ITAC: Open Letter to Mr Tsengiwe

Open Letter to the Chief Commissioner of ITAC by the

Chief Executive of NEASA

Mr Siyabulela Tsengiwe
Chief Commissioner
International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC)

Dear Mr Tsengiwe

DUTIES: INFORMATION REQUESTED

Before I address you on the issues contained herein, I wish to confirm that I no longer attended meetings of the Pricing Committee as a result of my fundamental opposition to the introduction of any form of duties.

As part of its mandate, the Pricing Committee was tasked to monitor the reciprocal performance of AMSA and SAFAL respectively, which in certain circumstances could have led to a review of the 10 percent duties. However, I have recently been informed by yourselves that no review of the 10 percent duties on steel products has been implemented, since “… having been duly apprised of the performance of AMSA and SAFAL, the Commission found no justification for the initiation of a review of the tariff dispensation …”

This implies that the Pricing Committee must have found that AMSA has in fact honoured its reciprocal commitments and reported to ITAC accordingly. If that is the case, NEASA categorically distances itself from such a finding and the resulting report to ITAC.

As you are well aware, Government made the introduction of the duties subject to certain conditions which had to be adhered to and which, in case of non-performance, would have caused the duties to be reviewed with immediate effect. Government’s announcement stipulated:

• no price increases on the products affected;
• price decreases on certain items;
• substantial investment; and
• no retrenchments had to occur.
None of these conditions were met. On the contrary:
• prices increased by more than 40 percent;
• no price decreases occurred;
• R3,2 billion was taken out of the country; and
• retrenchments were announced.

We hereby request you to, within 14 days from the date hereof, make available all documentation related to these reports that resulted in a non-review of the tariffs.

Kind regards