The Southern African Vinyls Association (SAVA) is proud to announce that they have taken up membership with the country’s official “Buy Local” campaign, Proudly South African.

Proudly SA is mandated to stimulate much-needed job creation and retention in our country through the lobbying for and promotion of local goods, services and industries. The organisation lobbies the public and private sectors to increase their levels of local procurement through their supply chain structures and also encourages consumers to do so through their daily purchasing habits.

Explaining the reason for the move, Monique Holtzhausen, CEO of SAVA says South Africa has a dynamic and burgeoning vinyls manufacturing sector that stands to benefit from displaying the Proudly South Africa logo as a recognised endorsement of local content and quality. It makes business sense for us as a company to be affiliated with the country’s Buy Local Movement.

“We have a wide variety of superior vinyl products that are manufactured in South Africa. In many cases, these products are exported around the world. From PVC pipes and gutters to shoes and gumboots; from flooring products and décor accessories to medical devices - we want these companies to enjoy the benefits afforded to them through joint membership to SAVA and Proudly SA,” she says.

Customers and end-markets know that SAVA members adhere to health and safety standards and best practice models. The association’s voluntary Product Stewardship Commitment (PSC) specifies safe, responsible use of additives, sustainable manufacturing processes, closed loop management and a sustainability awareness. This consumer-confidence will be further strengthened by displaying the Proudly South Africa logo as proof of quality and local production.

Proudly SA is a membership-based organisation, and only companies that have been audited and approved are entitled to carry the logo, which symbolises the adherence of that product or service to required local-content thresholds and quality standards.

Says Eustace Mashimbye, CEO of Proudly SA, “We are excited that more and more industry bodies are recognising the need to join the buy local movement. This proves to us that they understand that the buy local message is important not only for consumers, but also for business-to-business trading, and most importantly that they have an appreciation that we all have a collective responsibility to create much needed jobs for our country”.

We are pleased to see that clarity has been provided by the courts indicating that the 2017 public sector preferential procurement regulations, which contain clear local procurement provisions and requirements for items designated for this purpose, will remain in effect at least until early 2023 when new regulations will hopefully have been finalised, and we hope that even these new regulations will provide for preference to be given to locally made products, when public entities procure items currently designated for this purpose.

Many of the products that government has designated for local production and procurement are vinyl products or contain PVC.  This includes the textile, clothing, leather and footwear sector, certain pharmaceutical products, furniture products, electrical and telecom cables, valve products, pipes and fittings, solar PV component to name a few.

Concludes Monique: “In difficult times like the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, membership to a professional body and forming strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations have become crucial for survival and growth. We are very excited to be able to add this partnership to our basket of membership benefits. We are confident that joining forces with Proudly SA will not only expand our networking possibilities, but also offer members a greater platform to connect, do business, exchange knowledge and learnings while at the same time also offer them support, stability and a sense of community”.