Latest news with #SiyandaMthethwa
Business of Fashion
05-08-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Shein and Temu Outpace Global Retail Giants in South Africa's Fashion Market
China-founded e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu have captured a combined 3.6 percent share of South Africa's retail, clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) market, accounting for 7.3 billion rand ($405 million) in sales in 2024, a report showed on Tuesday. Shein entered the market in 2020, followed by Temu in 2024. Both have disrupted the local retail landscape through aggressive pricing, strategic marketing, and using tax loopholes that initially gave them a competitive edge over local retailers. Their appeal to price-sensitive consumers has impacted local retailers, who urged regulators last year to close the tax loophole, which eventually ended last year. The Localisation Support Fund (LSF) report found that domestic retailers' market share of CTFL declined from 75.3 percent in 2011 to 74 percent in 2024. Meanwhile, international brick-and-mortar brands like H&M, Zara and Cotton On hold a combined 3.4 percent share. Shein and Temu now command a combined 3.6 percent share of the CTFL market, and 37.1 percent of South Africa's e-commerce CTFL market, with Shein alone accounting for 28 percent of online ladies' CTFL sales. 'Those [international] retailers have acquired this market share over a period of 13 years, and Shein and Temu have managed to match and surpass this in just a five-year period,' said Sean Mercer, principal consultant at consulting firm BMA. By Siyanda Mthethwa; Editors: Nqobile Dludla and Alexandra Hudson Learn more: South Africa Will Impose New Tax on Fast Fashion Parcels The country's tax authority will soon impose a tax on cheap packages to protect the local clothing industry from international e-commerce competitors like Shein.
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shein and Temu outpace global retail giants in South Africa's fashion market
By Siyanda Mthethwa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -China-founded e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu have captured a combined 3.6% share of South Africa's retail, clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) market, accounting for 7.3 billion rand ($405 million) in sales in 2024, a report showed on Tuesday. Shein entered the market in 2020, followed by Temu in 2024. Both have disrupted the local retail landscape through aggressive pricing, strategic marketing, and using tax loopholes that initially gave them a competitive edge over local retailers. Their appeal to price-sensitive consumers has impacted local retailers, who urged regulators last year to close the tax loophole, which eventually ended last year. The Localisation Support Fund (LSF) report found that domestic retailers' market share of CTFL declined from 75.3% in 2011 to 74% in 2024. Meanwhile, international brick-and-mortar brands like H&M, Zara, and Cotton On hold a combined 3.4% share. Shein and Temu now command a combined 3.6% share of the CTFL market, and 37.1% of South Africa's e-commerce CTFL market, with Shein alone accounting for 28% of online ladies' CTFL sales. "Those (international)retailers have acquired this market share over a period of 13 years, and Shein and Temu have managed to match and surpass this in just a five-year period," said Sean Mercer, principal consultant at consulting firm BMA. ($1 = 18.0270 rand) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Severe cold front bringing snow in South Africa causes fatal accident, power outages
By Siyanda Mthethwa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -A severe cold front sweeping across South Africa since the weekend brought heavy snowfall which has led to road closures, power outages and a fatal road accident, officials said. Five people were killed in a road accident along the N2 highway due to the adverse weather, Eastern Cape transport department spokesperson Unathi Binqose told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday. The South African Weather Service warned citizens late last week there would be a big drop in temperatures this week across the country, accompanied by disruptive rain, damaging winds, and snow over eastern areas. South Africa regularly receives snowfall during its winter months from June through August, with temperatures diving below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). Snow has been reported since Monday across provinces including Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State, prompting closures along sections of the N2 highway that connects the provinces, according to the KwaZulu-Natal transport department. Power utility Eskom said in a post on X that it was "experiencing a high number of customer calls nationally, due to widespread power outages caused by inclement weather." More resources were being secured to ensure prompt resolution to the power outages, Eskom said. The weather service forecast that the cold front would persist through midweek.
USA Today
30-05-2025
- USA Today
South African mother given life sentence for trafficking 6-year-old daughter
Siyanda Mthethwa Reuters JOHANNESBURG, May 29 (Reuters) - A South African mother and two accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for trafficking her then-6-year-old daughter, in a case that gained nationwide attention since the child went missing last year. Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno Van Rhyn were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking the girl, Joshlin Smith, after she disappeared from a small town in the Western Cape. In a trial that shocked the country, a witness said Kelly Smith told her that she had sold her daughter to a sangoma, or traditional healer, for 20,000 rand ($1,100) and that the girl was desired for her "eyes and skin". Joshlin Smith has still not been found despite an extensive police search. Announcing their sentences on Thursday, high court judge Nathan Erasmus said the fact Kelly Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn were drug users was no excuse. "There is nothing that I can find that is redeeming and deserving of a lesser sentence than the harshest I can impose," Erasmus said. For kidnapping the three were given 10-year jail terms. ($1 = 17.8969 rand) (Reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa; editing by Alexander Winning and Sophie Walker)
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Africa's DA party challenges new racial equity law in court
By Nellie Peyton and Siyanda Mthethwa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa's Democratic Alliance party went to court on Tuesday to challenge new employment equity legislation which sets out numerical targets for the number of non-white people that companies should employ. The pro-business DA, the second-biggest party in government, says the new law violates anti-discrimination clauses in the constitution and gives the state too much regulatory power. Its larger coalition partner, the African National Congress, says the DA is trying to "preserve the apartheid-era economic status quo" and thwart its efforts to correct racial imbalances in the workplace that are apartheid's legacy. Statistics show that South Africa's companies are still dominated by white people at the top, with Black employees mainly occupying lower-level roles. Unemployment is much higher among Black citizens. Lawyers for the two sides made their opening arguments on Tuesday at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. "This case is about flexibility," said DA lawyer Ismail Jamie in court, adding that it is fine to set aspirational targets but not ones "so rigid that they constitute a quota", which he claimed the new ones do. Race remains a highly charged topic in South Africa three decades after the end of white minority rule. The DA's national leader is white and the party has a reputation for defending the interests of the white minority, which it denies. The Employment Equity Amendment Act, which took effect this year, updates a 1998 act that required employers to set diversity targets and report on their progress in meeting them. It is separate from an existing Black economic empowerment law which many critics say hasn't worked. That policy also sets targets for the number of Black people at management level, but firms can avoid it by earning points in other categories such as ownership or skills development. There is no penalty for non-compliance. TARGETS Under the new law, companies with more than 50 employees must meet sectoral targets for the number of non-white people, women and disabled people in skilled and senior roles, or justify their failure to do so. Firms that do not comply could lose government contracts and be fined. "If we continue the way that we are, we're never going to see the transformation that is required because people... will never get to top management," said Muriel Mushariwa, a law lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand and an employment equity consultant. She added, however, that it could be difficult for companies to comply with the new equity law and the Black empowerment programme, whose targets are broken down into different categories and not aligned. The DA says it supports redress but sees job creation as the primary solution. (Additional reporting by Thando Hlophe; Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Siyanda Mthethwa; Editing by Tim Cocks and Gareth Jones)
