Govt needs more data to ensure value for money - Godongwana

Godongwana made these remarks during the launch of the Spatial Economic Activity Data – South Africa (SEAD-SA) programme on Monday.

SEAD-SA is a programme that looks to deepen the understanding of the geographic distribution and characteristics of economic activities within the country using administrative data and tax.

It is a joint project by National Treasury and the Humanities Research Council.

The launch comes nine years after metropolitan municipalities lobbied the national government to make available national administrative data to assist them in making sense of their cities’ economies.

Godongwana says the data will help the government create policy and make better investment choices.

“We all know the challenging times South Africa finds itself in; increasing fiscal risks, low economic growth, high unemployment, declining productivity and stubborn structural economic constraints.

“These are putting the brakes on the kind of economic activity we are striving for to meet our developmental challenges.

“Reviewing this data, its value in providing clear policy directions and evidence to assist government make tough investment choices and decisions is abundantly clear.”

Godongwana added that the country’s metros are job generators.

“The data shows job shedding within strategic industrial spaces in our metros, with more than half of the top 30 metro industrial spaces losing jobs since 2014.

“Publicly-owned industrial spaces are often negatively affected by land governance, service delivery, business safety and urban management failures.

“Our own investment in these spaces often fails to yield a return based on these same constraints.

“The collapse of one metro could result in the collapse or severe decline of specific industries. This has major ramifications for the country as a whole, owing to the extensive national, regional and global value chains that firms participate in,” added Godongwana.

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