The inside of the giant warehouse on the outskirts of Maseru sounds like a giant beehive.
Hundreds of women are sitting in rows between chattering sewing machines, turning out jeans and sportswear. "A million of our jeans go for export every year, mostly to the United States," said Adrian Chang.
The manager of the CGM textile group is one of a band of entrepreneurs who have contributed to a veritable investment boom in recent years in the mountain kingdom that lies landlocked within South Africa.
The "sky kingdom" of Africa that was on the frontline during the apartheid era of racial discrimination and lived from the remittances of workers who left home to toil in South Africa's mines, earns its money with textiles. Jeans to be exact.
The mountainous little country with peaks that rise to 3,500m produces 25 million pairs of jeans a year. "In 1999 we had 19,000 people working in the textile industry, today we have 40,000 or more than twice as many," said Industry Minister Mpho Malie.
It's an upward trend. Currently being built in Lesotho is the largest jeans-weaving factory south of the Sahara desert, an investment project worth US$100 million. Other schemes are in the pipeline and the demand for building plots is strong.
"Taiwan is by far the biggest investor," said Malie but the People's Republic of China has been pumping a lot of investment money into Lesotho. The frequently low wages in such a labor-intensive sector are only one reason for this.
The key factor is the magic acronym AGOA. Its stands for Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, an American-Africa initiative designed to jump start economic growth.
In a country like Lesotho, where 45 percent of the working population is without a job, there has been a rapid rate of expansion since 1999. For AGOA permits 12 African states to export textiles to the US tariff-free for eight years.
Initially set at a maximum of 1.5 per cent of the US textile market, that quota has been upped to 3 percent. The African countries found it hard to live up to the benchmark, notching up 17 percent in the first year and 50 percent in the second, said minister Malie.
Trade union accusations that workers in the textile factories are being forced to work like slaves are dismissed as Malie as unfair and without foundation.
"A committee made up of workers, employers and government officials sets the minimum wages," he said. Apart from that, US inspectors have around-the-clock access to ensure that proper working practices and environmental standards are being adhered to.
He seemed a little uncomfortable when asked about what happens in six years' time when the AGOA runs out. After all, 90 per cent of exports are bound for the US Malie therefore puts his hopes in a possible free trade agreement with the US incorporating all the countries in the customs union of southern Africa.
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