The ANC have denied that their T-shirts were made in China. How do they explain the alleged "Made in China" label found in the shirts? On Thursday, 9 April 09, the Daily News quoted ANC spokeswoman, Nomfundo Mcetywa "The ANC did not directly purchase its material but service providers did." Is this not a contradiction of what the ANC said earlier that all its suppliers are "South African"? The answer is simple look at the labels unless the ANC orders its members to rip out the "Made in …" label.
All the rhetoric about how important South Africa's clothing and textile industry is for poverty alleviation and the years spent around policy development for this industry sector has unbundled by the revelation that ANC election T-shirts were made in China.
The yarn spun by the ANC that they could not be held responsible because they did not order the T-shirts directly but used sub-contractors is an infantile excuse[1]. They could have placed provisions in their tender process that all T-shirts had to be made locally. The response from labour organisations and from the toothless buy local campaign Proudly South Africa will be interesting.
The South African government cannot call on its citizens to be patriotic by supporting Made in SA clothing or expect clothing retailers to support the local apparel industry when they have demonstrated such inexcusable behaviour. How will the ANC account for the hundreds if not thousands of job losses that will occur in this industry within the coming months?
It is clear from this action that government has no real intention of helping this stressed industry sector nor South African fashion designers who by the nature of the apparel value-chain are linked to the textile and clothing manufacturing sector. Recently the Department of Trade and Industry held workshops for the industry where they unveiled their new rescue plans. It was interesting to note that at one of the workshops it was suggested that the department should first concentrate on the illegal imports and under-invoicing taking place before they try to implement a series of complex policy plans. This suggestion was muted by the DTI who said systems were already in place to deal with this matter.
The intended rescue-package provides the opportunity for financial help through the IDC and increasing import duties. This is an indictment that the quotas were never intended to give the space for the industry to upgrade or that it would provide sustainable relief to the industry. The entire quota debacle and the way they were implemented smacks of political appeasement.
So while the quotas officially ended it has been revealed that the government was holding bilateral talks with the Chinese to discuss the possibilities of extending the quotas without any input from the industry. The saga around the banning of the Dalai Lama to visit South Africa is in my opinion a message to the Chinese government that South Africa will do anything to appease its new colonial master however, this subservient stance backfired when China showed government the middle finger by rejecting the request for an extension on import quotas.
Statistics reveal that more than 2000 people in the clothing and textile sector have already lost their jobs this year. Deputy Director General of International Trade and Economic Development from the DTI, Xavier Carim said that China's refusal to extend the quotas could "seriously harm local clothing producers." What about the ANC's decision to have nearly a million of their T-shirts made in China has this not harmed the industry? A SACTWU spokesperson felt aggrieved that China had blindsided the request for quota extension saying that South Africa accounted for less than 1% of all China's apparel exports. Why should China give preferential treatment to South Africa when their own industry is under strain and they have to compete with their Asian neighbours?
This latest debacle is a clear message to the apparel sector that they cannot be dependent on government for any bail-out. I think the industry, retailers and the fashion sector should hold an indaba to take matters in their own hands and find equable mechanisms to take this sector forward. One of the first issues such an industry sector meeting needs to do is weed out its own unscrupulous members who are undermining the industry from within. In so doing the industry will send a message to government that they will within the frame-work of the law find their own solutions with minimal government intervention to sustain this historical industry.
ANC: Party T-shirts made in SA09/04/2009 18:10 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The ANC's T-shirt suppliers are all South African, the ruling party said on Thursday after reports that it sourced T-shirts totalling millions of rands from China.
"We needed two million T-shirts, that was the order. We used the services of a group of people who buy and print them. The suppliers bought the T-shirts not the ANC," said party spokesperson Jessie Duarte.
"All our suppliers are South African. I don't know anything about the Chinese."
The Star on Thursday reported that T-shirt orders for the ANC, valued between R15m and R20m, were given to Chinese manufacturers, further damaging South Africa's already ailing textiles industry.
The report said 850 000 shirts which bore "Made in China" labels and were printed with ANC slogans had flooded the country ahead of the April 22 election.
It said the foreign order caused an uproar in the textiles industry as the ANC and its allies had, in the past, targeted large retailers for selling Chinese textiles saying they were undermining the job market.
The Star quoted Democratic Alliance parliamentary candidate Rory Macpherson, who was involved in the textiles industry, as saying he was made aware of the order by a "concerned member of the ANC".
