The topography of South Africa’s interior, with its big sky and purple mountains sprawled across the horizon, is reminiscent of Montana, while South Africa’s southern coast, especially the large, crescent-shaped beaches from Mosselbaai to Port Elizabeth, could be California, 1930s-style. In this gorgeous in-your-face landscape, crashing blue-hite surf collides with lime-green mountains, with no traffic jams or crowds to spoil the moment.

Port Elizabeth, with almost 1.5 million residents, is the first big city one encounters after driving almost 500 miles along the N2 highway from Cape Town. Most tourists to southern South Africa miss the city entirely, preferring to stay in Cape Town and its nearby wine country, rather than drive the long distance. “PE” is located equidistant between Cape Town and Durban on the Eastern Cape, an area that became famous, or infamous, during the mid-20th century as the center of antiapartheid resistance in South Africa. Many anti-apartheid leaders came from this region, including Nelson Mandela and the country’s current president, Thabo Mbeki. President Mbeki’s father, Govan Mbeki, was jailed with Mandela on Robben Island. Black leader Steve Biko died in 1977 at the hands of Port Elizabeth security police, and during apartheid rule thousands of black residents of Port Elizabeth were forcibly relocated from downtown areas to newly created black townships outside the city.

For many years the racial troubles in Port Elizabeth caused leisure and business travelers to keep their distance. Yet while the scars and resentment of that period still linger in Port Elizabeth, the city is beginning to develop and enhance its reputation as a progressive, commercial center — a place where new business ventures can grow and prosper, and where local government leaders expect manufacturing and urban renewal to lead the city toward a rosy future.

One example is Nelson Mandela Bay, established by the South African government in 2001 on the heels of the dramatic ANC-dominated elections of 1994. This centralized business zone has enabled Port Elizabeth to merge services and facilities with the nearby towns of Uitenhage and Despatch, and it has grown at a faster rate than South Africa’s national economy, especially in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. General Motors and Volkswagen each maintain a large presence here, along with more than 150 suppliers, including Goodyear, Bridgestone, Corning, Continental Tyre South Africa, Visteon, Hella, Faurecia, LUK and Johnson Controls.

Within the borders of NMB are the regional headquarters of Eastern Cape banks, insurance companies, the national post office and telephone companies. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University opened in January 2005, the result of a merger between the University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth Technikon, and the Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University. It is the largest university in the southern hemisphere, and provides local companies with a large and educated local workforce.

Additional manufacturing is being developed within the new Coega Industrial Development Zone, about 10 miles north of PE, and will include the new deepwater Port of Ngqura.

You can order a “decaf, grande, half-soy, half-lowfat, vanilla, doubleshot cappuccino” at any one of several Dulce Coffee Shops in Port Elizabeth and, although you may not get exactly what you asked for, you will certainly get a good cup of coffee served by a friendly barrista. Dulce is a Port Elizabeth success story, a franchise company with more than 70 cafés and espresso bars throughout South Africa. It started with one ice cream store on Rink Street in downtown PE, and is now franchising its Dulce Espresso Bars throughout the country, with plans to expand to the Middle East. Dulce’s clean, modern coffee bars, and its ability to flourish in Port Elizabeth, is symbolic of the city’s emerging sophistication, especially when it comes to new business ventures.

The entire city is expanding its infrastructure in anticipation of 2010, when South Africa will host the FIFA Soccer World Cup. As one of the designated host cities, Port Elizabeth is constructing a new 50,000-seat stadium in the North End, and local businesses throughout the city, from large seaside restaurants and hotels to small downtown cafés and historic sites, are spending money on facility improvements. Although construction costs for Nelson Mandela Stadium (up to $174 million from the original estimate of $102 million) and other venues have risen dramatically, most Nelson Mandela Bay municipal officials expect the city to be ready for the big event.

The Nelson Mandela Development Agency is attempting to clean up and beautify PE’s Central Business District, with physical upgrades and strict enforcement of drug, vagrancy and prostitution laws. In addition, the CBD’s main road, Govan Mbeki Avenue, is being converted into a pedestrian mall as part of the downtown revitalization.

Foreign investment in the city is increasing as well. Singapore has recently announced several joint ventures with South African companies based in the Nelson Mandela Bay Industrial Zone, mostly to upgrade chemical and sewage plants, electrical power generators and waste management projects.

Visitors to Port Elizabeth will find that everything is in close proximity to the Central Business District. Port Elizabeth Airport (PLZ), in the suburb of Walmer, is known locally as the “ten-minute airport” — just a 10-minute drive to the CBD, the beachfront, and nearby manufacturing and residential areas. More than 60 percent of arriving passengers are business travelers, and an airport terminal upgrade was completed in 2004. The better hotels are situated on the beachfront along Algoa Bay. The Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World is an attractive, open-air complex with shops, restaurants, and a gaming casino. Located in the Summerstrand district, it has been successful in luring residents and out-of-town visitors to the waterfront.

The most interesting area of Port Elizabeth is the historic downtown Market Square district, where art galleries and eclecic cafés and shops share the neighborhood with a beautiful Victorian-style Opera House, the colonial-era City Hall, and the 1835 public library, now a courthouse. To help visitors find their way around this part of the city, tourism officials have mapped out the Donkin Heritage Trail, in honor of Rufane Donkin, who founded the city in 1820 and named it for his wife, Elizabeth.

Entry Requirements

Visitors from the United States need only valid passports to enter South Africa if traveling for tourism, short business meetings, or in transit. All passports must have at least two blank pages. Applications for work permits and temporary residency are available from South African consulates and embassies. English and Afrikaans are official languages, and are widely spoken in the Port Elizabeth business community.

More Information

Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber
of Commerce and Industry
PO Box 63866, Greenacres 6057
KPMG House, Norvic Drive
Greenacres, Port Elizabeth
tel 27 41 373 1122
http://www.percci.co.za