Department of Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says his department has injected billions into the country’s Textile, Clothing, Leather and Footwear sector in order to maintain and secure much needed jobs.

Speaking at the Clothing and Textiles summit in Durban, Davis says the sector has been deteriorating due to strong international competition.

He says his department has injected funds to the tune of R 5 billion to maintain the 82 000 jobs and the creation of 9 000 new jobs in the industry.

“There has been about 4000 job losses in those companies, so the companies have been benefitting from our incentives and there are companies that have been racing for competitiveness and have been building particularly on just in time on ability… Now this is a repositioning of the clothing and textile manufacturing developing into new partnerships with retail,” says Davis.