Coenraad Bezuidenhout
Photo by: Duane Daws
The Manufacturing Circle on Wednesday described the use of imported delegate bags at this week’s inaugural Manufacturing Indaba as a “rookie mistake”, but said that the body would, from now on, only participate in events that procure all supplies locally.
This followed public criticism after the conference organisers distributed bags that were manufactured in China.
“Our future participation in this particular event [Manufacturing Indaba], and in all other events of this nature, will be conditional on all supplies for the event to be procured locally,” Manufacturing Circle executive director Coenraad Bezuidenhout said in a statement. He added that the body would help conference organisers, which were struggling to procure the necessary locally manufactured goods, to find suppliers.
Manufacturing Circle, along with Proudly South African and Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, was a strategic partner of the Manufacturing Indaba, but Bezuidenhout admitted that none of the partners had laid down “local procurement conditions” for their participation.
“We view the use of the imported bags as an unfortunate ‘rookie mistake’, at what was otherwise a useful, compelling and very well organised event,” he said.
The inaugural event drew committed participation from 240 delegates, with representation from both the private and public sector.