EDITORIAL | Tread carefully in bids to protect South Africa from ‘poor’ Chinese imports

It was not uncommon for South Africa to encounter headwinds when it sought trade policies that aimed to protect local industries or the broader South African economy. We could be heading towards such an occasion yet again.

On Friday, trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau issued a directive to implement a notice of pre-export verification of conformity programme on unregulated imports from China, aimed at protecting local consumers and industry from goods deemed to be of poor quality.

The minister’s directive is set to become effective in the next six months. The gazetted directive said the conformity assessment activities were expected to be undertaken within the legislative mandate of the South African Bureau of Standards (Sabs).

“The programme requires that applicable products imported from China be accompanied by a certificate of conformity confirming conformity with identified applicable South African National Standards or recognised reference standards,” the gazetted directive said.

The directive said it does not create new enforcement powers and it is expected to be implemented through existing statutory mechanisms.

“Any cooperation arrangement between Sabs and a foreign conformity assessment body, including the China Certification and Inspection Group, shall operate as an administrative and technical cooperation mechanism and shall not have independent regulatory force.”

Reading the directive, one would imagine that South Africa exists in a world with no global trade fragmentation, where the country does not need new trade alliances, as traditional global supply chains are disrupted by protectionist policies and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

When one scales the country’s biggest construction projects, it becomes clear many of the projects that are moving the fastest, keeping on schedule and on budget have the presence of a construction company from China.

China announced at the AU Summit earlier this year that it will be implementing a “zero-tariff” dispensation on imports from 53 African countries, in a move that might be the most significant in allowing African goods into non-African markets since the introduction of the US’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) back in 2000.

When one scales the country’s biggest construction projects, it becomes clear many of the projects that are moving the fastest, keeping on schedule and on budget have the presence of a construction company from China.

Any quantity surveyor and project manager would tell you the differences between working on a project led by local contractors and one led by a contractor from China.

They would speak of how they might have to issue one or two delay notices on a project led by the latter, while a project led by the former would easily elicit delay notices in the double digits.

We need only look at our power plant behemoths, Medupi and Kusile. All units of Kusile Power Station came into operation a year ago, while construction on the project began in 2008. Medupi marked the end of construction in 2021, 14 years after operations began.

This is to say nothing of the price escalation that happened during this period. The need to get our house in order doubles when considering the R1-trillion infrastructure spending finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget has earmarked for the medium term.

In its latest GDP data release, StatsSA said construction continued to struggle in its contributions to GDP growth as the manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and construction industries recorded negative growth in 2025.

The statistical release said the construction industry decreased by 1.3%. Decreases were reported for residential and non-residential buildings. Gross fixed capital formation increased by 1.3%, contributing 0.2 of a percentage point to the total growth.

“The positive contributors to the increase were other assets at 14.7% and contributing 1.7 percentage points, machinery and other equipment at 2.2% and contributing 0.9 of a percentage point, and construction works at 2.1% and contributing 0.3 of a percentage point.”

At first glance, stricter import standards and construction sector performance may appear unrelated. But in a world defined by geopolitical trade-offs, they are intertwined.

We are living through an era, shaped in part by the resurgence of economic nationalism associated with figures like US President Donald Trump, where access in one area is often contingent on concessions in another.

South Africa is within its rights to raise standards on imported goods, but should be careful not to scare off excellent skills needed elsewhere. Measures perceived as restrictive or adversarial could affect relationships that are vital in other sectors, particularly those, like infrastructure, where foreign expertise and partnership remain indispensable.