The Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, today officially opened the Tellumat manufacturing facility in Atlantis, Western Cape.
Minister Davies reiterated government’s commitment to support companies that are keen to contribute to the South African economy and creating jobs. Minister Davies told the gathering that the Department of Trade and Industry in its bid to support the Television industry has assisted Tellumat in setting up the facility.
"This state of Art facility that we see today was made possible amongst others by the Manufacturing Investment Grant of R2, 64 million for a capital outlay of R12 million to resuscitate the old Tedelex factory.
The company has also benefited from an Industrial Development Corporation loan of R8.2 m for Surface Mounting Technology (SMT) expansion for this facility. the dti has always assisted the Tellumat’s exposure in all its other divisions including aerospace and defence, communications to mention the least", said Davies.
He also announced that the dti is currently working to finalise a TV Strategy that will address the Regulatory challenges faced by the sector.
The Strategy seeks to further strengthen the sector by addressing the Regulatory challenges such as illegal imports, under-invoicing and to strengthen enforcement of on-going compliance of products; this will apply to both pre and post market entry", added Minister Davies.
Premier Zille called the day “a special celebration of an extraordinary facility”. She said it was wonderful to see people on the cutting edge of technology, which for her held the future of job creation in South Africa.
“Technology is an important field with the potential to improve education and government and generally to transform the way we live. We must make sure that government steps up to the plate to assist business to take advantage of strong and growing export markets in Africa, which the Western Cape is well poised to do,” said Zille.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, Tellumat Mr Rasheed Hargey, the factory was modernised in 2012 with new production equipment and produces electronics for such well-known brands as SONY, Mecer and HiSense.
This was after it acquired the assets of Tedelex television factory in 2010 and continued to operate from the old Tedelex Atlantis factory. Tellumat moved into this new facility at the end of 2012, and the facility is now fully operational, including the new production equipment acquired.
Hargey said that the capital outlay for the new facility represents significant investment in the manufacturing sector and is a major boost for the development of Atlantis.
“The factory is an illustrative example of co-operation between the government and business partners to attract private sector investment through an enabling environment and industry-supporting incentives. “We currently have the staff compliment of 116 and we wish to have more as we grow as a company,” said Hargey.
Tellumat is an innovative, black empowered, South African technology company that has achieved a B-BBEE Status Level 2 rating, as well as being a “Value-Adding Enterprise” in terms of the Codes of Good Practice. It is estimated that the entire Electrotechnical sector contributes a minimum of 12.5% of the South African gross domestic product (GDP).
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
