Zuma dolls being made in China?

Johannesburg - The ANC is investigating the possibility that plastic President Jacob Zuma dolls are also being manufactured by the controversial Chinese factory that is currently producing the 2010 Zakumi mascots in deplorable conditions.

The Chinese manufacturer, Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products & Gifts, has a photo of the Zuma doll on its website.

An ANC MP, Shiaan-Bin Huang, contracted this particular company to produce thousands of Zakumi dolls for this year's World Cup soccer tournament.

Huang's company, Ascendo Industrial in Newcastle, signed a contract with Fifa?s global branding agency Global Brands Group (GBG) in September 2009, authorising GBG to manufacture the Zakumis.

In October Ascendo in turn entered into a sub-contract with Shanghai Fashion, according to which the Shanghai-manufactured Zakumis would be distributed in South Africa by Ascendo.

That this contract was signed by Huang himself is indicated by a scanned copy of the contract on Shanghai Fashion's website. Last week the British tabloid News of the World exposed the dreadful conditions in the factory owned by Shanghai Fashion, on whose website Fifa's logo is displayed.

Workers, many of whom are still teenagers, labour for up to 13 hours a day for wages as little as R23.

According to Shanghai Fashion, it has sub-contracts to produce 2.3m Zakumis worth about R840m for various international markets.

ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu says Huang?s outsourcing to this factory is under scrutiny, and that an appropriate response needs to be formulated.

It's not clear whether the ANC itself awarded a contract to Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products & Gifts to manufacture the promotional dolls of Jacob Zuma during the run-up to the 2009 election.

In a strongly worded statement, Cosatu expressed its anger about the ANC MP's involvement in negotiating a contract with a Chinese sweat factory.

The union called on the ANC to demand accountability from Huang regarding his role in selling job opportunities - which could have gone to unemployed South Africans - to a company that is mercilessly exploiting Chinese workers.

Cosatu reiterated that all World Cup merchandise should be manufactured in South Africa to create jobs and a tournament legacy for South Africa.

On Monday Fifa denied that it had visited the factory and said that neither was it involved in awarding contracts to sub-licensees nor did it have any influence on the process. The contracts were handled by GBG.

- Sake24.com

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