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Today’s release of the manufacturing, production and sales figures by Stats SA reveals what most South Africans already know: our manufacturing sector is in a crisis, overseen by the ANC-led government.

StatsSA has revealed that manufacturing is down 0,8% year on year to May 2017 and down 0,3% from April 2017 to May 2017. This is a continuation of a decline in manufacturing from last month’s year-on-year figures of 4.9% to April 2017.

By these figures, we now know manufacturing is in a recession with no clear way out from the Government. That is why we need Parliament to step in and take control by holding hearings to get to the bottom of what is really going on in the sector and how we can turn it around. I have today written to the Chairperson of Trade & Industry, Joan Fubbs MP requesting that these hearings are prioritised above all other business.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, has stood back while his political principal, Jacob Zuma, has wreaked havoc on our economy, taking us into a recession and seeing us downgraded to junk status. What South Africa really needs in this volatile atmosphere is a government committed to strengthening the manufacturing sector as it will create the jobs required for economic growth.

Issued by DA