Chinese Cross-Border E-Commerce Platforms Face New Hurdles in South Africa as Compliance Bar Rises

【Ebrun Original】According to foreign media reports, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is calling on the government to ban SHEIN and Temu. The proposal, previously put forward by the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU) and endorsed by COSATU, argues that these platforms, with their low prices and rapid expansion, have dealt a blow to South Africa's domestic manufacturers, retailers, and employment.

So far, the ban discussion has not received a mandatory enforcement response at the South African government level. However, South African associations and regulators have long taken an unfriendly stance toward several cross-border e-commerce platforms, often citing "fairness" and "local protection" as justifications. For instance, after SHEIN entered the South African market in 2020, it successively faced allegations concerning tariffs, compliance, and other aspects; Temu, which entered the market in 2024, was quickly swept into the "containment" scope.

Local policies have been continuously tightening. On tariffs, South Africa initially imposed a flat 20% tax rate on imported parcels valued under 500 rand (about $30); starting in August 2024, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) launched a tax reform, first adding value-added tax on top of the 20% tariff and then replacing the flat 20% rate with a classification-based taxation standard for shipments; in 2025, it continued to cancel more than 140 tax exemptions, with a full adjustment completed in the first half of this year.

The disappearance of the tax benefits for low-priced direct-shipped small parcels does appear to have somewhat curbed the growth pace of cross-border e-commerce platforms in South Africa. The "2026 South Africa Online Retail Report" published by a local research firm shows that SHEIN's annual growth rate slowed from the previous 30%-50% to 11% in 2025, while Temu's average monthly growth rate fell by 42%.

In addition, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) of South Africa launched a compliance investigation into Temu and SHEIN in 2025, requiring verification of information including marketing conduct, products, and advertising.

The latest calls for a ban can be seen as a continuation of South Africa's previous stance toward these two platforms and another flare-up after nearly a year in which the NCC has still not made its investigation results public.

In South Africa's textile and apparel industry, survey data shows that SHEIN and Temu together account for 13% of South Africans' clothing spending and hold a 37.1% share of South Africa's online clothing, textile, footwear, and leather (CTFL) e-commerce market. Therefore, local associations claim that if no action is taken against these highly price-competitive platforms, their continued influence on local consumption habits will squeeze the survival space of local industries.

Judging solely by the share of several cross-border e-commerce platforms in South Africa's overall business, the perceived impact may not be obvious, but against the backdrop of fluctuating global trade policies and increasingly stringent regulation, compliance and localization are important challenges for platforms and merchants in any market.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.