A new R100m medical manufacturing plant being built at the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will bring more than 100 job opportunities – including entry-level positions that could benefit the metro’s unemployed residents.
MSQ Health announced plans on Monday to invest in a manufacturing plant for its subsidiary Akacia Medical, across 5,900m² at the SEZ.
MSQ CEO Dr Nhlanhla Msomi said that, over time, the plant would likely replace the facility of another subsidiary, Clinisut, in North End.
“In time, I think it will replace it, because I’d guess it will be almost 45 times the size of the current facility,” he said.
“[Our Akacia Medical facility] in Cape Town will, over time, be converted [to produce] purely plastic and siliconebased products, whereas the Port Elizabeth plant will become an all-in-one facility for any kind of medical textiles you can think of.”
This, he said, would include products like bandages and sutures.
Msomi said the plant, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019, would prioritise job creation, with more than 100 jobs created initially.
Though some of these jobs would require engineering and
design skills, the actual product-making process could bring opportunities for inexperienced candidates.
“Those jobs may look lowlevel but they require a level of
skill. Very little of it can be done with automation.
“[It] requires that you train people – mostly people with a high level of hand-eye coordination – and they have to be trained on the job, because unfortunately the education at schools or tertiary institutions does not meet the requirements of industry,” he said.
Msomi hoped the new facility would lead to the creation of even more jobs once the plant was up and running.
“We aim to create a substantial number of jobs over the plant’s life span,” he said.
“I foresee the Coega facility taking us to the next level.
“We moved to Coega for several reasons, including the number of incentives they offered us to locate the facility there, and because we export to no fewer than 50 countries across the world, in Africa and parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
“Coega makes perfect sense if you are an exporter, not just from a logistics perspective but also from the perspective of the general government rebates that are associated with the creation of employment.”
Coega Development Corporation executive manager for business development Christopher Mashigo welcomed the investment.
“Our 9,003ha zone is positioned and ready to support this investment, together with our existing 43 operational investors,” Mashigo said.
“This investment will bring the private sector investment at Coega to in excess of R7.1bn, and further strengthen Coega as the leading SEZ in Africa.”