Cosatu backs ban targeting Shein, Temu's R7.3bn sales

R7.3-billion in annual sales is the market share now in the crosshairs of organised labour. Cosatu has thrown its weight behind a proposed ban on Shein and Temu, putting the two of South Africa’s fastest-growing e-commerce operators directly in the sights of unions and, potentially, the state.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions backed a motion from the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) calling on government to ban the two international platforms. The union cited a 2025 study estimating the platforms could jeopardise up to 34,000 local jobs by 2030, a figure that frames the dispute as a contest between low-cost imports and the viability of domestic clothing, textile, leather and cosmetics manufacturing.

The motion was tabled on day three of Cosatu’s 15th National Conference, held on Wednesday, 15 October, at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg. Sactwu delegates displayed placards showing illustrations of handbags, carpets and other textiles on the front, with the numbers of local jobs under threat in each industry on the back. Those estimates, based on current employment in existing factories, ranged from seven to 304 across the textile, clothing, leather and cosmetics industries, adding up to the 34,000 total.

“Comrades, Shein and Temu now sell more products than other global retailers in South Africa,” said Sactwu president Susan Khumalo. She argued the platforms were driving job losses while pushing down wages, benefits and working conditions for clothing and textile workers competing with cheap imports. Without intervention, she warned, the sector and its retailers stood to lose 34,000 jobs by 2030.

The commercial mechanics behind that warning are stark. Shein, a Chinese-founded platform headquartered in Singapore, entered the South African market in 2020 and was the most downloaded shopping app by 2023. Chinese-owned Temu arrived in 2024. Both companies exploited low overheads from having no brick-and-mortar stores, aggressive marketing, high shipment volumes and tax loopholes to undercut local retailers. By the end of 2024 they had captured R7.3-billion in sales, or 37.1% of South Africa’s retail, clothing, textile, footwear and leather e-commerce market.

The pressure on incumbent retailers showed up in the data well before the conference. In the second quarter of 2024, the Bureau for Economic Research found confidence among semi-durable goods retailers of products such as textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods had fallen to 38% from 68% in the first quarter, noting that retailers such as Shein “may also strain domestic clothing retailers”. Khumalo told delegates the companies were “selling cheaper and faster than anyone else”, placing enormous pressure on workers, local manufacturers and retailers, and that in only four years Shein and other online shopping had taken a huge chunk of the clothing, textile, footwear, leather and retail market.

Cosatu resolved to back the ban call and urged all members to delete their Shein and Temu apps and commit to sourcing goods only from local retailers, in solidarity.

Meanwhile, the platforms are already losing momentum, largely because the revenue advantage that fuelled their growth has been narrowed. In 2025 the South African Revenue Service removed tax exemptions on imported goods priced below R500. Shein, which previously grew between 30% and 50% annually, slowed to just 11% in 2025, while Temu recorded average monthly declines of 42% over the same period.

That shift complicates the economic case for a ban. Independent economic strategist and board adviser Refilwe Moloto told Daily Maverick the 34,000 figure might be outdated, since it was calculated before the SARS tax amendments took effect. She warned an outright ban could be an uncompetitive approach with negative trade-offs. “Protectionist measures of that nature are likely to encourage, below the table, irregular and non-regulated trading,” she said, adding that the taxpayer should be able to collect revenue on value-added products and that nefarious cross-border dealings should be avoided.

Moloto also noted South Africa is not unique in facing this competitive shock. Shein and Temu have had a larger impact on the US, French and Latin American markets, and in the US Shein ranks as the third-largest online retailer.

By contrast, she pointed to structural costs eroding local manufacturers’ margins, including high energy prices, the collapse of rail transportation and administrative burdens. “It is not Shein’s fault that they operate in a country that makes their inputs cheaper, and that’s something that the government may need to address,” she said.

Whether a ban survives contact with a market already correcting itself, or whether government instead turns to those structural costs, is now the question facing policymakers and the retailers watching them.