The Hindu : International : Charity wipes out a nation's industry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 25, 2004

International

International

Charity wipes out a nation's industry

LONDON, MAY 24. In Zambia, they call second-hand clothes from British charities salaula — "to rummage in a pile."

For millions of Zambians living on less than $2 a day, it is the only way to buy new clothes. It seems like a win-win situation. Cast-off clothes given to charity by Britons are exported to poverty-stricken Africans who otherwise cannot afford new outfits. But salaula has decimated Zambia's textile trade.

Sury Patel used to run Swarp, one of the country's biggest clothing manufacturers. In its heyday he employed more than 200 people producing 2,400 shirts a day. Today only 20 people work in Mr. Patel's factories and, instead of finely tailored shirts, Swarp's main business has been reduced to churning out cloth which sells for a pittance. Mr. Patel has been ruined. It seems far-fetched that the destruction of Mr. Patel's enterprise is caused by Britons giving clothes to charity. But economic reforms forced on Zambia by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund gave the country a stark choice: privatise state-run enterprises and open up industry to overseas competition or lose international aid.

In recent years the IMF's free-market doctrine applied throughout the developing world has lifted restrictions on imports.

In a bizarre spin-off, the Zambian textile industry has seen a glut of imported second-hand clothes which U.K. charities cannot sell. They are exported by private companies and it is this which has, in effect, killed Zambia's clothing manufacturing base.

"We used to have 77 factories. Then comes the salaula. It's cheap, but not necessarily hygienic," says Mr. Patel at his factory in Ndola, central Zambia. "But it has the worse impact. We used to supply retailers with 3,500 tons of clothing annually. We are down to less than 500 tons. We have the capacity to make much more, but there is no demand."

In 1991 there were 140 textile manufacturers across Zambia. In 2002 this had fallen to eight. Salaula has wiped out an industry, causing unemployment and reducing the tax take of a Government. "Zambia's textile industry has been crushed by World Bank and IMF-imposed trade liberalisation,' said Pete Hardstaff, head of policy at campaign group World Development Movement.— Guardian Newspaers Limited 2004

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