OPINION - Saldhana Middle Cut has been an Indian delicacy for more than a century. It was a cheap, healthy meal for the poor.
Just a can or two of the prime middle cut pieces in a delicious tomato chutney with melting potatoes could provide a finger-licking meal for an entire family.
But now the Saldhana brand of middle cut has disappeared altogether from the supermarket shelves.
You can go from supermarket to supermarket, aisle to aisle, but you won’t find a can of this sought-after Indian delicacy.
You’ll see Sailors, Sea Point and Lucky Star brands, but not the Saldhana middle cut.
Where are all the Saldhana middle cut gone?
It’s all gone to China.
I see some Chinese brand canned fish on the supermarket shelves. They catch our fish, process them in China and export them to our country.
The same thing has happened to Plascon paints.
Plascon has been a household name for decades.
But now it’s been bought off by the Chinese and is known as Kansai Plascon.
The Chinese owners decided to close down the Durban factory. Apparently, it’s cheaper to make the paint in China and then export it to South Africa.
It’s job creation for China, but job losses for South Africa. Our local workers who had worked all their lives for Plascon lost their jobs.
Yet President Cyril Ramaphosa talks about growing the economy. How could he be so naive when we lose jobs to China?
Our unemployment rate has now burgeoned to almost 27%.
It’s not the economy which grows, but unemployment and poverty.
During his state visit to South Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to invest R15billion in our economy.
What’s the catch? I wonder.