South Africa disbursed R3.1 billion for textiles

06 Apr '17

2 min read

South African government approved R4.9 billion and disbursed more than R3.1 billion in its clothing and textiles sector to create and save jobs till the last financial year through the department of trade and industry. The funds were disbursed through the Production Incentives Programme within the Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP).

This was stated by minister of trade and industry Dr Rob Davies at the first clothing manufacturing industry sector summit hosted in Durban by the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry (NBCCMI).

According to Davies, a number of companies who qualified and drew from both the programmes were able to save 81,252 jobs and create 9,672 additional jobs. The net new jobs grew by 4,785 till the last financial year from the inception of the CTCP.

This indicated that these were significantly labour-absorbing sectors and the government needed to create more opportunities in these to keep them sustainable, Davies noted.

"The issue of rebates in the clothing and textile sector is still a burning issue within the industry, and part of the government's plan is still to tighten control of imports and the raising of tariffs to the maximum boundary like we did in the beginning when we were revamping the whole industry. The whole value chain must still be involved in the sector going forward," said Davies.

The minister added that localisation in every sector would no longer be an option. Once designation had been translated into a practice note by the national treasury, it would be an obligation that public entities buy locally produced goods, he said.

"Whatever is needed to be done to protect the industry, it must be done, but it should be in the interest of industry development and to improve local supplier base. We want to see consequences for those who do not want to implement localisation and empowerment," he said and urged delegates to start a dialogue with retailers and manufacturers around local production and not abandon the issues of empowerment and transformation. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India