While the stronger rand may be good news to some - the two key industries in the Western Cape are foreseeing very difficult times ahead. The textile and clothing industry is foreseeing retrenchments and the fruit industry anticipate greatly reduced profits.

As the rand strengthens on foreign exchange boards - it is good news to South African travelling abroad, and motorist buying petrol. However, the main export-driven industries in the Western Cape are in trouble.

The clothing industry is battling to sell its products overseas. Aaron Searll, the chairperson of Seardel Investment Corporation, the biggest clothing and textile group in Southern Africa, says the strong rand is bad news for the industry. The South African market is being flooded by cheap imports.

"The imports are pouring in. For the first five months of the year, R840 million of cloth was imported, and R1.4 billion worth of textiles. If that could be halved it would create many more jobs," says Searll.

Searll is even calling for the re-introduction of import tariffs as a temporary relief measure. Fruit and grape exporters, which employ 300 000 people in the Cape, are facing hugely reduced incomes. Farmers could even stop exporting and face bankruptcy.

"We found that the strong rand this year reduced pay out to apple farmers by 25%, to pear growers by by 15 to 20%, and grape producers by 19% despite us earning the same amount in euro and dollars overseas," says Neil Oosthuizen, the managing director of Capespan.