Hansard: NA: Mini-plenary 6
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 25 May 2021
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
MINI PLENARY - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TUESDAY, 25 MAY 2021
Watch video here: Vote 36: Small Business Development
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINI PLENARY SESSION - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Members of the mini plenary session met on the virtual platform at 14:00.
The House Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation
The House Chairperson announced that the virtual mini plenary sitting constituted a meeting of the National Assembly.
VIRTUAL SITTING RULES
(Announcement)
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Hon members, before we proceed, I would like to remind you that the virtual mini plenary is deemed to be in the precinct of Parliament and constitute a meeting of the National Assembly for debating purposes only. In addition to that Rule of virtual sittings, the Rules of the National Assembly including the Rules of debate shall apply. Members enjoy the same powers and privileges that apply in the sitting of the National Assembly. Members should equally note that anything said in the virtual platform is deemed to have been said to the House and may be ruled upon.
All members who have logged in shall be considered to be present and are requested to mute their microphones and only unmute it when recognized to speak. This is because these microphones are very sensitive and will pick up noise which might disturb the attention of other members. When recognised to speak, please unmute your microphone and connect your video. Members may make use of the icons on the bar at the bottom of their screens which has an option that allows a member to put his or her hand to raise a point of order. The Secretariat will assist in alerting the Chairperson to members requesting to speak.
When using the virtual system, members are urged to refrain or desist from unnecessary points of order or interjections. We
shall now proceed to the order which is debate on Vote 36 – Small Business Development Appropriation Bill. I will now invite the Minister of Small Business Development.
APPROPRIATION BILL
Budget Vote 36 – Small Business Development:
The MINISTER SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Hon House
Chairperson, Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Mama Nokuzola Rosemary Capa, chairperson and hon members of the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development, hon Members of the National Assembly, chairperson and board members of Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, chairperson and board members of the Board of Small Enterprise Financing Agency, Sefa, the Director-General of the Department of Small Business Development, Mr Lindokuhle Mkhumani, chief executive officers, CEOs, of our entities Seda and Sefa, senior officials from the department and our entities, representatives of the organised business formations and other partner institutions, fellow entrepreneurs and ladies and gentlemen, on the 25th of May 1963, 32 African leaders came together to form the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, one
of its objectives being to encourage political and economic integration among member states. Fifty-eight years later to the day, we, hon Members of the National Assembly are debating Budget Vote 36 for the Department of Small Business Development.
Today, as we celebrate Africa Day, we are encouraged because another aspiration of our continent’s forebears for economic integration is on the verge of being realised through the coming into effect of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, on the 1st of January 2021. We celebrate this milestone and the commitment of the African leadership to forge ahead despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are fully aware that the goals of the AfCFTA and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 of transformed economies and jobs will not be realised without the contribution of AU’s individual member states to transform their own economies and create jobs. South Africa’s path to economic transformation and job creation is guided by Vision 2030 as espoused in the National Development Plan, NDP.
The NDP’s central goals are expanding employment and entrepreneurial opportunities on the back of a growing and more inclusive economy. The naysayers will claim that the COVID-19 pandemic has put paid to these goals. However, Sun Tzu has taught us that “victory depends on conditions that are always in flux”. For us the COVID-19 has provided a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to ensure that by 2030, South Africa has a more diversified economy consisting of dynamic products and greater depth and breadth of domestic linkages. To achieve these, we will need to revert to what the architects of the NDP advocated for; being to intensify the simulation of local and foreign markets and strengthening conditions to promote labour-absorbing activities. To be specific on matters affecting small businesses, the NDP proposes that we must: Increase exports focusing on, amongst others, construction, midskill manufacturing, agriculture and agro-processing, tourism and business services; to reduce cost of regulatory compliance, create a larger more effective innovation system closely aligned with firms that operate in sectors consistent with the growth strategy, support for small businesses through better co-ordination of relevant agencies; development finance institutions; public and private incubators; strengthen financial services to bring down their cost and improve access
for small and medium-sized businesses; a commitment to public and private procurement approaches that stimulate domestic industry and job creation; and lastly, a labour market that is more responsive to economic opportunity that requires, amongst others, the review of regulations and standards for small and medium enterprises.
Of course, the architects of the NDP could not have anticipated a global pandemic which fast-tracked the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR. As a government, we had to respond to the emerging constraints and adopted the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, ERRP, to ensure that South Africa’s economy is rebuilt to achieve both recovery and inclusivity.
Hon Chairperson, allow me to table Budget Vote 36 of the Department of Small Business Development for the 2021-22 financial year and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, estimates. The deployment of this budget will be used towards achieving the goals of NDP Vision 2030 and the AU’s Agenda 2063 guided by the ERRP.
In terms of budget for 2021-22 financial year, the department is allocated R2,5 billion. From that, the administration will have R16,3 million, sector and market development will have R138,8 million, development finance will have R1,3 billion, and enterprise development will have R902,3 million. For the MTEF total estimates, the department would have received an allocation of R7,6 billion. In this budget, in terms of classification, compensation of employees gets a budget of R152,4 million, which constitutes 6% of the total budget; goods and services constitutes R81,6 million, which constitutes 3,2% of the total budget; transfers and subsidies constitutes R2,2 billion, which constitutes 90,6% of our total budget, and payments for capital budget constitutes
R4,4 million and makes a total of R2,5 billion.
Hon members, we are tabling this budget for debate exactly 5 days before we mark the 2nd year since the appointment of the national executive by the President of the country, His Excellency, Mr Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa on 30th of May 2019. We are having this debate on the very day that the President of the country was inaugurated, on 25 May 2019. I will therefore take this opportunity to report back on the progress we are making to achieve the programme we adopted in 2019,
albeit it had to be adjusted and enhanced to respond to material conditions. On several occasions, we have come to this House to report on how we intervened to assist SMMEs at the height of the COVID-19 hard lockdown. The House has received a report from the Auditor-General on the performance of our department on COVID-19 relief measures and we had the pleasure of hosting the President when he publicly interacted virtually with the beneficiaries of our COVID-19 Relief Interventions.
