Electrical and telecommunications cables, electrical valves, manual and pneumatic actuators and components of solar water heaters have been added to the list of products that must be purchased locally as part of South Africa’s public sector procurement programmes.
The Preferential Procurement Policy Finance Act (PPPFA) of 2011 obliges public procurement programmes to purchase locally for certain designated industries, sectors and sub-sectors.
Rail rolling stock, power pylons, canned and processed vegetables, textiles and leather are among the products already listed.
“In the year ahead the DTI will significantly scale up designations and other procurement policy levers in support of domestic manufacturing,” said Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.
The designation policy instrument is one of several methods designed to support domestic manufacturing. These include the Competitive Supplier Development Programme – led by the Department of Public Enterprises – which governs the procurement programmes of state-owned enterprises.
The National Industrial Participation Programme obliges overseas companies which have won tenders worth more than US$10 million to invest in South Africa’s domestic economy.