"In real terms, this order of 850 000 shirts is worth about R20m. An order of this magnitude could keep several small CMT [cut, manufacture, trim] manufacturers busy for and alive for months," he told the paper.
The textile industry was one of the hardest hit manufacturing sectors in the slowdown in the economy.
Source: News24.com
[1] "ANC in Chinese T-Shirt Row" The Daily News, 9 April 2009
All the rhetoric about how important South Africa's clothing and textile industry is for poverty alleviation and the years spent around policy development for this industry sector has unbundled by the revelation that ANC election T-shirts were made in China.
The yarn spun by the ANC that they could not be held responsible because they did not order the T-shirts directly but used sub-contractors is an infantile excuse[1]. They could have placed provisions in their tender process that all T-shirts had to be made locally. The response from labour organisations and from the toothless buy local campaign Proudly South Africa will be interesting.
The South African government cannot call on its citizens to be patriotic by supporting Made in SA clothing or expect clothing retailers to support the local apparel industry when they have demonstrated such inexcusable behaviour. How will the ANC account for the hundreds if not thousands of job losses that will occur in this industry within the coming months?
It is clear from this action that government has no real intention of helping this stressed industry sector nor South African fashion designers who by the nature of the apparel value-chain are linked to the textile and clothing manufacturing sector. Recently the Department of Trade and Industry held workshops for the industry where they unveiled their new rescue plans. It was interesting to note that at one of the workshops it was suggested that the department should first concentrate on the illegal imports and under-invoicing taking place before they try to implement a series of complex policy plans. This suggestion was muted by the DTI who said systems were already in place to deal with this matter.
The intended rescue-package provides the opportunity for financial help through the IDC and increasing import duties. This is an indictment that the quotas were never intended to give the space for the industry to upgrade or that it would provide sustainable relief to the industry. The entire quota debacle and the way they were implemented smacks of political appeasement.
So while the quotas officially ended it has been revealed that the government was holding bilateral talks with the Chinese to discuss the possibilities of extending the quotas without any input from the industry. The saga around the banning of the Dalai Lama to visit South Africa is in my opinion a message to the Chinese government that South Africa will do anything to appease its new colonial master however, this subservient stance backfired when China showed government the middle finger by rejecting the request for an extension on import quotas.
Statistics reveal that more than 2000 people in the clothing and textile sector have already lost their jobs this year. Deputy Director General of International Trade and Economic Development from the DTI, Xavier Carim said that China's refusal to extend the quotas could "seriously harm local clothing producers." What about the ANC's decision to have nearly a million of their T-shirts made in China has this not harmed the industry? A SACTWU spokesperson felt aggrieved that China had blindsided the request for quota extension saying that South Africa accounted for less than 1% of all China's apparel exports. Why should China give preferential treatment to South Africa when their own industry is under strain and they have to compete with their Asian neighbours?
This latest debacle is a clear message to the apparel sector that they cannot be dependent on government for any bail-out. I think the industry, retailers and the fashion sector should hold an indaba to take matters in their own hands and find equable mechanisms to take this sector forward. One of the first issues such an industry sector meeting needs to do is weed out its own unscrupulous members who are undermining the industry from within. In so doing the industry will send a message to government that they will within the frame-work of the law find their own solutions with minimal government intervention to sustain this historical industry.
ANC: Party T-shirts made in SA09/04/2009 18:10 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The ANC's T-shirt suppliers are all South African, the ruling party said on Thursday after reports that it sourced T-shirts totalling millions of rands from China.
"We needed two million T-shirts, that was the order. We used the services of a group of people who buy and print them. The suppliers bought the T-shirts not the ANC," said party spokesperson Jessie Duarte.
"All our suppliers are South African. I don't know anything about the Chinese."
The Star on Thursday reported that T-shirt orders for the ANC, valued between R15m and R20m, were given to Chinese manufacturers, further damaging South Africa's already ailing textiles industry.
The report said 850 000 shirts which bore "Made in China" labels and were printed with ANC slogans had flooded the country ahead of the April 22 election.
It said the foreign order caused an uproar in the textiles industry as the ANC and its allies had, in the past, targeted large retailers for selling Chinese textiles saying they were undermining the job market.
The Star quoted Democratic Alliance parliamentary candidate Rory Macpherson, who was involved in the textiles industry, as saying he was made aware of the order by a "concerned member of the ANC".
