Illegally imported World Cup merchandise is jeopardising the jobs of South African workers, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Friday.
“Since November 2009 alone, the South African Revenue Service has seized more than R88-million-worth of fake goods at airports and harbours, with weekly reports of more seizures,” Cosatu said in a statement.
“These fake imports threaten the jobs of people in factories in Durban, Cape Town and many other cities and towns.”
Cosatu and the Fifa organising committee in South Africa have been working together to ensure that World Cup merchandise was produced locally to create job opportunities within the country.
Up to 14 400 jobs in the clothing and textile industry had been lost in the past year, Cosatu said.
“Soccer supporters and South African citizens can save these jobs and grow the South African manufacturing capacity by ensuring that they buy locally made products.”
Cosatu urged South Africans to check all World Cup products for the “made in South Africa” tag to ensure that the goods were produced locally.
“Make sure that there is a ‘Made in South Africa label’ inside the clothes on sale for the World Cup and in support of Bafana Bafana. This includes caps, bags, toys, flags and other memorabilia.
“If we don’t do this, then the success of the World Cup would have not been felt by South African workers.” — Sapa