SOUTH African local procurement influencer Proudly SA said yesterday that it was currently in the process of studying the draft guidelines on collaboration between competitors on localisation initiatives for public comment issued last week.
Proudly SA chief executive Eustace Mashimbye said they were of the view that these would have a direct impact on them, given the work they started doing back in 2018 around Localisation Commitments at corporate level, especially now that they were actively soliciting commitments at industry level.
Proudly SA’s mandate is to influence local procurement in the public and private sectors, to increase local production and to influence consumers to buy local in order to stimulate job creation. This is in line with government’s plans to revive South Africa’s economy so that millions of jobs could be created and unemployment can be reduced.
Last week, the Competition Commission issued draft guidelines on collaboration between competitors on localisation initiatives for public comment in terms of section 79(3) of the Competition in Government Gazette number 44981.
The commission said this was in response to the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the government developed the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), which mapped out interventions aimed at promoting inclusive growth and employment in the domestic economy.
One of the key objectives of the ERRP was increased localisation, which was increasing the share of total procurement of an identified input from local suppliers and decreasing the share of procurement of imports of the same input.
In terms of the draft guidelines, a “localisation initiative” is any project or effort to achieve greater levels of local procurement or production. Localisation initiatives may be initiated by the government or private players themselves.
The commission said collaboration among competitors might be required in order to advance such localisation initiatives whether they were led by government or industry. Interested parties were urged to submit written submissions on the draft guidelines by September 27.
In May this year, Business Unity South Africa in conjunction with Business Leadership South Africa launched a report into localisation policy.
The report was compiled by local consulting firm Intellidex and aims to contribute to policy on promoting local manufacturing in South Africa.
BUSINESS REPORT