The waves crashing along our 2,798km coastline carry more than just the force of nature — they carry the echo of unrealised economic potential.
Dr Bhekisisa Mthembu’s article, “The Oceans Economy — SA’s Next Industrial Frontier” (BMF, Nov 7), offers a profound and necessary reflection on SA’s blue economy and the structural inequality that continues to inhibit inclusive participation in this critical national growth frontier.
His commentary is timely and evocative, particularly as SA navigates a new phase of democratic consolidation under the Government of National Unity and prepares for the 2026 local elections which, as he rightly asserts, will test the state’s capacity for delivery rather than its ability to produce policy frameworks.
While commending Mthembu’s sharp policy insight, it is vital to deepen the discourse.
The argument here is not merely one of acknowledgment, but of strategic alignment: the oceans economy must not be reduced to an abstract developmental rhetoric; it must become the axis upon which SA’s industrial renewal, rural transformation and continental maritime leadership turn.
To transition from potential to tangible prosperity, we must embrace a practical, yet transformative framework grounded in what I term the maritime ABCs: accessibility, balance and competitiveness.
True accessibility requires dismantling the geographical and economic barriers that have historically confined maritime opportunities to a privileged minority.
The current statistics present a damning indictment of our progress: despite decades of transformation rhetoric, less than 20% of maritime contracts reach black-owned SMMEs, and a meagre 5% of rural youth access meaningful maritime training opportunities.
This disparity represents not merely a skills gap, but what I would characterise as a deliberate architecture of exclusion.
We must undertake the deliberate work of bringing the ocean inland, both conceptually and physically. This demands concrete interventions.
We must establish district maritime hubs within the existing district development model framework, transforming local municipalities into active nodes for aquaculture incubators, digital logistics training and small-scale marine enterprises.
Thus, the “A” of the maritime ABCs — accessibility —demands that the oceans economy be designed not from the coastline outward, but from the hinterland inward.
Only then will the blue economy cease to be a metaphor of exclusion and become an instrument of inclusion.
We cannot construct a 21st-century blue economy using a 19th-century industrial paradigm that routinely sacrifices environmental integrity and social equity for narrow economic gains.
The pursuit of maritime growth must be intrinsically woven with both ecological stewardship and social inclusion.
Achieving this delicate equilibrium requires sophisticated, enforceable governance tools.
We must accelerate the implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) to scientifically zone our coastal waters, clearly demarcating territories for conservation, sustainable fishing, offshore renewable energy and tourism development to prevent the destructive conflicts that have plagued other maritime nations.
Furthermore, the introduction of a maritime transformation charter is becoming increasingly non-negotiable.
Building on lessons from the mining sector, such a charter should establish unambiguous thresholds for black ownership, preferential procurement and meaningful management representation for all enterprises operating within our territorial waters.
Concurrently, our strategic ports, particularly Durban, Ngqura and Cape Town, should be guided towards green port certification through a system of tax incentives and preferential berthing rights for vessels meeting the highest environmental standards.
The Eastern Cape, blessed with extraordinary biodiversity and consistent wind patterns, presents the ideal candidate to become a national pilot for this integrated approach, strategically blending eco-tourism, offshore wind generation and sustainable aquaculture to establish a new African benchmark for responsible ocean development.
The third dimension, competitiveness, encapsulates the global strategic imperative of maritime advancement.
As Mthembu cautions, opportunity without ownership is meaningless.
Yet, ownership without competitiveness risks obsolescence in a rapidly evolving global maritime system characterised by technological disruption, shifting trade routes and geopolitical uncertainty.
Competitiveness begins with infrastructure modernisation and policy coherence.
SA’s ports, while strategically located along the Cape Sea Route, suffer from operational inefficiencies, high logistics costs and slow digital transformation.
According to the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index (2023), South African ports ranked poorly compared to regional peers such as Tanger Med (Morocco) and Port Said (Egypt).
This inefficiency undermines both local enterprise integration and global supply chain participation.
To correct this, the maritime sector must invest in smart port technologies, digital customs clearance and green port infrastructure — initiatives that reduce turnaround times, attract foreign investment and align with global decarbonisation trends.
The forthcoming Cape Corridor Strategy linking Saldanha, Cape Town and Ngqura ports should serve as a platform for integrating logistics competitiveness with enterprise participation.
However, competitiveness also requires policy synergy.
SA’s maritime governance remains fragmented across multiple departments — transport, environment, trade, and public enterprises — with limited co-ordination.
A unified national maritime council, reporting directly to the presidency, could harmonise strategic maritime policies, monitor performance indicators and ensure that investments yield both growth and inclusion.
Moreover, the geopolitical reconfiguration of global trade routes, especially with the climate-induced bottlenecks at the Panama Canal and security crises in the Suez Canal, presents a unique window for SA.
The Cape of Good Hope route has re-emerged as a preferred alternative for global shipping lines seeking stability and fuel efficiency. This moment must not be squandered.
By positioning the Cape route as a safe, efficient and sustainable maritime corridor, SA could reclaim its strategic significance in global trade.
Mthembu accurately observes that the tide of opportunity is rising. However, we must remember that a rising tide lifts all boats only if every citizen has access to a vessel.
The ultimate measure of our blue economy’s success will not be found in abstract GDP figures, but in the seaweed farm exported from Mbizana, the offshore wind turbines installed by graduates from Lusikisiki, and the packaging supplies delivered to Ngqura Port by women-owned enterprises in Butterworth.
The Maritime ABCs — accessibility, balance and competitiveness — provide a comprehensive blueprint to translate this vision into reality.
They represent a decisive call to move beyond centralised, exclusionary policymaking and instead deliberately engineer a maritime economy that is fundamentally inclusive, environmentally sustainable and globally competitive.
Our oceans represent more than a picturesque border; they constitute our nation’s next and potentially most inclusive industrial frontier, waiting to be claimed by all South Africans.
Solomzi Tshona, PhD candidate, Renmin University of China
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