Pretoria – South Africa is getting its own back by setting the wheels in motion on a massive campaign to get citizens to buy locally manufactured goods.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has appealed to the public to buy locally made products in order to help create jobs.
Speaking at the launch of the Buyback SA Campaign in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Davies said buying locally manufactured goods will go a long way towards job creation.
The campaign is an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Manufacturing Circle and Proudly South African and includes an advertisement which will be aired on national television in support of localisation.
“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 Davies.
South African manufacturers are known for manufacturing goods and products that are of good quality and can be 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,” the minister said.
The cost of the advert for the campaign, which features veteran actor John Kani, was shared by the private and public sector. This, said Davies, was a clear sign of the close working relationship that is in the process of being built between government and industry.
The dti appealed to more private companies to put their weight behind the campaign.
Government has deployed a diverse set of policy instruments to support localisation. These include a range of sectors and products that the dti has designated for local procurement, inclusive of the clothing and textile sector, buses 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 (NIPP) 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.
NIPP is mandatory on all government and parastatal purchases or lease contracts (goods and services) with an imported content equal to or exceeding US$10 million.
Buying local was not just about consumers buying locally manufactured goods, said Davies.
“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 and security of supply,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
