In the wake of the record R890-billion in commitment secured at the sixth South African Investment Conference (SAIC), the Gauteng Investment Conference 2026 has attracted more than its targeted goal of R200-billion in pledges.

Pledges of R205.6-billion were received on Thursday, building on the success of the inaugural provincial conference held in April 2025, which secured R312.5-billion in investment pledges.

This brings Gauteng’s cumulative investment over the past two years to R518.1-billion, already at 65% of the R800-billion in new investments Gauteng aims to secure over a three-year period.

Gauteng Economic Development, Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Vuyiswa Ramakgopa, deeming the conference a success, saying that the new investment pledges, project-backed, sector-diversified, and implementation-focused, reflected a maturing investment ecosystem as Gauteng moved from fragmented development to an integrated economic ecosystem.

South African investors accounted for 78%, China 17%, the US 2%, the UK 1% and others 2%.

“Strong domestic investment provides stability and confidence and international capital brings scale, technology and market access. Together, they position Gauteng as a globally integrated investment destination,” she said.

The investment pledges are anchored across the province’s key corridors and economic engines, with R76-billion pledged in the central corridor, R56-billion in the eastern corridor, R41-billion in the northern corridor, R26-billion in the southern corridor and R2-billion in the western corridor.

Signalling the key building blocks of the next phase of growth for the province, the transport and logistics sector secured R60.3-billion of the total commitments, while property development attracted R42.9-billion, infrastructure R33.5-billion, energy R22.4-billion and manufacturing R14.4-billion.

“The SAIC set the national direction. The Gauteng Investment Conference takes that forward by localising investments, accelerating execution and removing obstacles at project level,” South Africa Deputy President Paul Mashatile told delegates at the Gauteng Investment Conference 2026.

Gauteng contributes the largest share of the country’s national GDP and serves as a gateway to regional and global markets, standing as a primary platform through which many of the national investment commitments will be implemented, expanded and scaled.

“Many of the commitments announced at the SAIC across advanced manufacturing, the energy transition, logistics, digital services, infrastructure and industrial localisation align directly with Gauteng’s competitive strengths, which are its industrial base, financial systems, skilled workforce, research institutions and world-class connectivity.

“Consequently, Gauteng will not only advance the outcomes of SAIC, but will give concrete expression to our national objective of investment-led growth, job creation and economic transformation.”

The shift from national pledges to provincial pipelines, from policy certainty to site readiness and from investor intent to operational delivery transforms national ambition into provincial action, ensuring that Gauteng stands as a proving ground where investments become impact," he continued.

“Through the Gauteng investment conference, we are saying clearly to investors, South Africa is open for business, and Gauteng is ready for execution.”

“We are institutionalising aftercare because the real work begins after the conference. We are moving from mobilisation to institutionalisation, from one-off events to a system of continuous capital formation, from fragmented initiatives to integrated investment architecture, from ambition to execution,” added Gauteng Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC and former Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile.

“It is in approvals, in regulatory facilitation, in unlocking finances, in resolving bottlenecks, in ensuring that projects move quickly, efficiently and at scale. We are presenting structured opportunity, bankable projects, aligned policy frameworks, coordinated institutions and administration committed to delivery.”

He explained that investors responded to credibility, governance, execution capability and the ability of regions to convert opportunity into tangible outcomes, as seen in the aftermath of the 2025 Gauteng Investment Conference, with a meaningful portion of those commitments having already entered implementation, unlocking tens of billions of rands into the real economy, infrastructure, industrial capacity, energy systems and jobs.

This is achieved through a deliberate model encompassing a life cycle approach which includes project origination, project preparation, investor engagement, facilitation and delivery.

“The Gauteng Investment Conference is not an add-on initiative. It is a force multiplier. It is the platform through which we integrate project preparation, intergovernmental coordination, investor engagement and capital mobilisation into a single, coherent system.”