Cabinet has welcomed the production of the next generation Ford Ranger by Ford Motor Company of South Africa (FMCSA), which saw a capital investment of R15.8 billion.

This resulted in all 10 auto component manufacturing companies located in the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) officially entering into full operation.

This follows Ford Motor Company of South Africa commencing with the production of the next generation Ford Ranger on 14 November 2022.

“The investment by the component manufacturers amounted to R3.62 billion and created 1 259 permanent jobs benefiting youth (76%) and women (32%),” Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said during a post-cabinet briefing on Thursday.

TASEZ was established as a special-purpose vehicle production zone with a mandate to create employment opportunities and promote economic participation for small, medium and micro enterprises in the region.

Its first phase of development was specifically aimed at creating additional infrastructure and capacity within the FMCSA supply chain to support South Africa to be one of the only three hubs in the world to produce the next-generation Ford Ranger.

TASEZ is a company that was established in May 2020 through a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental agreement between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Gauteng Department of Economic Development, and the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.

TASEZ’s mandate is aligned and effectively born out of the national strategies of the South African government, particularly the new Special Economic Zones (SEZs) approach that was approved by Cabinet in 2019.

Source: South African Government News Agency