. So whilst the talk about township economies has been good the follow-through has left a lot to be desired.

We have spent money in attracting foreign investors to be located in some of our industrial development zones; we have dangled tax breaks as carrots to lure international investment into these spaces. The countries success has been phenomenal as Coega has attracted over R150 billion with a growing pipeline. The Special Economic Zones Act is helping to attract more investment from Atlantis in the Western Cape to Bojanala in the North West. We need to deploy the same strategy for the development of township enterprise.

 Through grant donations and similar tax incentives, we can ignite local enterprise creation within these townships. An important aspect of our interventions has to be space. Our starting point in developing thriving township economies should be about establishing structures and buildings from which these enterprises can be located. Finding suitable located and affordable working space remains a bane for township entrepreneurs. Apartheid town planners imagined townships serving as dormitories for cheap labour.

 This then presents us with a plethora of issues and challenges as we wish to transition these places into thriving economies. For example, telephone connectivity is terrible in many townships and the electricity supply is intermittent. These are some of the challenges faced by township entrepreneurs every day. Zoning and finding suitable land is a major Achilles heel for township entrepreneurs, hobbling their progress. Affordable and suitably located working space is difficult to find in the townships as newly built shopping malls are expensive and suitable land unavailable, especially for small local producers of goods and services. One thing we need to do is to develop and build suitable and affordable working space for local township entrepreneurs.

Working space is a missing link for township entrepreneurs. These envisaged workspaces will be located in the township environment, where many small handymen and local craftsmen lack decent space from which they can work from. The workspace will accommodate steel craftsman, carpenter, wood crafter, electric appliance fixer, TV and Audio Visual fixer, plumber, upholster etc. The workspace must be designed such that customers and members of the general public can visit the centre to buy and get quotes for their upcoming projects. 

The workspace will be a place where local enterprise can work, meet, learn, network and sell. The space where local people can visit the centre to window shop, buy, get quotes and sometimes simple to plan. To achieve the centre where tenants work and in front of their workspace have a display of their products. The space that allows customers to walk about and interact with our tenants. This space should be a networking place for local entrepreneurs. 

The space needs to offer such benefits for local entrepreneurs such as an opportunity notice board where upcoming workshops, events, subcontracting opportunities, networking sessions can be displayed. Aesthetically designed and constructed workspaces will be the necessary catalyst for township revitalisation. Developing these spaces is the best way of creating resilient neighbourhoods capable of regenerating into producer economies, which is a departure from current consumption-led economic activity in the townships. 

These spaces will assist with the national agenda of creating a diversified, sustainable, equitable and inclusive economy. Lack of suitable and affordable workspace is a major impediment to the growth of these local enterprises and the provision of an affordable workspace can remove a major barrier in their growth. Our economic development approach has always had a biased towards big box investments and I hereby suggest that our government must embroider township economic development and township enterprise creation as an important thread into the quilt-like government plan to grow the country’s economy and in this regard action speaks louder than words.