The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says buying locally manufactured goods and products will go a long way in creating jobs in South Africa. Minister Davies was speaking at the launch of the Buyback SA Campaign which took place at the Industrial Corporation Offices in Sandton today.
The campaign is an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Manufacturing Circle and Proudly South Africa and includes an advertisement which will be flighted on national television networks in support of localisation and the manufacturing sector.
“Today we are launching the first phase of this campaign before the festive season because we want to impress upon consumers and stakeholders in the private and public sectors the importance of buying locally manufactured goods and products,” said Minister Davies.
He added that the South African manufacturers were known for manufacturing goods and products that are of good quality and were obtained at a good price.
“We want to encourage people to buy these products because this has significance in terms of job creation, revenue generation and service delivery improvement,” said Davies.
The cost of the advertisement of the campaign, which features veteran actor Mr John Kani, was shared by the private and public sector.
“This is 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,” explained Minister Davies who appealed to more private companies to put their weight behind the campaign.
Minister Davies also said that the South African government has deployed a diverse set of policy instruments to support localisation. These include a range of sectors and products designated that the dti has designated for local procurement inclusive of the clothing and textile sector, buses, rolling stock and power pylons 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 benefitted from state contracts above $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,” said Davies.
Minister Davies added that buying local is 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 - not only because this is in the national interest but because there are very often sound commercial reasons for doing so related to total cost of ownership: after-sales service; quick response; security of supply; niche product requirements; quality assurance and so forth,” indicated Davies.
Minister Davies speaking at the launch of the Buyback SA Campaign as the dti Director-General Lionel October looks on.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Twitter: @the_dti