"In real terms, this order of 850 000 shirts is worth about R20m. An order of this magnitude could keep several small CMT [cut, manufacture, trim] manufacturers busy for and alive for months," he told the paper.
The textile industry was one of the hardest hit manufacturing sectors in the slowdown in the economy.
Source: News24.com
[1] "ANC in Chinese T-Shirt Row" The Daily News, 9 April 2009
4 comments:
Every garment has to have a country of origin label in it .
The sample could have been inspected and this then pointed out
Well who would ever doubt the word of the ANC national spokesperson. Of course she does not define the term “suppliers” – I guess this could mean the “middlemen” were in fact South Africa.
Given that the ANC is on top of this issue I would assume that they instructed their agents to conduct the appropriate due diligence to ensure that these shirts were made in plants that complied with the country’s labour laws
I seem to recall that the SARS (at one stage) held retailers accountable for the payment of customs duties on clothing imported by customs agents
Typical ANC!
So typical of the ANC: they talk about providing jobs for SA's poor, then order millions of rands worth of T-shirts from China! ANC supporters, take note: the ANC only cares for its leaders, not you. To say they didn't know the order was from China is plain and simple lying - again a typical ANC trait. You see, China and the bucks it gives ANC leaders to fund their fatcat lifestyles is far more important than you, the struggling ANC supporter who needs a job locally. It's long past time for a change of government here to put an end to corruption, laziness, inefficiency and poor service delivery.. alan
who is paying?
It's easy to understand. When the ANC is paying from it's "own" pocket (most of which is tax money obtained indirectly) price is the determining factor, but when they are using our tax money they just pi&& it into the wind. In the first instance they want to accomplish something with the money but in the second instance they want to spend a budget and the only important result is political ammo ("we" have spent x billion rand on housing or poverty alleviation etc.). Just ask them how much money was spent on housing and how many houses were completed on standard and compare that to the rest of the industry. I would pay tax with a smile if I knew the money was spent effectively.. VWS
You guys are wrong
Do you really think that the ANC knew where the shirts were coming from, they are so useless that in this instance they probably didn't know, I mean that would be way too simple a task for them to grasp. And even if they did know they are too short sighted to think that it would end up in the media.
You give them way too much credit.
;-). DA all the way
Can be easily overlooked
Gosh guys,are you serious??!Although i understand where the writer of this article is coming from,that is one detail that can be very easily overlooked,especially with the excitment of the elections around the corner.Yes,the ANC can be very useless,but this is just being petty.Lest discuss real issues assomblief! . ANC member
inexcusable!
just plain disgusting! no excuses here.. Gareth
Another Blind ANC Member
How can somebody losing their job be "PETTY" - The ANC and their COMMUNIST UNION Buddies consistantly blame the "previously advantaged" for oppressing the poor while they do this knowing that the poor uneducated voter will be none the wiser. The elite in the ANC DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE AVERAGE SOUTH AFRICAN - THEY JUST WANT POWER SO THEY CAN ENRICH THEMSELVES AND THEIR BUDDIES. gman
Aspeaks with forked tongue
Some of these comments amaze me. It’s almost as if people believe that the ANC leadership has South Africa as well as their electorate’s interests at heart. Sorry for you................this is not so.. spoon
Probably did it for some reason
Maybe they did it to ensure that :
1. They got a picture of showerhead on it (and not Mothlante)
2. The got VOTE ANC and not VOTE CNA
3. The money they recieved from China went back to China. Fred M
Only when it suites them
It's like the government saying, there is a policy of affirmative action but it does not matter the employment agents can do what they want to, because they are agents and we the ANC don't know what they are doing. (O JA LIKE HELL). George
T-shirts
The textile worker that goes out and votes ANC deserves to have his/her head read.. S
Inexcusable but a global reality
I do find it hypocritical and in many ways inexcusable that the ANC is using shirts that are made in China. It affects the economy and has a great impact on specific sectors of our infrastructure. But we must remember that throughout the world, products that display a countries nationalism are made in places like India, Bulgaria, China, Vietnam. As much as I hate the ANC this action is something that is a global plague and not segregated to a few countries. . Chris
COSATU
I wonder what the ANC's partner, COSATU, will think of this? Not supporting SA's industry, shame.. Steve
well we cannot blame such person about patriotism. Or maybe it is just an issue of having a confusing incident. But suppliers Africa will have to pay attention with its image. Protecting once image and reputation about the products you bear really matters.
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