This budget allocates R868 million of the transfers and subsidies to the Small Enterprise Development Agency. Of this, R666 million is allocated for the strengthening and expansion of Seda’s presence across the country with a goal of maintaining a Seda office in each district of our country. The enterprise development work of Seda is the frontline of our services to SMMEs including co-operatives. Through the SEDA network of branches, the department assists SMMEs and co- operatives to: Firstly, comply with regulatory requirements thus reducing the cost thereof; secondly, creating a labour market that is more responsive to economic opportunity that requires, amongst others, the review of regulations and standards for small and medium enterprises.
In addition, since we took the decision that access to support must not be determined by the ability to complete application forms, the Seda has been assisting entrepreneurs to complete various applications including business registrations with Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, CIPC, Sars and Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF. Since 2019, a total of
70 512 entrepreneurs have visited the Seda offices for some form of support. The Seda offices also serve as a one-stop information centre on business information to our entrepreneurs.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the work of the department and its agencies is structured and co-ordinated under the SMME Support Plan Towards the Attainment of Vision 2030 that was adopted in 2019. This plan consists of 10 programmes, namely: The SMME- Focused Localisation Programme, which is enabled through the Small Enterprise Manufacturing Support Programme, SEMSP; Township and Rural Entrepreneurship Programme, TREP; Incubation and Digital Hubs Roll-Out; Start-Up Nation, Young Entrepreneurs Support; SheTradesZA; SMME Business Infrastructure Support; Co-operatives Support; SMME Scale-Up or Expansion; and Informal Businesses Support.
To continue implementing the SMME Support Plan, R157 millions of the transfers and subsidies to the Seda is allocated to the Seda Technology Programme. Through the Technology Programme, the Seda is responsible for four programmes of the SMME Support Plan, which are: Incubation and Digital Hubs; Start-Up Nation; Product Standard Conformity as part of the localisation programme; and Technology Transfer as part of the incubation and digital technologies.
Under incubation and digital hubs, the department has set itself a target to establish 250 incubation and digital hubs by 2024. To date, 101 incubators have been established against the set target of 96, which include 22 Centres for Entrepreneurship and Rapid Incubation, CFERIs, in Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, colleges and universities including an additional four centres at University of Johannesburg, Soweto campus; Rhodes University, Makhanda campus; Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha campus; and University of Venda, Thohoyandou campus. Some of the CFERIs at TVET Colleges include those at Northern Cape Rural TVET at De-Aar and KHATHU campuses; Maluti TVET College, Phuthaditjhaba campus; West Coast TVET College, Vredendal campus; and the new Esayidi TVET College, Umzimkhulu campus. A
full list of the CFERIS is available at the Department of Small Business Development, DSBD, and Seda websites.
The Seda will also facilitate the establishment of an additional 22 new incubators, mainly in townships and rural areas. The new incubators will assist with the establishment of approximately 1 290 new enterprises that are expected to create at least 25 000 new jobs. Some of the areas the additional incubators are planned for are underserviced provinces and districts aligned to the department’s SMME Support plan including the districts of Sarah Baartman, Joe Gqabi, Fezile Dabi, Xhariep, Sedibeng, West Rand, Amajuba, iLembe, Umgungundlovu, Mopani, Waterburg, Nkangala, Namakwa, Pixley ka Seme, Dr K K Kuanda, the Central Karoo and Overberg. The already existing 79 incubators have assisted SMMEs to sustain 86 000 jobs within the SMME ecosystem partners. Some of these existing incubators include those located in Amatole District Municipality; Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, King Cetshwayo District Municipality, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, OR Tambo, Harry Gwala, Ehlanzeni District Municipality. The existing incubator footprint covers most districts in South Africa and is the biggest in Africa. Having said that, more work will be done in partnership with the
Private Sector. The full list of the location of the incubators is available at the DSBD and Seda websites.
Furthermore, four Digital Hubs were established, and the remaining 2 hubs will be completed in the 2 and 3rd quarters of the 2021-22 financial year. The completed hubs are located in Mpumalanga in Mbombela and Gert Sibande, Mafikeng in North West and Botshabelo in the Free State.
In line with the goal of the NDP of supporting small businesses through better co-ordination of public and private incubators, amongst others, the department has recently established a partnership with Naspers LAPs and Foundry programmes with the purpose of optimising resources for the deployment of digital hubs and support for Start-ups. The Naspers partnership is already operational to complete the Alexandra-Johannesburg hub. In addition, the department through Seda has also partnered with other private incubators such as the Black Umbrellas network of 7 incubators, ONE-Bio Life Science Incubator in Cape Town, the Propeller Incubator in Eastern Cape.
On the Start-Up Nation programme, hon members, by 2030, information and communications technology, ICT, and digital sector will underpin the development of a dynamic and connected information society and a vibrant economy that is more inclusive and prosperous. A seamless information infrastructure will be universally available, accessible and will meet the needs of citizens, businesses and the public sector. This will provide access to the creation and consumption of a wide range of converged services required for effective economic and social participation, at a cost and quality at least equal to South Africa’s main peers and competitors.
Information and communications technology will continue to reduce spatial exclusion, enabling seamless participation by the majority in the global ICT system, not simply as users but as content developers and application innovators, that is from Vision 2030 of the NDP.
In relation to the aspirations of the NDP and as pronouncement by His Excellency, President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, in his state of the nation address in 2021, my department will in the next few months finalise the National Start-up Nation
Framework that will guide government’s support to technology and high growth start-ups for rapid scale up in local and Africa Markets. Our work will endeavour to better support grassroots innovators and small digital businesses that can compete locally, regionally and international markets whilst remaining locally relevant. The envisioned support instruments will render support to young start-ups and innovators providing ... [Inaudible.] ... infrastructure, industry collaborations, enterprise supplier development linkages, access to funding and risk capital at Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A and B stage and investors linkages, build strong firm level teams, revenue or paths to revenue, high touch mentoring and coaching aimed at building strong leadership, disruptive business models and scalable businesses poised for rapid growth.
