Small-scale 'dumping operation' in progress
DELTA MANAGING director Willie van Wyk has hit out at cheap truck imports from the east, claiming they are threatening South African jobs and lives.
A concerning by-product of the Asian financial crisis has been the growing number of so-called grey vehicle imports finding their way into this country from depressed Asian markets, he said at the opening of a new Isuzu assembly plant at Delta Port Elizabeth recently.
The desperate need for hard currency in those countries has resulted in fire-sale prices on brand new goods, amongst them, heavy trucks, says van Wyk.
This has provided fertile ground for the opportunists who are now importing new and used vehicles, with paperwork indicating that the goods are destined for Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho or Swaziland, but which are in fact finding their way directly into the South African market.
And this is big business. I am reliably advised that, based on the volume of vehicles imported so far into Lesotho for example, each person over the age of 18 in that country now owns 1,5 heavy trucks and a bicycle!
Of specific concern to us is that brand new Isuzu trucks are being snapped up in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia by certain opportunists and shipped in through Durban in a kind of small-scale 'dumping' operation.
They are cleverly using a maze of interlinked loopholes in the various control systems to shuffle paperwork and ownership and land these vehicles in South Africa.
So what? You may say. Well, firstly this is a criminal issue: these are vehicles coming through the ports without paying duties. Secondly it is a safety and product image issue.
These units do not comply with SABS requirements. They are cheap, and therefore appear to be bargains, but in the longer term can be very expensive due to premature failure of components and lack of aftermarket support. In extreme cases they could even be dangerous.
Thirdly, it is an ongoing threat to the local industry and to those who invest in facilities like our new Isuzu Truck Plant.Fourthly, it is a threat to the security of employment.
And finally, it is a threat to the rule of law. Besides which, in a time when our industry is under increasing pressure, when jobs are in steady decline and unemployment is increasing, it is in my book ethically and morally indefensible that anyone should profit by finagling business out of the legitimate system!
We are therefore, through Naamsa, working with Customs, the SABS, the SAPS and the Dept of Finance and we are confident that we can and will close the loopholes and eliminate this business as quickly as possible.
Don't get me wrong, we welcome direct competition. But we will fight with everything we can find to bury those whose business is unscrupulous and whose methods threaten our livelihood, says van Wyk.
By Ed Richardson
