Locally produced smartphones in mint condition

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The smartphones and tablets will be named Mint.

The company announced that Mint Electronics has bought 75 per cent shareholding of CZ Electronics.

Mint Electronics is a subsidiary of Sekoko Holdings, which is a South African black-owned mining company, and will now be the majority shareholder with the controlling stake.

CZ Electronics was set to launch the smartphones and tablets with Seemahale, but the deal is said to have gone sour.

According to Oupa Magashula, who is CZ Electronics new Group CEO and Mint Electronics executive director, the deal between Seemahale and CZ Electronics fell through because certain criteria were not met by Seemahale as agreed upon.

“There was a dispute but it has been legally and amicably resolved,” explains Magashula.

Magashula says the CZ Electronics Net Asset Value (NAV) was appealing to Mint Electronics.

“The company was already making money, and had invested in research in mobile technology, the proposition was compelling and we were impressed that it employs women in the majority,” says Magashula.

Magashula says that CZ Electronics has invested close to R10-million in research and development over the last 24 months to be in a position to manufacture smartphones and tablets in South Africa.

He says this manufacturing process will not only include assembly, but will also utilise CZ Electronics’s sophisticated surface mount technology (SMT) to build the circuit boards.

He points out that there is a need for locally produced goods.

“There is a huge appetite in the market; even government has put in place subsidies for the production of local products. We need to create things and have pride in our ability to be innovative,” urges Magashula.

“We are enormously proud of the first mass-market smartphone and tablet to be designed and built right here in South Africa by South Africans,” he adds.

CZ Electronics established in 2002 with the purchase of the production assets of the Alcatel factory in Boksburg.

Magashula says the company employs between 200 and 300 staff, with the majority being women from Boksburg.

He says manufacturing facilities are being finalised.

“The smartphone and tablet will be produced at the Boksburg manufacturing plant. The company has a capacity to manufacture around 280 000 components per hour. It specialises in electronic assemblies for the telecom, defence, utility metering, vehicle tracking and data acquisition industries.”

Magashula says their products are already being compared to Samsung.

“Designed to the highest specifications and built in accordance with the ISO 9002:2008 standard, we believe our smartphone and tablet will take the market by storm, offering ordinary South Africans a highly competitive alternative to existing products.”