In addition, the Technology Transfer & Technical Assistance programme under Seda is one of the three technology platforms that we are implementing. The programme provided a set of technical and innovation support intervention as in: Open Innovation Challenges, solving core supply chain and supplier development challenges of large private and public corporates, by working with the nationwide Seda network of branches and
business incubators to source innovative SMMEs with specific skills, products and services that are able to pitch novel solutions to the challenges, thus improving access to markets; SMME Innovation Forums, which is sector-specific multistakeholder events, sharing entrepreneurial knowledge and skills for SMMEs, facilitating introduction to latest sector innovations, appropriate technology and intellectual property, with stimulating peer-networking and forming of productive partnerships. Engagements with universities, research institutions, design and innovation centres, science councils, for knowledge sharing on relevant technology and intellectual property to upscale production. Some examples of sector forums held include: Industry 4,0, cosmeceuticals, automotive, textiles, construction, agro-Processing; Investor Pitching, which is closing the gap between entrepreneurs and investors, arranging nationwide pitching competitions with judging panels of funders, together with entrepreneurial pitching masterclasses – on this we have also partnered with Naspers Foundry programme to advance this, and we are supporting innovative SMMEs to present their business cases more effectively, thus improving access to finance for SMMEs, and impactful deal-flow for investors. Examples of funders, and investor criteria include Sefa, FinFind, and Naspers Foundry
programme; Technology and skills transfer, intellectual property support training, first stage IP registration and licensing, lean manufacturing systems, product and process technology innovations, which deals with equipment and machines, design software, ERP system, productivity improvement, benchmarking, workplace organisation; quality health checks; management systems; product testing to promote access for SMMEs to accredited laboratory testing and conformity certification of their products to national standards, product labelling, and compulsory regulations, for examples, food, beverages, construction materials, chemicals, clothing, cosmetics. We also assist with product design which focuses on improving product and packaging design for SMMEs, through design thinking workshops, design clinics for product- specific advice, and design support to improve product and packaging functionality and aesthetics.
The Technology Transfer Assistance programme is supporting 44 clients and has approved support for an additional 79 clients. The Quality and Conformity assessment programme has supported
53 SMMEs with quality management service interventions and 63 SMMEs with Product Testing and Certification Support
This budget allocates an additional amount of R1,25 billion of the transfers and subsides to Sefa for purposes of implementing the Small Enterprise Manufacturing Support Programme, SEMSP, to enable SMME-focused localisation programme; Township and Rural Entrepreneurship Programme, TREP, and SMME financial intermediaries support, as direct lenders to SMMEs and co-operatives, and part of our contribution to the transformation of the financial services sector.
On the SEMSP to enable SMME-focused localisation programme, hon House Chairperson, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that the localisation programme is not negotiable. I want to clarify that the programme was not thumb-sucked as some who want to protect the participation of the few in the economy were suggesting just as few days ago. The programme was also proposed by Business for South Africa, B4SA, in their submissions on the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan and therefore there is a social compact between government, business, labour and communities through the Nedlac. In addition, the 1 000 products that have been earmarked for SMME-focused localisation and prioritised for support under the SEMSP was equally developed compiled from
the lists submitted by large retailers and manufacturers such as Pick ’n Pay, SPAR, Dischem, Clicks, Unilever, Massmart, Aspen and others.
Furthermore, in line with the proposal of the NDP to commit to public and private procurement approaches that stimulate domestic industry and job creation, the ERRP has prioritised the finalisation of the Procurement Bill through the National Treasury. In this regard, the department is finalising, in consultation with provinces, the selection of 250 out of the
1 000 products that must be designated over a 4-year period for public procurement. We proposed the designation of these
1 000 products through the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition over a 4 to 5-year period because we are fully aware of the need to build local capacity for quantity, quality and price competitiveness.
R268 million of the sefa allocation is to the SEMSP and in this regard, and through the SEMSP, we have already supported at total of 15 enterprises to the value of R125 million out of the 33 enterprises that were approved to the value of
R320 million. We remain appreciative of the partnership of the Black Industrialist Programme under the Department of Trade,
Industry and Competition who we have partnered with to make sure there is SEMSP comes to life. Some of the enterprises supported include: Sakhe Engineering And Manufacturing, which is a 100% black youth-owned business based in East London. The business is owned by Mr Khaya Madiba, who is 35-years-old, a qualified structural engineer, who holds a Masters in Engineering. The business is involved in the designing, manufacturing and automation of machines and steel fabrication. We provided a loan funding R12,4 million, and he was able to create 30 jobs in the sector as part of this critical work that we are doing.
We have also supported Mahikeng Meat Market which is black youth-owned and managed by Mr Ramoenyane from Mahikeng.It was established for the sole purpose of operating a red meat processing plant in Mahikeng that would provide red meat products to organizations in and around Mahikeng. The company was funded as a start-up with funding of R4,4 million in order to renovate premises, set-up the plant, acquire delivery vehicles and obtain relevant certifications.
We have also supported Christo & Nani Trading, which is also a 100% black youth-owned company which manufactures bricks and
supplies building materials and energy products. There is Joyboy Trading cc also. Wanotha Services which specializes in road signs manufacturing and it was initially a civil construction company and diverted to go and do road construction. It is owned by Mrs Dladla. She manufactures road signs which is something she knows very well and she is from KwaZulu-Natal. She maintains 21 jobs through our funding of R4,9 million.
We have supported Integrate Now, which is 100% black-owned company, owned by Mr Vincent Mabunda in Limpopo and they manufacture and provide wholesale bulk roof sheets to the hardware stores in Nkowankowa in Limpopo and the surrounding areas. They received a loan of R4,8 million. The funding requested was to include blended finance; a portion of which was a grant and another was a loan. It was for start-up metal roof sheeting manufacturing.
Also Mighty Meats, which is involved in the production and manufacturing of processed meat products. These include various polonies, russians and viennas. The business currently has an average monthly production rate of 1 000 metric tons of finished product with available capacity to manufacture in
excess of 2 000 metric tons per month of finished product. It employs 114 staff of members. We have also supported Matase Industrial Solutions and elevated them to the mainstream economy.
To further integrate opportunities in the township and rural areas into complete business ventures. Some of the township and rural enterprises such as taxis, spaza shops, motor mechanics, panel beaters, hair and beauty salons, and others, have for time immemorial contributed to the economy of South Africa without being duly accounted for in the statistical records at an economic level but at a household level, thus minimizing the contribution of townships and rural enterprises into the economy but only accounted for as consumers. We have set aside R694 million for Sefa to support the TREP. To date, and under the TREP, the department and its agencies have supported township and rural enterprises as follows: Autobody repairers and mechanics programme which has been allocated R300 million. We are targeting 800 motor mechanics, panel beaters, auto fitment centres in townships and rural areas. A total of 950 entities were supported through this programme.
