South Africa's largest trade union federation wants the country's two biggest offshore shopping apps shut out. Delegates at COSATU's 15th national congress adopted a resolution to campaign for a ban on Shein and Temu, Connecting Africa reported on 20 October. The motion came from the clothing and textile union SACTWU, which put it to the congress on 15 October, and the federation also urged members to delete the apps and buy from local retailers.
No ban exists. Neither platform has been ordered to leave, and the government has not said it will act.
The numbers the unions are using
That was about 3.6% of the clothing, textile, footwear and leather market but 37.1% of its online sales. The same study links the platforms' growth between 2020 and 2024 to R960 million in lost local factory sales, 2,818 manufacturing jobs and 5,282 retail jobs, and its worst case warns that more than 34,000 jobs could be displaced by 2030. Those are modelled estimates, not counted losses.
The growth they are fighting has already slowed
Tax changes bit first. Connecting Africa reports that the revenue service removed the concession that let parcels under R500 enter at a flat 20% duty with no VAT; those parcels now face 45% import duty plus 15% VAT. The World Wide Worx study Online Retail in South Africa 2026 found cross-border e-commerce growth slowing to 7% in 2025, against 30% to 50% a year before 2024, with Shein's growth down to 11% and Temu averaging monthly declines of 42%.
Temu began dispatching from local warehouses in July 2025, which the same study says makes it a materially different competitor: one that employs and ships locally, and is harder to tax at the border.
