Question NW3715 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
24 November 2023 - NW3715
Malomane, Ms VP to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
In view of the indication of the SA Cultural Observatory that the cultural and creative industries contributed 2,97% to the gross domestic product in 2020, employing about 1 million workers in the process, and that it has observed a trend of our expropriated national costumes and crafts being manufactured in other countries, resulting in South Africans importing local cultural identity costumes and crafts, what measures is his department implementing to increase domestic manufacturing in the specified sector, working together with sister departments such as the Departments of Small Business Development and Trade, Industry and Competition?
Reply:
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has since appointed a National Design Committee comprising Nine (9) members from different provinces with different expertise in the Design Sector. Their mission is to:
- Advise the department in the formation of the South National Design Council
- Assist the department in formulating a National Design Policy
The key objective of the Committee is to look at the holistic nature of the industry and advise on how to grow the sector, increase employment and action to buy local products. The sector has been plagued by the advent of cheap imports and the second-hand market which caused losses in the manufacturing industry and the number of output decreasing. The proposal is to bring in the two sister departments during the development of the policy (The Department of Small Business and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition) at the end and thereafter work on the proposed strategies on how to assist SARS and the National Department of transport on regulatory frameworks for illicit goods and services.
The DTIC has developed a Clothing and Textiles Masterplan which looked at some pillars amongst which was the introduction of the R-CTFL (Retail, Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather) Masterplan aimed at encouraging structural change in the value chain to grow the domestic market, increases purchases from domestic suppliers, access and grow export markets and enhance value chain competitiveness. Other complementary measures include cluster development, local procurement, trade support and countering the illicit trade by working alongside the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and customs authorities.
Also, to improve competitiveness, manufacturing capability, technology, skills, and transformation. Its Strategic Pillars are domestic market growth; value-chain localisation; competitiveness advancement; transformation in the value-chain and technology and skills development.
The Crafts industry on the other hand are small craft businesses with one owner producing goods and products in their own homes, while larger operations may employ several workers. Craft businesses are not mass production but rather employ a hands-on approach to produce unique items for customers. In recent years, other countries with big budgets have utilised machinery to produce mass goods that are sold relatively cheaply.
The DSAC has expressed to the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) intentions to formalise our collaboration on the Craft Customised Sector Programme (CSP) to mitigate these risks through concerted efforts on capacity building to craft producers and enterprises. Other interventions include ongoing craft incubator programmes which will be topped from 2024 to build the capacity of producers for sustainable production and improved market access and share vis a vis imported products.
The Department has also produced craft business guides in all official languages for use by creatives to build their capacity to compete effectively and sustainably. The ethos of the above interventions is to provide craft producers with a competitive edge over their competitors through innovation along the whole value chain of the craft sector.