One of those supported is Auto Precision Engineering, which is a 100% youth–owned business. This business operates mechanical
engineering focusing on the overhaul, skimming and reboring of engines for the taxi industry and informal mechanics based in Gugulethu, in the Western Cape.
We also have the spaza shops support programme which is a cash flow facility in the form of credit guarantee administered via the commercial banks such as Nedbank and Standard bank that enables South Africa’s spaza shop owners with a valid operating permit to buy the stock at accredited wholesalers.
We are finalising collaboration with iZaka bank on the same scheme of contribution towards the transformation of financial services sector and actively supporting the acquisition of clients by emerging black-owned businesses. We have set a budget of R150 million allocated to support 15 000 entities.
Last year, we have supported 10 305 spaza shops against a target of 10 000 SMMEs. We are also commencing the second phase of our spaza shop support programme which will entail increasing the threshold of our support to the spazas, also availing banking accounts at low-cost to the participants; distributing point of sales machines to all approved spaza shops in order to improve bankability and financial support and to also facilitate them to become point of sales and
introduce value services. We have also supported the small- scale confectionaries and other related schemes.
On access to markets, in the 2020-21 financial year, we have reported on the work the department has been doing to support manufacturing SMMEs to place their products in large corporate markets. We had a target to list 200 products with the private sector markets and a total of 238 products across 6 product categories were listed in food and beverages, beauty, skin care and cosmetics, cleaning and hygiene, hair care products and pharmaceuticals, and clothing and textiles.
House Chairperson, we are proud to announce that in the list of listed products, we have added Sihle’s Brew which is owned by Mr Sihle Magubane, from KwaZulu-Natal, who manufactures coffee. After a decade of experience in the field, Mr Sihle Magubane produces his own coffee brand which offers five signature blends from decaf and expresso, and you’ll find Sihle’s Brew at your local Pick ‘n Pay shelves as they started on 01 March. They are also at the Foodlover’s market.
We are also proud to announce that Dermacell Cosmetics and Health care of Ms Mapitsi Talana that produces Aloe Ferox-
based skin care range has been launched in 81 Clicks stores across the country. We continue to aggressively run our #BuyLocal campaign in partnership with Proudly South Africa and call upon South Africans to choose wisely and buy local products made in South Africa because it contributes to job creation and economic growth. Buying locally produced goods is an act of self-service.
House Chairperson, we are also announcing that we have commenced our work of the SheTradesZA platform as announced by the President that support and prepare women-owned enterprises to increase their participation in local, regional and global value chains. The platform targets to support majority women- owned businesses in the agro-processing, manufacturing, renewable energy, clothing and textile, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, retail and wholesale, logistics and payment systems. In this financial year, we are targeting to support at least 2 000 women-owned enterprises to participate in supply value chains through the SheTradeZA platform. The Deputy Minister will articulate the work have and continue to do under our co-operatives support and informal business support.
We have also finalized a draft which we will publish at policy level of the SMMEs and co-operatives for South Africa which seeks to make proposals on the co-ordination of SMME funding across the public and private sector. We will publish it for comments after we have consulted with Cabinet.
Lastly, Chairperson, through our work, we are committed to make sure that the next development plan of South Africa commits itself to a number of millionaires and billionaires the country must nurture for a true economic transformation.
Tshivenda: Ndo livhuwa
Xitsonga: Ndza khensa.
Sepedi:
Ke a leboga.
Xitsonga:
Man V S SIWELA: Mutshamaxitulu, vachaviseki va Palamende, vaendzi va hina hinkwavo, Maafika-Dzonga va ka hina, ndzi ri eka n’wina ...
English:
... happy Africa Day!
English:
As the ANC we support Budget Vote 36: Small Business Development. Chairperson, allow me to join my comrades in paying homage to the combatant and heroine of the freedom struggle, a proud member of the ANC, Mme Charlotte Maxeke, who would be celebrating 150 years this year. We remain indebted, and grateful of the role she played in our struggle for emancipation. We are called to replicate her fortitude and farsightedness to fundamentally transform and build inclusive economy.
As we gather here today, let me further take this opportunity to recognise and affirm all women, youth and people leaving with disabilities, who continue to bear the brunt of exclusion and hostile economic environment that perpetuates poverty, inequality and unemployment. As the ANC, we recognise the
immense difficulties faced by these marginalised groups in our country as a result of the past injustices which occurred on the basis of race, class and gender.
However, we also see enormous and potential opportunities on the role of the Department of Small Business Development in supporting small businesses, co-operatives and informal traders. Indeed, small business sector is one of the critical segment in our society that has real prospect of unlocking South Africa’s economy. The role of the Department of Small Business Development is to ensure that an inclusive economy as envisioned by the ANC is being built. In doing so, the ANC aims to alleviate poverty and inequality which is concentrated within townships, rural areas and marginalised communities.
Xitsonga:
Ha khensa eka ndhunankulu ya ndzawulo leyi loko a swi vonile kutani a teka goza ra ku tiyisisa leswaku na lavaya va le matikoxikaya na vona va tekeriwa enhlokweni loko swi ta eka vukorhokeri bya swa timali. Tanihi komiti swa hi tsakisa.
English:
South Africans, in their majority, look to today’s Budget Vote
36 by the Minister of Small Business Development to inject hope and confidence in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Hon members, they will find much in the work of the Department of Small Business Development to give them that hope. The Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development adopted the 2021-22 Budget Vote 36 of the Department of Small Business Development which it oversees. This budget allocation allows the Department of Small Business Development to continue to carry out its mandate. The allocated budget for the department of R2,5 billion in 2021-22 is in support of operations of the Department, incentives and transfers to its entities.
In its oversight of the Department of Small Business Development, the committee oversees the mandate to lead and co-ordinate an integrated approach to the promotion and development of entrepreneurship, small businesses and co- operatives, and ensure an enabling legislative and policy environment to support their growth and sustainability.
Xitsonga:
Ha khensa. Ku na pholisi leyi lavaka ku endliwa, “the funding policy”. Hi yona yi nga ta pfuna ku ololoxa xirhalanganyi lexi nga kona xa timali.
