He said the automotive industry was a key pillar of SA’s economy.
“The automotive industry in SA is one of the biggest sectors for foreign direct investment. Our country remains one of the preferred investment destinations on our continent. This is what I call transformation — you are a company embracing transformation with a strong focus on female candidates — I applaud you for that.”
Minister of trade and industry Ebrahim Patel said the launch of the facility was a celebration of local production, knowledge and jobs.
“There are 4,000 reasons to celebrate. Metair is a proudly South African company with a global footprint,” he said.
The new plant would process 1.2-billion metres of wire per year, he said.
“Let me put that into perspective: if we connect all that wire together, we can wrap it 10 times around the Earth and we can string all the way to the moon and wrap it 10 times around the moon and then string it back to earth and you will still have a little bit of wire at the end.”
Riaz Haffejee, CEO of Metair Investments, said the number of jobs at Hesto had doubled with the addition of the KwaDukuza facility.
“Today, more than 7,200 people operate out of Hesto. The establishment of this facility has resulted in 4,000 new employees with a R804m total investment,” he said.
Haffejee said the facility is one of five capital investment projects which resulted in a commitment of more than R1.4bn by Metair to support the expansion and localisation of the new Ford Ranger (“The Ford Project”).
The new facility will produce wiring harnesses for the latest Ford Ranger and Isuzu models, which will be sold locally and abroad.
TimesLIVE
Ramaphosa 'blown away' by new KZN automotive wiring facility
President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the launch of a new harness wiring facility in KwaDukuza, northern KwaZulu-Natal, which has seen 4,000 jobs created, 70% of which are held by women.
Ramaphosa visited the province on Tuesday for the launch of Metair Investments subsidiary Hesto Harnesses, which features a 35,000m2 state-of-the-art manufacturing plant.
In partnership with Yazaki Corporation, Hesto Harnesses manufactures wiring harnesses and instrument clusters for supply to South African-based automakers Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan and Ford.
Ramaphosa was full of praise after his tour of the facility.
“I’ve never been this impressed as I am this morning by just walking on the floor of this factory and seeing the great enthusiasm on the faces of the workers. I saw people, 70% of them women — all of them so beautiful. The youthfulness of the people who work here. Just meeting these people made my day. This has been a great exposure and exhibition of what we have achieved here,” he said.
He said the automotive industry was a key pillar of SA’s economy.
“The automotive industry in SA is one of the biggest sectors for foreign direct investment. Our country remains one of the preferred investment destinations on our continent. This is what I call transformation — you are a company embracing transformation with a strong focus on female candidates — I applaud you for that.”
Minister of trade and industry Ebrahim Patel said the launch of the facility was a celebration of local production, knowledge and jobs.
“There are 4,000 reasons to celebrate. Metair is a proudly South African company with a global footprint,” he said.
The new plant would process 1.2-billion metres of wire per year, he said.
“Let me put that into perspective: if we connect all that wire together, we can wrap it 10 times around the Earth and we can string all the way to the moon and wrap it 10 times around the moon and then string it back to earth and you will still have a little bit of wire at the end.”
Riaz Haffejee, CEO of Metair Investments, said the number of jobs at Hesto had doubled with the addition of the KwaDukuza facility.
“Today, more than 7,200 people operate out of Hesto. The establishment of this facility has resulted in 4,000 new employees with a R804m total investment,” he said.
Haffejee said the facility is one of five capital investment projects which resulted in a commitment of more than R1.4bn by Metair to support the expansion and localisation of the new Ford Ranger (“The Ford Project”).
The new facility will produce wiring harnesses for the latest Ford Ranger and Isuzu models, which will be sold locally and abroad.
TimesLIVE