Ramaphosa says pandemic revealed SA’s capacity for innovation, adaptation
President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the Proudly South African Buy Local Summit and Expo on Tuesday morning.
“The pandemic has both exposed the fragility of global supply chains and revealed the great capacity we have here in South Africa for innovation and adaptation in manufacturing,” he told the summit.
“In the space of just two years, through collaboration and out of necessity, we managed to build local production capability in ventilators, hand sanitisers, medical-grade face masks and gloves, vaccines and therapeutic drugs and anaesthetics.”
Tuesday’s event marks a decade of the annual Buy Local Summit and Expo.
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Ramaphosa said local production is important because it encourages national pride in the goods, services and products made on home soil.
“It supports the growth of small businesses and the expansion of larger firms, it creates employment and sustains livelihoods.
“Local production supports our manufacturing sector, it enables us to build much-needed infrastructure and improve our services.”
The president added that government will continue to work on cutting red tape for businesses.
“To create an environment more conducive to local production, we are reducing red tape and removing the barriers to entry for emerging companies. The employment value chain in this sector is enormous – from the factory to dealerships, components and spare parts manufacturing, after sales service, mechanics and sales personnel.”
