20 November 2013
Buying goods and products made in South Africa will go a long way towards creating jobs and growing the economy, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said at the launch of the Buyback SA Campaign in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
South African manufacturers were known for manufacturing qaulity, affordable goods and products, Davies said, adding: “We want to encourage people to buy these products because this has significance in terms of job creation, revenue generation and service delivery improvement.”
An initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Manufacturing Circle and Proudly South African, the campaign includes an advertisement featuring veteran actor John Kani which will be flighted on national television.
The fact that the cost of the advert had been shared by the private sector was “a clear sign of the close working relationship that is in the process of being built between government and industry, and one that we think can be strengthened and deepened in a number of ways,” Davies said.
He appealed to more companies to add their weight to the campaign, adding that buying local was not just about consumers buying locally manufactured goods. “It is also crucially about companies – especially large retailers with large procurement budgets and supply chains – supporting local manufacturers.”
Besides this being in the national interest, Davies said there were very often sound commercial reasons for buying local, relating to after-sales service, response times, security of supply, niche product requirements and quality assurance.
Davies said the government had taken numerous steps to support localisation, including the designation of a range of sectors – including clothing and textiles, buses, rolling stock and power pylons – for local procurement by the state under the Preferential Public Procurement Finance Act.
“We have also reviewed and put in place a new policy framework for the National Industrial Participation Programme to oblige overseas companies that have benefited from state contracts above US$10-million to invest a percentage of the contract directly into the productive sectors of the economy, wherever possible, in the sector in which they are involved,” Davies said.
SAinfo reporter
