Cape Town, South Africa's Mother City, in search of a new lease of life

Cosmopolitan, innovative, set between mountain and ocean in a superb natural setting, Cape Town has been the stuff of dreams for centuries. Founded in 1652 in the most extreme region of southern Africa, the city known as the Mother City has always aspired to carve out its own place in the world. a key player in the South African economy. The heart of the Western Cape province and the country's second-largest economic centre after Johannesburg, Cape Town With its 4.5 million inhabitants, Cape Town has succeeded in deploying its advantages over the last few years, trying at all costs to distinguish itself from its competitor. In Johannesburg, the traditional entrepreneurial fabric; in Cape Town, dynamism, start-ups and the high-tech future.

This subtle rivalry undoubtedly has its roots in history. Liberal and progressive, the parliamentary town from which many of the black anti-Apartheid activists of the 80s emerged, has a population mixed by the successive arrivals of Dutch and then British settlers, as well as Malay slaves from Indonesia. A melting pot that resulted in a considerable proportion of "coloureds" and a certain detachment from the policy of racial segregation of the 70s and 80s.

A centre in the midst of a property boom

Over the years, the share of agriculture and heavy industry has gradually declined, as Cape Town has turned to the financial, services, transport and logistics sectors. Between the end of apartheid in 1994 and 2007, Cape Town benefited from the economic boom of the "Mandela yearsThis was a period when the country's economic growth was close to 3.6 % per year and GDP doubled to 285 billion. Even if the financial crisis of 2008 marked the end of an era, the football World Cup held in South Africa in 2010 was an opportunity for the city to succeed in its transformation by launching a a real boom in property construction as well as the renovation of its city centre, the CBD or Central Business District. This 1.6 square kilometre district is home to the city's economic and cultural activities, as well as a host of cafés, restaurants, hotels and museums.

Particularly popular with developers, this area of the city is currently the focus of 31 property development projects, aimed at luxury residential and office space. Around ten projects are under construction or nearing completion, including the 148-metre, 44-storey Zero Two-One tower, which, with its 570 luxury flats and 7,000 square metres of retail space, will become the tallest building in Cape Town.

The city, which attracts millions of tourists, is also a powerful migration magnet for foreigners, as it is for South Africans. " The city has become an alternative to emigration and there has been an influx from other provinces: potential buyers who rent before deciding to buy "As Samuel Seff, a property developer, recently told the local press. Demand is considerable: the city authorities estimate that, over the next ten years, there will be a housing shortage of 30,000 units a year. With around 800,000 more inhabitants over this period, Cape Town should create at least 500,000 more homes by 2028. These urbanisation choices are giving rise to rampant speculation and concealing a bitter social debate against a backdrop of informal housing in shantytowns.

Because, in a trend accelerated by the economic slowdown, Cape Town still reflects well today's South African reality. " A two-speed society: one is modern, affluent, technologically advanced, highly educated, mobile and increasingly multiracial; the other is unemployed, marginalised, young, rural and largely African. "In a recent article, Colin Coleman, a lecturer at Yale University and former executive director of sub-Saharan Africa at Goldman Sachs, describes this divide. This divide often comes to the fore in Cape Town's urban planning issues, in the form of debates about the inclusion of affordable housing for lower-income households in inner-city developments. 146,000 households still live in around forty informal settlements in the most neglected areas of the city.

Investors attracted by the environment

A situation that is unlikely to improve as property prices continue to rise. Several major South African companies have their head office in Cape Town and many multinationals such as Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Amazon and Microsoft have production facilities here. The textile industry, which employs over 30,000 people, is not to be outdone, with a major base for companies such as the American Levi Strauss.

The port of Cape Town, which is currently undergoing expansion, is the second busiest in South Africa after Durban in terms of container traffic. As for the city's airport, which generally handles up to 10 million passengers a year, it has initiated a number of major projects. new direct destinationsparticularly to New York. In addition, a five-year expansion and renovation project was launched last year.

For Jon Williams, Director of PwC Africa's Cities and Urbanisation Department, " Cape Town's notable strengths include its transport system, its business-friendly environment, the cost of living and doing business, and its natural beauty. ". With an annual growth rate of 2% per year, the city is developing faster than the rest of the country and ranks as one of the world's fastest-growing cities. second national employer. This prosperity is almost entirely underpinned by the service sector, which was responsible for almost 80 % of the city's growth in 2017, compared with 19.5 % for the secondary sector and just over 1% for the primary sector. The electronics industry is one of the city's strong points, as is the field of commercial aerospace and nanosatellites in particular. This development led to the creation in Cape Town in 2008 of the SCS Aerospace Group, a conglomerate of the four largest South African space companies.

In this landscape, a few clouds had appeared shortly before the Covid 19 crisis. Cape Town had begun to suffer from its growing reputation as a city plagued by rampant crime, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for the city to survive. the image of a "pré carré" of white tributaries by the rest of the country. Hence, no doubt, the emphasis on revitalising the city through inclusive new economy initiatives. The city authorities are counting heavily on the Atlantis Green Tech Special Economic Zone launched in 2018, which aims to attract $262 million in investment by focusing on the wind, solar, recycling, green construction and electric vehicle industries.

To persuade investors, Cape Town has planned a whole arsenal of subsidies and preferential taxation, as well as Sarebi, an incubator specialising in the green economy. Firmly committed to rapidly gaining a head start in electric cars, Cape Town is trying to position itself in the fields of production and maintenance of future vehicles. More recently, the city has decided to capitalise on innovations in the pharmaceutical sectorThis is a far from utopian plan: an entire plot of industrial land adjacent to the Atlantis Green Tech zone has already been earmarked for the project. A plan that is far from utopian: an entire plot of industrial land adjacent to the Atlantis Green Tech zone has already been earmarked for the project, in addition to a unit for growing and producing cannabis oil and capsules, and a manufacturer of containerised cannabis cultivation kits. From plantations to space, Cape Town intends to position itself in the economy of the future.