Author: African News Agency

The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has welcomed the announcement by Swedish global retailer H&M that it will be collaborating with South African designer, Palesa Mokubung, and her label, Mantsho.

On Tuesday, H&M announced its first African collaboration with Mokubung’s label, which was established in 2004 and has since graced numerous runways in Greece, India, the United States, Jamaica, Nigeria, Botswana and Senegal.

Until now, none of the products sold in H&M’s 23 local stores has been made in South Africa.

SACTWU said in a statement that it was a long-standing supporter of Mokubung’s work, citing how the Mantsho label was featured as far back as at its 2008 Fashion Festival held in the cutting room of the Levi Strauss SA factory in Cape Town.

Andre Kriel, SACTWU general secretary, said the union and its clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) members were looking forward to seeing …

The City of Cape Town has announced a range of measures to support the local boat building industry to position it as a premier global hub for this fast-growing industry.

Cape Town is the largest boat building city in South Africa and the second largest producer of recreational catamarans globally.

ALSO READ:

“Cape Town’s boat building industry has grown by 28.8 per cent year-on-year since 2012,” the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, James Vos, said at an event this week. “The industry exports 90 per cent of the products produced and attracts a positive trade balance of around US$73 million (over R1 billion) annually.

“The 40-plus boat yards and 3,500 specialist staff produce award-winning super-yachts,” he said. “The city is home to 70 per cent of South Africa’s boat builders.”

Vos said the City was keen to support sectors such as the boat building sector …

Emerging markets aviation services provider National Aviation Services says it will offer comprehensive ground handling and cargo services in Mozambique from July.

This will cover ramp, passenger and engineering services and include check-in, boarding, ramp handling, maintenance, cleaning as well as import and export cargo handling and storage for scheduled and ad-hoc airlines at all airports in Mozambique.

“Airline traffic is growing steadily in Mozambique. Coupled with the developing oil and gas, and mining sectors, there is a huge demand for air transport related goods and services for both cargo and passenger operations,” group CEO Hassan El Houry said in a statement.

“This requires heavy investment in the latest equipment, technologies and processes at the different airports in Mozambique, all of which NAS can provide easily. We look forward to utilizing our global experience and expertise to modernize operations and drive efficiency using the latest technologies and operational practices.”

NAS …

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth slowed to 2.3 per cent in 2018 from 2.5 per cent in 2017, remaining below population growth for the fourth consecutive year, the World Bank has said.

In the April 2019 issue of Africa’s Pulse, its bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies published on Monday, the bank said regional growth was expected to recover to 2.8 per cent in 2019, staying below three per cent as it has been since 2015.

The slow growth reflects ongoing global uncertainty but increasingly comes from domestic macroeconomic instability including poorly managed debt, inflation, and deficits; political and regulatory uncertainty; and fragility that is having visible negative impacts on some African economies.

It also belies stronger performance in several smaller economies that continue to grow steadily, the bank said.

It noted that Nigeria’s growth rose to 1.9 per cent in 2018 from 0.8 per cent in 2017, reflecting …