He says buying imported goods over local alternatives, hampers South Africa’s economic growth.

Mashimbye was speaking at a meeting of captains of the industry in Durban on Wednesday.

He says, “The impact of products coming into the country and us buying them when there are other alternatives and capacity to produce those products in South Africa is that you are taking away the opportunity  to keep those businesses alive.”

“By keeping those businesses alive you are retaining the jobs that they could have created, and remember with the increased demand, if you continue buying from those companies and they have to produce more, then you give them an opportunity to create new job opportunities and that is one we are looking for.”

“The impact of products coming into the country when there are other alternatives is that it takes away contribution to the GDP and you have less people paying tax by way of employment taxes, revenues of businesses that are doing well because as companies continue doing well, as their revenue goes up, their tax contribution goes up.”

--SABC--