English:
During its engagement with the Department of Small Business Development, the committee learned how the department in the 2021-22 financial year, plans to do more with its budget by co-ordinating activities of the department and using nonfinancial resources to achieve its mandate with the limited resources at its disposal. It has managed to develop initiatives that seek to address the main challenges of our country which are economic growth and unemployment by supporting an array of small businesses.
On 21 October 2020, the President of our country, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, in this House presented the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. A plan to build a new economy, an inclusive economy, a growing economy, jobs creating economy.
Xitsonga:
Hikwalaho, ha khensa eka ndhunankulu hikuva wa swi landzelela.
English:
Presenting the plan, the President stated:
We must work together to build this new inclusive economy and to build a South Africa that works.
Over the past few months since the introduction of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in this Parliament, the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development has played its oversight role on the implementation of this plan by the Department of Small Business Development and its entities.
In support of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, the Department Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa, drew up intervention plans aimed at supporting entrepreneurship and small, medium and micro enterprises, SMME, development in townships and rural communities. The interventions include facilitating, among others: firstly, access to finance, that is, developing innovative and tailored financing solutions that respond to the needs of the various segments of the township enterprises; secondly, access to nonfinancial and
technical business support; and access to markets – investment in township markets that can serve as an outlet for locally produced products and linking township enterprises to corporates and different value chains.
Xitsonga:
Ha khensa. Loko a karhi a vulavula ndhunankulu u vulavula hi
79 ya “incubators” laha hi swi vonaka leswaku ti ta nyika matimba eka vana va hina lava va nga thwasa. Loko a swi endleka a ti ta engeteriwa leswaku swi ta koteka leswaku nseketelo lowuya wa “nonfinancial” wu kota ku khumba tindhawu to tala hikuva xiphiqo lexi nga kona i mhaka ya vatirhi na “visibility” ya hina.
English:
However, the committee is satisfied with the progress that the department and its entities have made in implementing their interventions to achieve economic reconstruction and recovery. The committee further encourages that the Department of Small Business Development through its R2,5 billion allocated budget continues to prioritise the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in the 2021-22 financial year.
In addition, the committee supports the efforts of the Department of Small Business Development to maximise its budget, doing more with less given the fiscal constraints in the country by leveraging nonfinancial tools and its development finance institution balance sheet to support SMMEs, particularly those in rural and township economies. As the portfolio Committee, we stress upon the Department, when executing its mandate, to prioritise township and rural-based enterprises owned by women, youth and people leaving with disabilities.
Hon chair, kuyasheshwa! The Department of Small Business Development is changing the lives of ordinary South Africa who previously had no hope or chance of owning any businesses. In that regard, Chairperson, the ANC supports the 2021-22 Budget Vote 36: Small Business Development as it will be an enabler to inclusive economic growth and job creation, which is envisaged by the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
Xitsonga:
Leswi swi hi tsakisaka eka timhaka leti hi leswaku van’wamabindzu lamatsongo va ta pfuniwa hi “grants” na hi ku lomba hi mpimo wa le hansi wa 5%. Sweswo swa hi tsakisa. Ku ta
pfuniwa va “spaza shops”, va ku rhunga, va swikhumba, va ku rhunga tirhoko, va ku rhunga ti”comfort”, va ku rhunga mibedo, va ku baka xinkwa, va ku baka magwinya na va minwala. Hinkwavo va ta kota ku pfuneka. Hambi va makhanikhi va hina lava va tirhaka eswitarateni ehansi ka misinya, va tibuchara, va chisa nyama, va ta swi kuma swi lo gee! Hikwalaho, ha tsaka. Na n’wina vo sweka na va timakete a mi tekeriwangi ehansi, mi ta pfuneka eka mhaka leyi.
Lexi hi xi kombelaka eka ndzhunankulu i ku a vulavula na timasipala ta hina va pfuna vanhu va hina hi ku va nyika ti”permit” va ta kota ku kuma timali. Mitirho na yona yi to khegee, ndlala na yona yi ku bii, vusiwana na byona byi ku papaya! Ha yi khensa ndzawulo leyi; ha yi khensa na ndhunankulu hi khensa na ANC. Hi ri ANC ha yi seketela bajete leyi ya Ndzawulo ya Nhluvukiso wa Mabindzu Lamatsongo.
English:
Again, happy Africa Day!
Xitsonga: Inkomu!
Mr J N DE VILLIERS: Chairperson, can you hear me?
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D XASA): Yes, I can.
Mr J N DE VILLIERS: Happy Africa Day to you and everybody on the platform. At the beginning of this year we all set down and once again listened to President Ramaphosa talking about the importance of accelerating our economic recovery, implementing economic reforms, creating sustainable jobs, driving inclusive growth. The President talks about small business development as the important trigger of economic regeneration. But the persistent budget cuts to the Department of Small Business tells a different tail.
The President talks about the R513 million that has been provident for small business support. But the reality is that of the 14 800 small business owners that applied for business aid only a 1 497 were successful. That’s a little over a 10% of the applicants. This means that only 61% of the funds that were allocated towards helping small business were spent.
While the ANC talks about helping small business, they just
don’t get it done. So, small business cannot help grow the
economy and create new jobs if the government cannot create the climate for them to thrive in. Small business above all else, need the state to work, they need stable electricity, they need safe neighbourhoods, they need an investment friendly economic climate, they need professional government employees who are fit for purpose, qualified and motivated to get the state working. Not unqualified cadres sent to loot the state coffers. When the state doesn’t get these basic things done, small business struggles to get business done.
It is no co-incidence that the expanded unemployment rate now sits at over 42%. It is because while the ANC talks about jobs, they don’t get anything done and when they talk about keeping the lights on it just keeps getting darker. When the ANC talks about fighting gender-based violence and keeping South Africans safe, they rather focus on writing laws so that they can take the guns out of the hands of law abiding South Africans whose last line of defence is owning their own weapons.
While the President talks about the importance of small business development, the department is not even important enough to have its own Minister; as Minister Ntshaveni is not
only the Minister of Small Business Development, but she is also the Acting Minister of in the Presidency. So how important can small business development really be if we don’t have a dedicated Minister? The ANC talks about getting things done, but we all know, they never do. They don’t get things done.
