Clothing industry needs Government protection

The unbridled influx of smuggled second hand clothing into the country daily is causing the total extinction of the local clothing industry. Clothes manufacturers and the respective outlets which sell clothes are recording receding business everyday as their formal market is invaded by cheap clothes flooding the streets and pavements in the capital city as well as other towns and cities scattered all over the country.

This is detrimental to the national economy as many jobs in the clothing industry are affected with no grain of hope to restore them since the old foreign clothes are flowing in continuously. They are attracting nearly all potential buyers. These cheap second hand clothes come from the western states through countries like Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. These are in turn smuggled by criminals into the country using haulage trucks or persons that are paid to smuggle them into the country. There are also allegations that security forces, manning our borders, are involved in well orchestrated syndicates which smuggle these products.

The products smuggled include almost all clothes required by human beings which range from dresses, blouses, trousers, shirts, socks, under garments, jackets and hats among other selections which are sold on the streets by illegal vendors from as little as US 10 cents to just a mere US $1. These are incomparable to similar products which call for US $18 to US $50 for men's trousers for example. This is creating an unequal competition on the market.

Similarly, most local clothing shops, especially boutiques, are stocked with imported products only. These come from as far as Dubai, India and South Africa and are pushing out local manufactures out of business.

The direct ripple effect of this state of affairs is that workers in the clothing industry lose their jobs due to lack of viability of the industry. For instance, David Whitehead, a clothes manufacturer is operating at 40% capacity as it viability is impeded by this unfair competition promoted by laissez fair on the local market. In the same vein the government is prejudiced of revenue in the form of Pay as You Earn and corporate taxes. The cotton growing farmers are short-changed as the demand for their product is compromised, hence, the farmers are exposed to low prices for their produce.

The Government should revive production of cotton which has been reduced to a mere hundred thousand tonnes owing to poor prices. This can be done by putting incentives such as higher prices and subsidies to cotton farmers. Currently unscrupulous buyers are purchasing cotton lint for a mere US 30 cents/kg while US 70 cents / kg is needed by farmers for them to break even.

It is high time that government implements measures which protect the clothing industry which is faced by this menace. This can be in the form of tarrif and quotas to protect domestic firms from unfair foreign competition as well as plugging all porous parts of the national boundaries which are used as conduit pipes for smuggling. This is one sure way of resuscitating the collapsed industries and creating employment for the population.