Local content and the ‘verification’ procedures are part of the implementation of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) under the mandate of the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (the dtic).

The economic objective of the IPAP intervention is for local manufacturers to receive a substantial share of government business which will contribute to the development of local industries and the creation of jobs. Another important strategic approach in South Africa’s industrial policy is to use government’s leveraging muscle as a ‘large buyer’ that can influence how much is locally manufactured, to promote strong, sustainable growth in the manufacturing sector, leading to new business opportunities, jobs, and skills development. Local content was introduced as a standard procurement practice intended to boost the South African economy, which would also increase employment.

Local content refers to the portion of goods, works and services that have been generated and produced in South Africa. Companies that import raw material and convert this raw material in South Africa also contribute to local content to the extent that the South African value-add processes and additional inputs count as local content.

A crucial aspect of local content is its verification, and as a renowned quality assurance provider in South Africa and beyond, the South African Bureau of Standards (the SABS) has been appointed by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) as the verification agency for local content in South Africa.

The SABS local content team provides quality assurance as to the level and integrity of local content in the goods, works and services of suppliers verified. The verification of local content provides an independent benchmark that can be trusted and relied on by stakeholders.

The SABS local content verification program encompasses various types of verifications namely:

Verifications linked to Public Procurement (Government Tenders)
Verifications linked to the SABS Local Content Grading Scheme
Other special local content verifications (only available to public sector stakeholders)

For all verifications conducted, the SABS local content verifications conducted are made up of two aspects:

Financial
Technical

The financial aspect verifies the transactional documentation related to the purchasing or manufacturing of the local content claimed by a supplier.

The technical aspect is conducted by an onsite verification of the manufacturing activities taking place during the production. The verification also consists of tier supplier visits identified throughout the value chain.

The SABS maintains a database of all local content compliant products.