Lesedi Mayor Mluleki Nkosi attended a symposium hosted by Front Line Africa, in collaboration with the Lesedi Black Business Forum, on October 15.

The symposium focused on the challenges posed by deindustrialisation in SA’s small towns.

Delivering the keynote address, Nkosi outlined the economic struggles facing the Lesedi Local Municipality (LLM), with a particular focus on the impact of British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa), while also sharing the LLM’s plans to position Lesedi as a prime destination for future investment.

“The Batsa factory in Heidelberg has historically been a substantial contributor to our economy, supporting 3 854 jobs and adding approximately R3.2b to the local GDP in 2022. However, it has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 tobacco ban and the rise in illicit trade. Since 2020, Batsa has reduced its workforce by over 30%, including around 200 job losses this year alone,” said Nkosi.

He added that unemployment in Lesedi had reached 43%, further deepening the economic strain on residents.

“The collection of municipal revenue from Batsa has dropped drastically, from R18m per month to just R2m, underscoring the broader challenges facing our local economy,” he said.

Despite these difficulties, Nkosi was optimistic about Lesedi’s future.

“Colleagues and partners, the decline of industry in Lesedi need not define our future. We have unique advantages – our location along national transport corridors, available industrial land and a growing population that offers a workforce and a market,” he said.

Several stimulus initiatives are underway to revive economic growth in the LLM. These include allocating strategic land parcels in Heidelberg Ext 24 to attract projects through the Vaal Special Economic Zone initiative.

The key interventions forming part of this development include:

• 180ha of land across two parcels in the LLM;

• aerospace and defence manufacturing;

• light manufacturing;

• agro-processing;

• logistics;

• waste-to-energy projects.

Additionally, a cross-border steel manufacturing factory is in development along the border of the Victor Khanye and Lesedi Local Municipalities, which is expected to create significant employment once operational.