Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition

MESSAGE
Welcome to our province, Limpopo
A message from the Premier of Limpopo, the Honourable Chupu Stanley Mathabatha.
Chupu Stanley Mathabatha,
Premier of Limpopo
It is my great pleasure to have
the opportunity of providing a
note of welcome for the 2016/17
edition of Limpopo Business to
all businesses, investors and
members of the public sector,
both locally and from around
the world.
It gives me extra joy to welcome
members of the business
community who are not familiar
with our province, as we have a
great deal to offer, particularly in
terms of agriculture, manufacture
and transport. Not for nothing is Limpopo known as the “gateway’”
province, as we share our border with three neighbouring countries -
Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique – as well as being neighbours
to three South African provinces – Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the
North West.
Limpopo harbours beautiful and contrasting landscapes, making it a
favourite destination for leisure and adventure travellers worldwide. We
have remained a province that honours and respects our rich natural
heritage, in so doing preserving it for our future generations as well
as sharing it with national and international visitors alike.
The province is divided into five regions, notably Capricorn (occupied
by the Bapedi people), the Waterberg (occupied by the Batswana
people), Vhembe (occupied by the Vhavenda and VaTsonga people,
the latter residing in Mopani) and Sekhukhune, which is dominated
by the Bapedi and Ndebele people.
The warmth and welcome of the people of Limpopo has played
a major role in ensuring that our tourism sector has remained the
province’s strategic competitive economic advantage. Despite the
various economic challenges the country has been facing, the province’s
tourism industry has continued to flourish, with the sector
continuing to create jobs and employ more people. We are relishing
our number one spot in the domestic tourism market space. It has
been shown time and again that most South Africans enjoy visiting
our province, and that explains why we retain top billing in the tourism
rankings. The Limpopo Tourism Agency has also recently been
restructured to enable it to focus attention on giving our tourism
sector even greater promotion.
Our Limpopo Development Plan symbolises our dedication to the
improvement of our provincial economy. This plan is our contribution
to the nation’s development and it details how we as Limpopo
share the same vision and imperative regarding poverty reduction,
elimination of social inequality and the creation of sustainable jobs
in our province.
The plan has affirmed the role of SMMEs and cooperatives in the
productive sectors as a critical component towards radical economic
transformation. This is in an effort to make Limpopo an investment
centre for both national and international investors. During our trade
and investment mission to the People’s Republic of China in October
2014, we signed memorandums of agreement with big investors. The
first memorandum of agreement was signed with Hong Kong Mining
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