Chairperson, can you guess who runs the top five municipalities in South Africa? It is the DA, of course. Because where we govern, we get things done. The DA understands that what small business need to develop is services that work. In our DA-run governments, our small businesses can drive on roads without potholes. They can depend on street lights and on traffic robots that work. They have access to reliable drinking water from taps that work.
They receive regular refuse removal and they pay rates and taxes to municipalities who don’t steal that money but rather re-use it to develop and maintain the town or city. The DA understands that when we get things done, small businesses can get things done. You have to look no further than the DA-run City of Cape Town to see what happens when the government get things done. Cape Town is home to many successful start-ups such Aerobotics, SweepSouth and Yoco. It was also named the
third most ambitious city in the world by the Global Ambition Index.
The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative has supported over 3 000 entrepreneurs over two decades. Just in 2020, Cape Town recorded R1,2 billion worth of venture capital investment into the tax sector, spanning over 46 deals. Cape Town has over 550 operating technology firms that employ more than
40 000 people in the development industry and host 38% of the total number of developers in the country.
Together with the Department of Public Enterprise, on investment in 2020, the City of Cape Town facilitated
R11,27 billion worth of investments, creating more than seven and half thousand jobs and training over 1 300 people. This is not a coincidence, it is not in the Cape Town water but rather how Cape Town is running the water, the reliable roads and the reliable municipal services. Because Cape Town proves that the DA understands that for small business to get things done, we need to get things done.
In October, millions of voters will again be going to voting stations. They have three simple choices; they can waste their
vote on a governing party who for 27-years have not been able to get things done or they can vote for a smaller party who have never done anything or they can vote for a party who has an established track record of getting things done.
This year, if voters want to live in a municipality that get things done, they must vote DA. Because when we get things done small business gets things done. When small business gets things done, the economy starts working and when the economy starts working people get jobs. On 27 October, if voters want to get things done, they need to vote for a party that gets things done. Thank you very much.
IsiXhosa:
Nks B T MATHEVULA: Sihlalo, mandibulise ku-Commander in Chief Julius Malema naso sonke isikhokelo se-EFF.
English:
The EFF rejects the proposed budget for the Department of Small Business Development. The department is tarnished with corruption and mismanagement of monies that small businesses all over the country were desperate to receive during Covid-19 lockdown. Small businesses closed down while the department’s
preoccupied with “public relation” PR exercise that benefited comrades and family members linked to the Minister. The Minister has been preoccupied with PR exercise in so much that we think that she is starting to believe that her own information campaign. When we conducted an oversight in the Alfred Nzo region in the Eastern Cape, small businesses are crying because according to the Minister’s database these small businesses have received monies but according to them they never received not a cent.
Mvesande from Mount Frere is just one of the small businesses that was affected with misfortune of corruption and there are many more small businesses. Small-scale farmers in Hazyview and pig farmers KwaMhlushwa in Komazi continue to knock on the door of the department without any help. Small businesses such as Carino in Mbombela are just but few of the many businesses.
We have asked the Minister to intervene urgently to assist. We are not surprised by this mismanagement of taxpayer’s money meant for small businesses. As the EFF we were the first to warn small businesses that the creation of this department was not to help them. The department was created without a strategy and clearly to the country’s industrial strategy but
we are also not surprised because the country does not have any industrial strategy.
There was no need for a separate department of Small Business Development because the minute it was separated from the Department of Trade and Industry it meant that small businesses are not recognised as the important role player in the industrial space. Everywhere in the world that small businesses development is not accidentally or a space that youth fall back on when they are unemployed.
Small business development is part and parcel of country’s strategies to benefit from upstream and downstream sectors of many big industries. We should have hundreds of small businesses participating in the mining sector. We should have hundreds of small businesses participating in the agro- business and hundreds of small businesses participating in the manufacturing of cars. Our small businesses should be producing car seats and finishing if state-owned companies, like Denel were manufacturing these motor cars.
The two or three small businesses that the Minister found and advertised as the success story of the South African Small
Business Development is nothing but a distraction. Chairperson, unemployment in South Africa is rife because townships do not have economic activities. If you do not listen to the guidance and wisdom of the EFF in many proposals that we have made in the past, please take this one guidance, turn all townships from Soweto, Alexander in Gauteng, Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, Gugulethu and Langa in the Western Cape and all other townships into spatial industrial zones. Invest to all those who want to invest into small business development and give them subsidies. Build factories that manufacture local products and make these areas a tax free zone. Amend the PMFA to make it compulsory for the government and state-owned companies to procure from local manufactures classified as small business.
Lastly, because we know that there is a permanent obsession with PR, some of these things we will them ourselves and we have begun to do them already. We have already started to take out the taxi owners ...
IsiXhosa:
... ekubanjweni ngobhongwana licandelwana elincedisa ukuthengwa kweeteksi (taxi finance) kunye noToyota waseJapan
...
English:
... back to its rightful owners and we will continue to do so. We are assisting small businesses for formalising their trade to access financial support not only in government. The future of small business is in localisation of the manufacturing and access to markets. When we say build shelves space people think that we are calling for more malls. South Africa does not need more malls but more manufacturing to link production with job creation, increase of wage and consumption with the capacity of exports to other markets. We are aware that the likes of Spar, Checkers and Pick n Pay do not want to prioritise local products. We must create alternative shelves space that will serve local products at local markets.
A market is not a mall. Create an accessible market and stop obsession with PR. I thank you.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M G Boroto): Thank you for coming to my rescue, I had some network issues.
Mr B N LUTHULI: Hon Chairperson, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the worst recessions in Africa in more than half a century. South Africa has not been exempted. Our GDP growth in 2020 has been negatively affected, and the impact has been devastating for bigger industries and even harsher for small to medium enterprises in the country. It is in this bleak environment that we meet today.
Prior to the pandemic, small businesses already had challenges; the most common included constraints in accessing funds and business networks, exacerbated by the absence of adequate business infrastructure and human resources. The COVID-19 pandemic therefore heightened already existing problems. Whilst there have been programmes to deal with these challenges, they have not been adequate.
