Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana officially has launched the Spatial Economic Activity Data – South Africa (SEAD-SA) programme, aiming to deepen understanding of economic activities’ geographic distribution within the country.
The initiative aligns with the Reconstruction and Development Plan’s vision of inclusive and sustainable growth by addressing spatial inequalities and creating sustainable human settlements.
The programme, supported by partnerships between government entities, aims to provide open access to credible spatialised economic activity data from various public and private administrative sources.
The SEAD-SA programme builds upon previous efforts to bridge the data gap in understanding city economies. Metropolitan municipalities urged the national government to provide national administrative datasets to enhance their decision-making processes.
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The absence of spatialised economic activity data hindered policy planning and investment decisions, as cities relied on modeled and incomplete data from the private sector.
In response, a collaboration was formed, leveraging anonymized tax data in partnership with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).
The initiative aims to extend beyond metropolitan areas to include all municipalities in the country with the support of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
By unveiling the SEAD-SA programme, Minister Godongwana emphasized the importance of reliable data in guiding policy directions and evidence-based decision-making.
The initiative enables an assessment of job and firm trends, sector composition, urban-rural dynamics, and the impact of public sector investment.
The data highlighted several key messages, including the crucial role of metros as job generators, the need to prevent the collapse of specific industries in individual metros, and the relationship between well-governed cities and increasing productive activity.
The programme’s launch marks a significant milestone in promoting evidence-based economic planning and investment, fostering transparency, and enhancing accountability within municipal spaces.
