SACTWU Welcomes the Data Inquiry

24 July 2017

The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union SACTWU welcomes the planned investigation by Competition Commission into the country's data costs.

It has been brought to our attention that the Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, is expected to announce the establishment of such a market inquiry into the state of competition in the data market and the inquiry's terms of reference by 1 September 2017.

We welcome this inquiry as data costs in the country are amongst the highest in the world and it is often very expensive for our members, who are amongst the lowest paid in the manufacturing industry. As our industry continues to modernise, it also increasingly rely on data-required ICT operations to promote their manufacturing products. High data costs hampers this modernisation.

The high data costs not only affect our members but also their children who are often unable to access the internet for school research as a result of this high cost.

We welcome this investigation and hope that it will urge service providers to lower their costs.

Issued by

Andre Kriel
General Secretary
SACTWU