South Africans urged to buy local to help create jobs
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.
Davies was speaking at the launch of the Buyback SA Campaign, which took place at the Industrial Corporation Offices, in Sandton, on November 19.
The campaign is an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Manufacturing Circle and Proudly South Africa.
The campaign will 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 Davies.
He added that South African manufacturers are known for manufacturing goods and products that are of good quality and are 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,” he said.
The cost of the advertisement of the campaign, which features veteran actor 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 Davies, who appealed to more private companies to put their weight behind the campaign.
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.
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,” she said.
