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The
Congress of SA Trade Unions and the Proudly SA marketing
campaign announced on Friday that they had agreed to work together
to promote South Africa's information technology industry.
Cosatu said it supported the Proudly SA campaign since encouraging
South Africans to buy local products translated into more jobs for
more people.
The trade union federation said it was therefore concerned that
some businesses and state agencies were writing tenders in a way
that deliberately excluded South African companies.
"Several recent tenders contained conditions which effectively
excluded local manufacturers from tendering," Cosatu said in a
statement issued at the end of a two-day workshop in Johannesburg
with Proudly SA.
"These included, for example, specifying only specific non-locally
made products or requiring companies to have a global market share
beyond the reach of South African countries.
"In the interests of encouraging and developing a local IT
manufacturing industry, Cosatu and Proudly SA will jointly continue
to campaign against these restrictive practices and for these
specific tenders to be changed."
One of the tenders mentioned was put out by the Independent
Electoral Commission for new IT infrastructure and worth R50
million.
Others involved the Ekhuruleni and Tshwane municipalities.
Proudly SA chief executive Martin Feinstein said the campaign was
not "anti-import" or against international brands competing in
South Africa.
"But we want to level the playing field. These tenders violate the
rules of fair competition. It puts a padlock on the gate leading to
the playing field."
Journalist Tim Modise, Proudly SA's chairman, said the campaign was
still "relatively new" and it was possible that some agencies did
not understand what it was about.
"We would like to see international tenderers winning bids based
here," he said. They should manufacture here and create jobs here,"
Modise said.
"It is not correct for SA tax money to be exported to create jobs
elsewhere... For local bidders to be forced out of a tender is
grossly unfair. If we do not grow our companies we will not create
jobs here." - Sapa
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