Manufacturers rule out idea of job creation through quota
12 Sep '06
2 min read
Proposed quota to reduce the import of textile and clothing from China has seen the bitter exchanges between the retailers and Government and the latest to enter the frame are the manufacturers.
Retailers have been termed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as greedy while they blame Government of indulging in unfair business practices. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Deputy President said that the threat by retailers to move to other destinations for import amounted to 'treason'.
Government has entered in the agreement with China to reduce quota with a view to bending the retailers to use local products instead of imports. Government along with South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), believes that it will ensure the regeneration of 75,000 jobs which have been lost.
Hashiem Randeree, President of Clotrade, the representative body of clothing manufacturers has termed these estimates as far fetched. He said that local industry was already running at its full capacity and it cannot move up at such a short notice. Second factor he recounted was the fact that quota was only for 18 month, i.e. there was virtually no time to make any profitable changes.
Randeree said that they are not opposed to quota but are against the process and the timeframe set for its implementation. He pointed out that a long term strategy should be drawn giving manufacturers time to restructure and redefine themselves accordingly.
Randeree strongly believed that the quota will divert the imports to countries like Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland which will take the attention of manufacturers and retailers away from the real issues.
He ruled out the possibility of large scale job creation overnight and all the concerned parties must sit together to find out a just solution.
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