By Jacques Rikhotso
April 2026 marks 32 years since the end of apartheid and 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which ushered in a new era of hope for millions. South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) chairperson Jacques Rikhotso reflects on the role manufacturing will play in the country’s age of Industrial Resilience.
South Africa’s manufacturing activity fell 2,8% year on year in February 2026, a surprise given the expected softer 0,3% decline. It marked the fourth consecutive month of decline in industrial activity and the worst since April 2025. With suppressed market demand and increased importation of manufactured goods and inflation set to spike, driven by global oil prices, South African manufacturing is navigating a ‘perfect storm’.
The tyre sector, for instance, has seen a steady reduction in capacity across both new tyre production and manufacturer-standard retreading, largely due to an influx of imports. Local tyre production capacity declined steadily, from 11.6 million in 2015 to 9.8 million in 2024, while actual local production fell from 9.7 million to 6.7 million over the same period, which marked the exit of Good Year Tires manufacturing. At the same time, imports rose sharply from 7.5 million in 2016 to 10.1 million in 2025.
Despite this, tyre producers (members of the South African Customs Union) have remained committed to their role as a critical part of South Africa’s industrial environment, investing billions in manufacturing capacity and a well-developed dealer and service network to ensure the safety of road users. South African producers continue to work with the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) to investigate fair trading measures to support healthy competition and to halt dumping practices. Without a growing and resilient manufacturing sector, South Africa will struggle to grow its persistently stagnant economy (which has averaged 1% since 2024) and create jobs for a growing population.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment drive pursues its R2 trillion in investment pledges by 2028, it will need to place an even stronger emphasis on tech-driven manufacturing that operates well beyond extractive industries, including more advanced beneficiation and technological innovation. South Africa’s role as a strategic regional hub with a sophisticated financial system, robust infrastructure and academic heritage, especially as a launching pad into the rest of Africa, makes it critically important to transform from a resource-based economy to a world-class knowledge economy. Sectors such as computing, electronics, defence and automotive will need to be particularly supported and developed as a vehicle for fulfilling the vision set out in the Freedom Charter itself, that “all shall be equal before the law.”
We have political freedom in 2026, but as a society, we cannot confidently claim to have achieved equality of economic opportunity and access. Economic and industrial sovereignty are driven by GDP growth through internal manufacturing and technological self reliance,. Conversely, if manufacturing capacity continues to shrink, imports increase our industrial sovereignty will be compromised.
Manufacturing creates strong backward linkages with extractive industries (mining and agriculture) and forward linkages with the services sector, driving innovation through research and development, jobs and skills development. Each manufacturing operation supports more than its own workers, triggering multiplier effects of economic activity that go well beyond its own sector.
The choice before us in 2026 is clear. While we will always be consumers of the world’s output (within reason), we also have to reclaim our status as creators of value and minimize our industrial reliance on others. Indeed, consumers have the freedom to choose, but that choice should be informed by its impact on jobs, economic sovereignty and safety. Trade controls can then step in to protect consumers from poor-quality and even dangerous goods.
True economic sovereignty is not found only at the ballot box, but on the factory floor as well. By investing in the manufacturing spirit the Freedom Charter envisioned – and by protecting the integrity of our local industries – we do more than grow GDP. We build a South Africa that is finally and fully master of its own destiny.
Jacques Rikhotso is the Managing Director of Bridgestone Southern Africa and Chairperson ofthe South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC)
