| Summary: | Includes bibliographical references === Special Economic Zones ("SEZs") have proved an effective tool to encourage and incentivise foreign direct investment in developing countries over the past 50 years. South Africa has been a relatively late adopter of an SEZ regime and only formally incorporated SEZs via the Industrial Development Zone ("IDZ") programme in late 2000. The ID programme has been largely unsuccessful with limited and slow investment. This has resulted in an overhaul of the programme resulting in the launch of the SEZ programme in2012 which included the promulgation of the Special Economic Zones Act and a suite of new tax incentives which were announced in the 2013 Taxation Laws Amendment Act. This study was performed in order to analyse the fiscal incentives available to South African SEZs against the backdrop of successes and failures experienced by other developing nations with more mature SEZ regimes. By firstly reviewing the history of SEZs internationally, context was provided which indicated the need for a successful SEZ programme in South Africa. As globalisation has developed in the modern era, so too has competition for foreign direct investment amongst developing nations. It is thus of paramount importance for South Africa, as late adopters, to ensure that their SEZ programme is designed appropriately. A detailed analysis of each tax incentive was performed which illustrated where opportunities can be found by foreign investors and additionally highlighted some disincentives in the South African regime. A review of the main incentives offered by the more developed and successful developing nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) identified certain opportunities where South Africa could learn from the successes and failures of these countries. Further, some specific case studies were analysed in order to glean risks to the sustainability of South Africa's SEZ programme. From these reviews and comparisons it was found that whilst it may not be possible to predict whether or not South Africa's SEZ programme will be successful, there are some areas where it is suggested that the current fiscal incentives can be enhanced to encourage quicker investment by foreign companies and the creation of investment which has a sustainable benefit to the local economy.
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