… ministry to engage EU Embassy

MBABANE – The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, says the European Union (EU) Embassy will be engaged regarding the proposal filed by France to ban the export of second-hand clothes to African countries.

Khumalo said engaging the embassy will assist in determining if the Kingdom of Eswatini could influence the decision that will eventually be taken.

Regarding the proposal itself, the minister said in the event it was adopted and passed, it would be an unfavourable turn of events for the Kingdom of Eswatini’s cross-border informal and formal traders.

Khumalo said this industry has grown significantly and was an integral part of the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) now.

“Many small businesses thrive on these second hand clothes. The general population in Eswatini has benefitted a lot from buying high quality brands at very affordable prices. This has almost eliminated effect of the high income inequality in the clothing sector, which is a very good thing for our society. It is hard to tell people’s salary gaps based on what they wear in Eswatini now, unlike in the past. I think this would set society back,” said Khumalo.

Elaborating, the minister said one wondered how Europe would deal with the environmental burden of having to dispose of the clothing items a lot sooner than they did.

The risk, Khumalo said, was that such would cause a bigger environmental nuisance one way or the other.

“One hopes they will not be looking to ship the waste material in Africa’s direction. It’s environmentally effective to ship the second-hand clothes since the demand and immediate use of these is almost guaranteed in our respective countries due to high levels of unemployment and inequality,” the minister said.