The Sunday Mail
LACK of oversight and compliance and the high cost of local goods are some of the hurdles hampering government’s local procurement drive, says Leslie Sedibe, CEO of Proudly SA, a “Buy Local” marketing initiative.
Speaking at a local procurement conference, held in partnership with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape last Tuesday, Mr Sedibe said that some local, provincial and national departments were effectively breaking the law by not adhering to the local procurement policies put in place by government.
He did not specify the departments.
This was slowing down the country’s efforts to establish a solid industrial base which would be key in addressing the unemployment challenges.
Government has set target of 75 percent local content in its procurement of goods.
The local procurement accord was signed by the government, business and labour in 2011.
The signatories pledged to purchase more goods and services from South African producers in an effort to enhance industrialisation and enhance job creation.
But to date progress to promote local procurement has been largely slow.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said earlier this year that the local procurement accord should take the form an instruction rather than an appeal or advice.
Mr Davies also said within the President’s Business Government Working Group on Inclusive Growth, discussions were under way to secure the concrete commitment of the top 80 JSE-listed firms to purchase increasing proportions of their inputs from local companies.
Mr Sedibe said on Tuesday that a buy in from the private sector would be crucial for boosting local procurement as government was unable to do it alone.
Mr Sedibe said government had to take the lead in complying with the local procurement policies, but this was not happening “as well as it should” at the present moment.
He said other state owned companies such as Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) had taken the lead in promoting local goods and services.
Government is focusing inter alia, on the renewable energy sector, the manufacturing of buses, Transnet’s multi-billion rand locomotive contracts and Prasa’s passenger rail projects, to promote local content and boost growth.
Mr Sedibe said even though foreign products are by and large cheaper because they are heavily subsidised, laws still needed to be tightened to make sure that local products especially in designated sectors are given priority.
He said South Africa ran the risk of becoming a “dumping ground” of cheap imports.
Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said on Tuesday that tariffs needed to be put in place to protect local industries.
Speaking at the conference, Janine Myburgh, president of the Cape Chamber, said that local manufacturers needed more help, “before we can buy local”.
“What we need is to get this economy growing, so that we can hire more and train more workers and this is not simply a Buy-local campaign, we need a support-local mindset. This needs to come from all players, but most especially our national and local governments,” Ms Myburgh said. — Business Day.
