South African Business 2018 edition

A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF THE
WESTERN CAPE
The Western Cape straddles the west and southeastern
coastlines of South Africa. The province’s
southernmost point is Aghulus, which is also the
southern tip of Africa where the Atlantic and
Indian oceans meet.
The terrain and climate is varied, from the dry
north-western coast to the heavily forested Garden
Route regions of the southern Cape via the rugged
mountains of the Cedarberg, the rolling winelands of
the Boland and the Overberg, the fertile valleys of the
Klein Karoo and the wide plains of the Great Karoo.
The Western Cape is well served with infrastructure.
Three ports at Saldanha, Cape Town and
Mossel Bay serve different markets and Cape Town
International Airport and George Airport see to air -
travel needs. In 2016, CTIA welcomed 10-million visitors,
a new landmark. The Port of Cape Town recently
opened a Cruise Terminal and a large new fuel storage
terminal is being constructed in the port. Cape
Town also hosts an oil refinery (Chevref) and there
is a gas-to-liquids refinery at Mossel Bay run by the
national oil company, PetroSA.
The Cape Town International Convention Centre
is the province’s leading facility in the events and
conference field, which is an area of growth for
the province.
The national parliament is in Cape Town and there
is a separate provincial legislature. The Western Cape
is unique among South Africa’s nine provinces in
that the Democratic Alliance (DA) runs the province.
The African National Congress is the majority party
in the national parliament and it controls the other
eight provinces.
The DA also governs most of the provincial municipalities
in the province, including the metropolitan
municipality of Cape Town. There are five district
municipalities which are further divided into 24 local
municipalities.
Cape Town has three universities and several
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(TVET) colleges.
Key sectors
Tourism grew at 6.6% for the five years to 2014 and
generated jobs growth in the same period of 7.7%.
The sector employs 204 000 people in formal jobs and
is worth about R17-billion to the regional economy.
Growth is expected to continue.
The capacity of the Cape Town International
Conference Centre (CTICC) is being doubled. The
Foreshore is at the heart of a series of new developments
that are set to have a major impact on the
tourism industry.
Finance, business services and real estate combined
contribute 28% to the gross domestic product
(GDP) of the Western Cape. Asset management
and venture capital companies have been growing
strongly in recent times.
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018
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