Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) has taken bold steps towards ensuring that organisations source goods and services locally, unless such is not available in the market.
The federation is currently setting up two departments that will monitor and criminalise the importation of goods and services into the country, in particular those that are readily available locally. The two entities are; FESBC Private Procurement Agency and FESBC Commercial Court. This was revealed by FESBC Head of Transformation Mavela Sigwane, who said they had been quiet for a long time and had decided to stand up to put a stop to the importation of goods and services, which were available locally. He said this was because such practices affected the economic development of the country.
Companies
Sigwane said this following reports that some companies in the private sector and public enterprises, were purportedly overlooking local goods and services as they were procuring outside the country, either from countries within the continent or from overseas. The recent report was about the Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) after it sourced T-shirts for the upcoming 2023 Imbube Marathon from China, yet it used to place an order with local textile factories. The FESBC head of transformation said what had come to the limelight through the decision by ENPF to procure Imbube Marathon T-shirts from China, yet the items could be produced locally, was not just about the fund. Instead, he said, it was a demonstration of how organisations undermined local businesses. “It is an ill-behaviour by big organisations as it demonstrates their guts to overlook local goods and services,” Sigwane said. He said the most painful thing was that a majority of the big organisations were now owned by emaSwati, some of whom were raised by parents who owned the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) , like shoemakers and vendors.
Businesses
He said such people should know the importance of supporting each other and local businesses. “It is disappointing to see such people overlooking the local market when they become businesspeople or chief executive officers (CEOs) or procurement officers in big organisations,” Sigwane said. In that regard, he said; “Enough is enough! It is time we hold them (businesses and procurement officers) to account on what they are doing to the local businesses when they procure goods and services outside the country, when they are readily available in the kingdom.” In a bid to prove that this was not only about ENPF, he said some companies in the sugar belt and mining sector, purchased bearings, conveyor belts and even bolt and nuts, outside the country, yet they were readily available locally. “These decisions are made by emaSwati (the managers),” the FESBC head of transformation said, while highlighting that even in the construction industry, companies were overlooking the Construction Industry Council (CIC) policy, which stated that they should prioritise procuring goods and services, locally but instead, they import items like planks and nails.
Department
When narrating how the two entities would operate, Sigwane said the FESBC Private Procurement Agency would work hand-in-hand with the Customs Department to scrutinise all imported goods and services at the border gates. He said they would specifically look if the imported items were not produced locally and if they available, the agency would refer the matter to the organisation’s commercial court. He said the commercial court, which would be formed by former judges, magistrates and prosecutors, would preside over the matter and issue a judgment. He said their judgment, which could be suspension or revoking of the affected business, would be sent to the criminal courts, where they would file an application to prosecute and punish the organisations or procurement officers using the law of the land. “The economy has been collapsing because of such practices and we did nothing, the private sector did as it pleased,” Sigwane said.
Thereafter, he said, with the establishment of FESBC Private Procurement Agency, they would ensure that all goods and services which would be imported into the country would have a permit that would state that the items were not available locally. By so doing, he said apart from increasing the circulation of money within the country, industries would be encouraged to produce more. He added that this would create more job opportunities and the gross domestic product (GDP) would go up, thus bringing about economic development and encourage government to improve the road infrastructure further because there would be more activity on the roads.
Unemployment
It is worth noting that Eswatini has an alarming rate of unemployment of 33.3 per cent and about 60 per cent of the youth, including graduates, is unemployed. On top of that, Sigwane said through these entities, they would seek to criminalise the exportation of raw material, especially those that could be processed into finished goods in the country. For example, he said coal and timber were simple raw materials which could be processed in the country and create job opportunities. At the moment, he said the country exported these raw materials to not so many kilometres away, where it created jobs for foreign people and stimulated the economy of another nation. Later on, he said emaSwati bought the finished products at much higher prices. “This has to stop and we will be asking the nation to support us as we implement our strategies,” he said.
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