Download The history of industrialization in South Africa South Africa was for a

The history of industrialization in South Africa
South Africa was for a large part of its history an agricultural community, but with the Industrial Revolution in
Europe and the discovery of valuable mineral deposits in the interior, large-scale industrialization occurred in a
rapid rate as the economy and population expanded, with the attendant demand for goods and services.
One drawback of the colonization process is that the natural resources of the colonized country are often striped
with little benefit to the colony itself. Determined efforts of successive South African governments after 1924
encouraged industrialization and class of developing local production capacity. South Africa basically enabled the
adverse effects that accompanied colonialism in Africa.
In South Africa, the distribution of the English-and Afrikaans-speaking people in groups whom control the
economy and politics respectively, ensure that when political power passed into the hands of a group whose
interests were domestic rather than colonial it prepared the scene for the development of the modern South
African industrial state.
The success of industrialization in South Africa relied on the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and in particular to the
so-called Pact government, which in 1924 began with a determined industrial policy. Conducted through direct
investment in local industries and in the creation of protective tariffs that certain commodities on a profitable basis
could be produced in South Africa.
From the 1920s to the 1950s, public industries expanded: In 1927, Iscor (at that time a Iron and Steel
Corporation fully under state control), Foskor, established in the early to mid-1950s, (exploiting phosphate for
fertilizer and industrial chemicals), Sasol (oil from coal) and SAICCOR (Rayon-pulp production) all started
production. In 1977, the proceeds of these public corporations contributed 11% of South Africa's total
manufacturing base.
Phases of industrialization in South Africa
The South African economy underwner three defined stages of development and currently finds itself in the fourth
phase: agriculture (1652-1868), agricultural mining (1868-1939), agricultural mining industries (1939-1995) and
currently - since the rapid changes that have occurred in the 1990s global agriculture-mining industrialtechnological phase.
In South Africa's agricultural phase, the country's ports were seats for growth for the largest number of
consumers. In addition, these ports become centers of distribution to the growing interior.
Mining phase mining in agriculture from 1868 to 1910 developed rapidly, from 1910 to 1925, labour unions
organized for protection against exploitation and from 1925 to 1939, the state had a policy of industrial protection.
For a long time, products manufactured for the domestic market closely related the needs of the major mining
companies. At the start of the agricultural-mining-industrial phase, however, the mining houses entered the
industrial era. As the industrial process gained momentum, significant changes took place in the manufacturing
sector, both in the range of commodities produced and the techniques used in manufacturing itself. In 1939,
industries such as flour and sugar mills and bakeries, and products such as tobacco and dairy, began to flourish.
The sector was, however, largely limited to service delivery to the simpler needs of the domestic consumer
market. By 1976 it grew to one that was able to manufacture to almost all of South Africa's needs.
In the years 1919 to 1976, South Africa's industrial output was at an annual averaged rate of 5.9%. In real terms
industrail output grew and flourished during the two periods of industrial expansion: from 1936 to 1951 (which
included the war years) and 1964 to 1976.
Centralisation in South Africa
Industries tend naturally to conglomeration and South African industry was no exception. In 1975, the country's
industrial output based in four major metropolitan areas: the former Southern Transvaal, Western Cape, Durban /
Pinetown and PE / Uitenhage. Because of this concentration of economic activity, several questions arose. One
of these was the problem of water supply to the former Witwatersrand. The feeling was that it would be better to
discourage further industrial expansion rahter than to stop water supply elsewhere away from where the water
supply was sufficient.
In the 1980s, this policy is reversed and water is pumped from the Tugela River to the Witwatersrand.
Another issue as a result of this concentration of economic activity, was the physical disruption between capital
and labour that led to the growth of the migrant labor system. It was one of the focal points of the apartheid
government's policy.
Decentralization as Government Policy
Centralization has an exclusive attraction to private interests; it is only the intervention of the state that promote
balanced development. The Government has on several occasions tried to decentralize South African industries
and in the 1950s adopted a policy to industries near the borders of the former homelands to develop. In 1960 a
"Committee for the Location of Industries" to preserve "border" policy to be implemented in 1969 lifted restrictions
on white-owned capital, and industries could be established in the homeland itself. However, in the 1980s, this
policy significantly revised and eventually disappeared with the abolition of the homeland system.
The current government's industrial policy is to create jobs and promote economic activity by improving
international competitiveness of its industrial product
South African Continent Leader
To develop industries requires many external capital and resources, as well as the packaging of industrial
policies, quality and standerised systems and infrastructure. South Africa on industrial field is the most advanced
country in Africa according to the Industrial output measured in terms of GRV (Value Added Manufacturing).
South Africa’s GRV was about $ 23 billion in 1999, South Africa has a higher elevation than any other African
country, more than $ 10 billion.
South Africa's diverse manufacturing industry is a world leader in several specialized sectors, including rolling
stock, synthetic fuels and mining equipment and machinery.