Durban — KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has expressed optimism about investor confidence in the province’s economy after South African Breweries (SAB) injected R825 million through the expansion of the Prospecton Brewery.
On Monday morning, Dube-Ncube presided over the SAB’s multi-million expansion project.
The aim of the visit is to unpack SAB’s investment into KZN pledged at the South African Investment Conference.
In a multi-million rand investment that will create over 25 000 job opportunities and rekindle the hopes of people in KZN, the SAB is set to expand its operations after setbacks, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the devastating floods in April and May.
Dube-Ncube described SAB’s investment into its Prospecton Brewery as an overwhelming vote of confidence in the future of the province.
“As the provincial government, we are pleased that this injection will lead to the creation of 25 000 additional jobs throughout the value chain and we can safely say that this investment will positively impact at least 125 000 people in our province. There is no better pride in someone than being able to put food on the table and to be able to give dignity to a family by taking care of its needs for shelter and education,” Dube-Ncube said.
The investment will benefit service providers by R652 million as the brewery will procure services from them.
“We applaud SAB for this show of confidence in the province that will, over time, inject an additional R4.4 billion to the province’s gross domestic product. Indeed, this is a major boost for the KwaZulu-Natal economy as it goes beyond the bricks and mortar here at SAB to impact the economic growth of not only the province, but by extension, our country as well. This investment also has another important effect, which is to shine the spotlight on KwaZulu-Natal and to attract further investment into our provincial economy,” Dube-Ncube said.
The SAB is a major player, directly employing 572 employees, 50% of whom are based in Prospecton. Furthermore, SAB has established a firm socio-economic footprint in KZN, with the company investing more than R20 million per annum in socio-economic development ventures in the province, thus making a huge impact on the development of local communities.
Dube-Ncube also welcomed the positive initiatives being rolled out by SAB through their campaign, which encourages responsible drinking.
“The responsible drinking campaign demonstrates that the SAB is serious about playing a role in reducing and preventing the harmful use of alcohol and in being a good corporate citizen. The province recently launched the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign, which runs from November 25 until December 10. KwaZulu-Natal is taking the campaign further, having resolved to make fighting Gender-Based Violence a matter of 365 days of the year, and not just 16 days,” Dube-Ncube said.
The premier also reaffirmed the provincial government was hard at work to rebuild the province after economic setbacks such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the July 2021 unrest and the flood disasters so that KZN becomes a destination of choice for investors.
SAB chief executive Richard Rivett-Carnac said the project was important for SAB, and this was a reaffirmation of SAB’s commitment, to the country and KZN.
“We're investing R825 million into the expansion of the Prospecton Brewery, and what it really speaks to is it’s a long-term investment. It speaks to our belief in the KZN economy, and it's great to give back to KZN at a time when they really need it most,” Rivett-Carnac said.
He said that direct jobs within the SAB is not significant, but the important part of the investment is that it will add 25 000 jobs to the entire value chain throughout South Africa, and most of those jobs will be here in KZN.
“Obviously, we will produce and brew more beer locally, and that means we will need to rely on more local suppliers to transport the beer, to sell the beer, and so a very important boost not only for jobs but also for the economy of the province.
“The reality is we do run a fairly automated process in our breweries. So at the end of the day, it won't add a significant number of jobs here in the brewery, but what's important is obviously the expansion of the work that's been done. We've extensively used local contractors to help us with the building. So that has created a significant number of jobs,” Rivett-Carnac said.
He said that the additional capacity means long term, there will be a significant number of jobs in transport, in retail, in agriculture, throughout the province, and those jobs will be sustained over the very long term.
“We're very aware of the problems we face as a country, which is why we've launched what we call SAB Sharp. That is a program that's been built to deal with responsible consumption. So it deals with tackling drink driving. It deals with ensuring that our traders trade responsibly and, therefore, our consumers drink responsibly. And working very, very closely with the province in that regard, and the province has been amazing, very welcoming to those programs and assisting us as well as with gender-based violence. So we are launching clinics, again working closely with the province to help deal with those problems,” Rivett-Carnac added.
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