The IFP acknowledges efforts by the department to improve justice for small businesses through the establishment of the Small Enterprise Ombud Service, through the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill of 2020. It is our hope that this Bill will promote fair trading practices and create a conducive environment for small businesses to thrive.
We also appreciate the support extended to small businesses during the pandemic period through various debt relief programmes. However, the stringent qualification and application processes of debt relief schemes availed during the pandemic resulted in some small, medium & micro enterprise, SMMEs, being left out. Faced with decreasing revenues, a lack of access to relief funding and an inability to settle existing debts, we saw the closure of a significant portion of small business at the end of 2020. We are hoping that lessons will be drawn from the methods used to roll out these relief packages and provide insights for better future interventions.
We also note with concern the performance indicators for SMMEs reported in the Small Business Enterprise Budget Vote. The number of black-owned SMMEs under the Black Business Supplier Development Programme grew marginally between 2016-17 and 2019-20, whilst reductions were noted for the number of informal enterprises financially assisted through the national informal business upliftment scheme. It is our hope that these figures can improve to accommodate more small businesses.
We are aware of the crucial role played by small businesses in our economy. The 2019 Annual Financial Statistics report shows that of the R10,5 trillion total turnovers in the 2019 Financial Year, R2,3 trillion came from small businesses. It is also encouraging to note that the contribution of small businesses to the total turnover has also been improving over the years, from 16% to 22% between 2013 and 2019, according to a report by Stats SA. Whilst this is a positive gain, more can still be done to promote the performance of SMMEs. The IFP supports the budget.
Mr W W WESSELS: Chairperson, the ANC-led government has failed and has destroyed small businesses. But let me rather put it like this, they have tried their utmost best to destroy small businesses. Luckily, there is in South Africa a culture of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship that succeed against all odds, that succeed despite government and not because of government.
Government has failed to provide the actual necessities for the economy to be stimulated. The Minister mentions certain success stories of the small, medium and micro enterprise, SMMEs, but she fails to mention the thousands of small
businesses that has failed because of government’s inefficiencies. No business can succeed if there is no basic service delivery, when there is uncertainty, when there is bureaucracy, incompetency by government officials and unnecessary red tape.
When a business has to wait more than a year to obtain a simple permit, has to wait more than a year for a health inspector to visit the premises, has to wait for a trading permit or even for something as simple as applying for a motor vehicle licence, can’t do that because of the closure of these licence offices and testing stations. This is destroying our businesses.
This department is completely unnecessary and it should not exist. This funding should be reprioritised to improve our infrastructure, rather. Because how can a business operate when there is no constant or reliable water supply? When a small business can’t even say that tomorrow the light will be on or there will be electricity supply. When there is load shedding even in certain towns such as Bethal in Mpumalanga, the municipality installs its own load shedding due to non- payment to Eskom. Those businesses can’t function.
Small towns in the Free State who for more than three years do not have constant water supply. How can those businesses function? How can a small vendor reliable do business when he can’t transport his produce from a market to where he sells his goods because of the state of our roads. How can business succeed if there is no certainty, certainty that will cause investments but are now detrimental to investors because of policy uncertainty such as uncertainty with regards to property rights.
This department completely failed to support businesses in the dire circumstances caused by the pandemic and the lock down.
They completely failed. The Minister talks about localisation but government itself does not procure local goods. Government entities and government departments does not procure local goods. They don’t even for the Ministers procure locally produced vehicles. Why not, start there? Talk is cheap.
The uncertainty caused by this government is completely ruining the economy. The fact that basic service delivery is not taking place is ruining small businesses. You can apply for a business licence and that might be easy, but applying for anything that comes with it, gets more and more difficult.
Black Economic Empowerment has failed. It has failed black- owned enterprises, it has failed South Africa and it has only benefited a select few. Affirmative action has failed and all these restrictive legislation makes it more difficult for small businesses to do business. Leave this department, prioritise infrastructure, prioritise basic service delivery. But the ANC-led government can’t. And that is why there is an opportunity for all South Africans to vote in October and get more responsible local government so that the economy can start growing, jobs can be created and small business can start to flourish. I thank you.
IsiXhosa:
USEKELA MPHATHISWA WEZOPHUHLISO LWAMASHISHINI ASAKHASAYO:
Sihlalo, ndininqwenelela usuku oluhle lwe-Afrika. Ndiyabulisa. Sihlalo ohloniphekileyo, malungu ahloniphekileyo nelizwe loMzantsi Afrika lonke kunye ne-Afrika ngobubanzi bayo, molweni ...
Tshivenda:
Ndi masiari.
IsiZulu:
Sanibonani.
Afrikaans:
Goeie more.
English:
I appreciate this opportunity to participate in this important budget, in fact, very important, Budget Vote 36. This is indeed a platform and a space where we touch on the lives of our people by ensuring that ...
IsiXhosa:
... ubuncinane bonke babantu abalapha eMzantsi Afrika bayayazi ukuba iSebe lezeMali, ngokuvunyelwa yile Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho yeSizwe, linike isixa mali esingakanani kweli sebe ukuze kuphuhliswe oosomashishini abasakhasayo kunye nookopolotyeni nokuqinisekisa ukwakhiwa ngokutsha koqoqosho emva kwentlekele yeCovid-19. Iinkcukacha zonke sele zinikiwe nguMakhadzi njengoMphathiswa wesebe. Andisayi kuchitha xesha ngokungena kwezoo ngcombolo ukonga amaxesha koko ndiza kuqhubela phambili.
English:
For us as the department and all our agencies, we are committed more than ever before to reach out to all our communities in our nine provinces in this country, to also inform furthermore about our support and empowerment that the department is mandated to carry out.
A big challenge is that of not being able to all over the country at the same time and that creates an anomaly that some of our members in the society know very well what we will do, what we are mandated to do for them to grow, thrive and to feel free in their own country.
However, those who know are able to advance, are able to apply, are able to phone, are able to actually email and be in touch with us, but a big number remains out of this space.
IsiXhosa:
Nditsho kuni ke bantwana basezifama [farm lands], bantwana basezilalini [rural community] nakubantwana basesilokishini. Kunzima kakhulu ukufumana ezi nkonzo kwaye kunzima nokuba ibekhona indlela yokunxibelelana
English:
That is the signals are not available.
