Calls for tough stance on imports

IF THE South African government wants to protect jobs in the clothing manufacturing sector, it’s going to need to get tough on cheap imports mainly from the East.

This was the sentiment at the first Clothing Industry Summit, which ended yesterday. Speaking at the summit, Trade and Industry (DTI) Minister Rob Davies said a number of tariffs were already in place to protect the clothing sector from cheap imports, especially those from Asia.

Simon Eppel, senior researcher at the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) previously described the impact of cheap imports as having “decimated” the local industry over the past two decades.

But another major problem was illegal Chinese imports. These were clothes and textiles smuggled or imported in a manner that avoids duties and import taxes, said Eppel.

The summit focused on training and skills development and Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande was also invited to speak.

Speaking on Tuesday, he said the volatility of the global markets had left the manufacturing industry vulnerable, with the value of imports doubling to R12 billion in 2014 compared with 10 years earlier.

With the high unemployment figures, this sector needed to be promoted as it had “high labour absorption capacities”.

However, the sector’s inability to compete with Asian manufacturers on costs threatened jobs, said Economic Development head Sibusiso Myeza. Delivering a speech on behalf of MEC Sihle Zikalala, who could not attend, Myeza said one of the summit’s goals should be to ensure its longterm sustainability, he said. He also called on retailers to play their part.

“Established retailers need to ensure that a sizeable percentage of their stock is either locally designed, manufactured or both. For our part as government, we need to also push an agenda that will either impose penalties or tax benefits for big retailers to adhere to this call. We can no longer be passive about an issue that has eroded our economy while imports continues to take away our livelihood.”

In efforts to attract investment, South Africa needed to be “cautious” and encourage only Eastern foreign investment which adhered to the country’s empowerment policies. “While we no doubt welcome foreign expertise, investment and industry knowledge, we need to be clear that this is done on our terms.”