PROUDLY S OU T H A F RICA N
KEEP IT LOCAL President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to take Proudly South African from campaign to mass movement as herein lies one of the key factors to the nation’s ultimate economic recovery. By RODNEY WEIDEMANN
D
elivering the keynote address at the Proudly South African Summit and Expo 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa pointed out that in celebrating 20 years of Proudly South African, we must not only recall what it has achieved, but also remember why it remains important. “Companies with long histories and deep footprints in the domestic market have been badly affected by the pandemic. This has worsened the effects of several years of difficult economic conditions, preferences for cheaper, imported goods and – in some cases – changing consumer patterns. Many companies have had President to downscale, and others have been Cyril Ramaphosa forced to close. Given the global economic climate, we can anticipate decreased demand for our goods, products and services, even from our traditional export markets,” Ramaphosa said. “It is not enough to simply preach the ‘buy local’ message – we also need to practise in support of existing manufacturers, we will it. We need to demonstrate that buying local be enforcing measures to stop the illegal is about investing in quality, sustaining local importation of goods, which weakens our businesses, and keeping jobs at home.” local market.” Ramaphosa explained that it is vital to step He pointed out that he already spoke in his up efforts not just to get SA consumers to State of the Nation Address about increasing buy local, but also to improve the entry of SA local production and reducing dependence goods, products and services into export on imported goods; bringing more SMEs markets. This is one way to help save existing into the formal economy by introducing small jobs and stimulate the economy, enabling business local procurement thresholds for further job creation. the public sector; and working to identify localisation champions, who will help drive import replacement programmes across LOCAL PRODUCTION NEEDS TO INCREASE various industries and for specific projects. “From our side, there is an express “Another element of our Recovery Plan undertaking to increase local procurement – the infrastructure build programme – has over the next five years. Apart from its own massive potential for job creation and local procurement commitments, government business development. If local procurement will also work to lower the barriers to entry, is to be at the scale and impact we envisage, thereby making it easier to establish and we have to deepen our collaboration. grow a business in South Africa. Furthermore,
“It is not enough to simply preach the ‘buy local’ message – we also need to practise it.” – PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
“We have designated 27 sectors for local procurement by the public sector. Proudly South African is playing an important role in monitoring compliance with these designations. The sectoral master plans – aimed at ensuring the respective value chains are localised for the benefit of the economy and job creation – that have been concluded are paying off.” These master plans relate to the automotive industry, clothing, textiles, footwear and leather sector, the poultry market, and the sugar industry. Other master plans in their final stages are for the furniture and plastics industries. “We ask every South African citizen to make a conscious decision to buy local goods. Wear local, travel local, eat local, watch local content, read local authors, support local music, and use local raw materials in your businesses. Proudly South African must move beyond being a campaign; it must become a mass movement that all our people are keen to embrace and actively support. “Whether public or private, we need to appreciate that choosing to procure locally, through and across value chains, is a solid investment in our country’s recovery. It will grow our economy, create jobs, broaden markets and create numerous opportunities for business expansion,” the president concluded.
KEY AIMS OF THE SECTORAL MASTER PLANS • Automotive: to double job opportunities by increasing the level of local content in vehicles from 39 to 60 per cent. • Poultry: to contribute to the production of more than a million additional chickens each week for local retailers. • Sugar: soft drink manufacturers to procure 80 per cent of their sugar needs from local growers, including small-scale farmers. • Clothing, textile, footwear and leather: pledged half a billion rand to the expansion of local manufacturing sites.
MADE IN SA
MISA_Presidential Address.indd 7
7
2021/06/14 6:19 PM
