The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has accepted the latest BRICS Summit Declaration as adopted by Heads of State earlier this week, during the BRICS Summit held in Brazil.

The Union has appreciated the declaration to combat under-invoicing of imported goods. It is one of the most significant developments over the last decade, to normalise fair trade for the industry and to stamp out illegal imports.

This is a concrete step in the implementation of the commitment made by the government in Retail-Clothing, Textile, Footwear and Leather (R-CTFL) Masterplan. The masterplan was signed by the industry’s business and government social partners on November 6, 2019, at the 2nd Presidential Investor Conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

 Under-invoicing of imported goods is one of the major source of job losses in the clothing, textile, footwear, leather and poultry industries in South Africa, which is said to have a very negative impact on the country’s domestic industrialisation efforts.