Mtumba: Secondhand Clothing

The Tanzanian government intends to phase out the mtumba system of clothing in an effort to stimulate a local manufacturing industry, thereby creating much needed employment opportunities.

But hang on, mtumba is already a huge industry, not only in Tanzania, but also throughout Africa and probably in most of the globe’s poorer nations and it employs a lot of people.

The mtumba system is one of those industries that sits under the radar, but from what I have seen, it is surprisingly efficient and provides a wide range of clothing suitable for the various income groups.

There are gaps in my knowledge about mtumba, but I have followed it a bit and find the process interesting and hope it does not become the victim of a stroke of a government pen.

The part I don’t know much about is who covers the cost of collection and landing the product in-country. But my guess is that so-called richer countries have second-hand clothing deposit points probably organised by churches or other NGOs and through their processes, sort the clothes [items] and pack them into what we Kiwis sometimes call ‘woolpacks’ [but there are other methods of baling]. These are then freighted to the recipient countries, the cost of which is probably covered by those Churches or NGOs concerned.

Once in country, the bales are sent to distribution points, the cost of which is probably covered by the middlemen who control the local system.

This point is where I have followed the system more fully because I have helped with some smaller, local business enterprises.

The collection point [as an example] is in the town of Moshi and on regular intervals, the locals know the timing, there are auctions of the unopened bales – for the buyers, it seems to be a pig and a poke as what they are buying.

The buyer of the bale takes it to wherever they are working from and sorts the contents.

My mate had a side-line of selling dress shirts; he would go around the people who had opened bales and select a nice line, take them home, wash and iron them and set them in his little stall in town. He employed a cousin to be his sales person, selling them on commission - she had her own stall next door.

Sometimes he might find special lines, such as the time he found some tracksuits that he thought he could make a reasonable profit.

I funded and carted a bale for a friend who wanted to set up a stall in the Tengeru market, which worked out well for her. The contents of the bale was diverse, apparently more so than usual, with T-shirts, female and male underwear, some jeans and a few pairs of school quality shoes.

She cleaned the shoes and sold them from home because of the nearby school, otherwise the first lot she tackled was the T-shirts. She washed the marketable ones, ironed them and folded then neatly.

Watching what the other sellers did, and followed suit, the less marketable goods were not washed or ironed but put into a large box for the punters to sort through themselves. All was sold in the end.

There is huge diversity in mtumba, and expats will find designer labelled goods in very good condition and for a very good price. The canny ones scour the various markets to find bargains they would not find at home.

From what I have seen the whole process is efficient and effective, delivering affordable product to even the most rural communities and people are gainfully employed.

I don’t know what donors of used clothing think or expect to happen to their donated goods. I hope they aren’t peeved that in the end they are actually sold rather than given; but if they were given, the cost of distribution would be prohibitive and who would pay?

One of the certainties in life is change, hopefully for the best but that is not guaranteed. I support the little guys who buy their bale of mtumba and make enough of a living to feed their families.

Good luck too to the cotton industry because it will create some much needed jobs.

I hope any transition is smooth – that is if there is actually going to be one.