Buy-SA bid to channel billions to local firms

JOHANNESBURG — Business, the government and labour signed an accord on local procurement on Monday, pledging to increase their purchasing of goods and services from South African producers to an “aspirational target” of 75% in a bid to boost industrialisation and to create employment.

The accord reflects a new will by business and the government to work together after difficult relations between them, most recently because of the government’s challenge to the Walmart-Massmart deal and talk of nationalisation in the ruling African National Congress.

The New Growth Path Local Procurement Accord, which emerged from talks on the government’s economic revitalisation plan, seeks to “lay a foundation for a localisation programme,” Economic Development minister Ebrahim Patel said.

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