IsiXhosa:
Ngoko ke, siyayingxengxezela loo nto kodwa siqinisekisa ukuba uyenziwa unako-nako ukuze nikwazi ukunxibelelana. Nali ke icebo esiza nalo ngale njikalanga ngethuba esilinikwe yile Palamente.
English:
We will be able to visit the nine provinces through all the districts and also to move in unison together with our agencies and other departments that are doing similar work to that which we are doing, as well.
I am very happy to actually acknowledge the fact that, while I was listening to many debates on other departments, in order to understand their departments, they are doing much to assist SMMEs and co-operatives, which is our mandate, as small business development. I can actually quote one. It was not only him who spoke about these SMMEs and co-operatives, but hon Mpumza touched my heart when in his Cogta debate, he, as well as Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, articulated how their departments in their budget are
providing for the small businesses and the co-operatives. It is encouraging because we will meet our targets together and have a bigger impact with what we have been allocated, which you, hon members, are going to approve today.
He actually outlined how bad the situation is in Khayelitsha and how our own marginalised poor people who stay in the periphery of our cities, far-flung townships and rural areas are not able to get licences to actually run a spaza shop.
This matter has to be debated further because there is no clear reason why they cannot get a trading permit, but they don’t get it in any way. Wherever they are -they know they can actually support what I am saying because we have visited Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain - it is really difficult to have a spaza shop because of the trading permit.
The Minister has tried to address this, but I think we still need to dig down and find a solution.
The young people in rural areas suffer the same way, because the land that is available to them is rural land. We know the battles around the other percentage of land and I am not debating that, but clearly, even the land that is under their
feet. The women and the rural young people are not able to get assistance from a bank or any agency them, NPO or NGO that wants to support because they need a certificate.
We have attended a summit with the theme of Invest in rural areas, organised by the House of Traditional Leaders, but until now, there is still a difficulty in ensuring that these young people that we want to assist can get a certificate and participate like all South African youth in this country.
I am very thankful to the ANC that has given us an opportunity as Members of Parliament and also Ministers and Deputy Ministers to ensure that there is public procurement, there is 40% allocated to women, 30% allocated to our youth and 10% to our people living with disabilities.
I do want to say that that opportunity is given to more people by the Minister of Small Business Development who came up with the idea of localisation, so that, at least, we bring home, we bring closer to each citizen’s door the opportunity that they must exploit.
To say what the member who spoke before me has said that they really went to town showing this country how bad this government is and how this government is capable of destroying what has already been created. Yes, but those in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain and many far-flung areas, in the rural areas of Vredendal are not singing such good songs as he does about the previous people, where he belonged, where our people were exploited, where women were not able to sell either fruit, their beer or whatever in the street. They were actually arrested, having committed a huge crime by trying to participate in the economic development of those days.
Talking about co-operatives, ...
IsiXhosa:
Ndiyabulela kakhulu. Mandinyengeze nje umyalezo wokuba nonwabe ngalo mhla mkhulu. Enkosi.
Mr W M THRING: Hon Chairperson, it is the conviction of the ACDP that small businesses are the lifeblood of any economy. If one considered the example of the largest economy of the world, the United States of America, over 99% of all businesses there are small businesses. Clearly, the solution
to driving and reviving our economy lies in the small business sector. There are a number of reasons why the ACDP supports the establishment of small businesses - they promote healthier communities, in the sense that 60% to 70% of every rand spent stays within the community.
Small businesses drive innovation, often producing more patents than large companies. Additionally, small businesses contribute to job growth as they seek to upscale and expand and in the process contribute to the reduction of the unemployment rate, while the largest companies are looking at downsizing or retrenching to improve profit margins. In considering this Budget Vote, the ACDP is cognisant of the mandate of this department which is to lead and co-ordinate an integrated approach to the promotion and development of entrepreneurship, small businesses and co-operatives, ensuring and enabling legislative and policy environment and to support their growth and sustainability with the view to transform our economy increase employment and reduce poverty and inequality.
It is the view of the ACDP that for a sector as vitally important to the development growth and success of our economy, a departmental budget of R2,5 billion for the 2021-22
financial year is hopelessly inadequate for this department to achieve its mandate. The ACDP welcomes the decision to merge the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency and the National Empowerment Fund, NEF, into a single entity. Operating in silos and duplicity is costly, wasteful and a drain on the public purse and must be avoided at all costs. This merger would require legislative and policy reconfiguration with a little time of 36 months set to achieve this.
The ACDP agrees with the report that this should not be achieved at the expense of service delivery and to the detriment of small businesses. The ACDP calls for the protection of our locally owned small businesses such as spaza shops. While we welcome foreign-owned businesses and investment into the country, this must be done within the bounds of what is legal and in keeping with key legislation and policies. We cannot allow our locally owned small businesses to be crowded out by illegal foreign-owned businesses. This is a recipe for conflict, violence and strife and must be avoided at all costs.
In conclusion, the enemies to small businesses are many and include corruption, fraud, nepotism, ineptitude and mediocracy, all found within the ruling party. And unless dealt with, we will see the closure of many smaller businesses and we cannot afford that. I thank you, Chair.
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr F D Xasa): Thank you very much. I will now call upon the hon Kwankwa of the UDM. Hon Kwankwa? Okay. Let’s move to the next speaker, the hon Zungula of the ATM.
Mr V ZUNGULA: Chair, South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Studies show that the future of employment and economic growth is dependent on small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, SMMEs, particularly based in township and rural dwelling when 90% of new jobs can be created by 2030. South Africa’s rising unemployment, coupled with a lack of funding for township and rural based SMMEs is a disruption on the country’s efforts to progress towards an inclusive economy. Township and rural enterprises are diverse with a high rate of informality and provide a range of goods and services to meet the needs of township and rural communities.
The entrance big retailers like Usave and Pick n Pay in the township economy must be rejected as it further impoverishes poor black South Africans who trade in this sector for survival. The informal economy is neglected in our country. There is no interest to use this economy to reduce unemployment and poverty with the 43% unemployment rate. All sectors of the economy are critical in addressing this problem.
In Kenya, the informal economy accounts for 83% of the total employment, and their unemployment rate is less than 5%. South Africa must follow suit and utilise this sector of the economy as a means of creating mass economic participation of the citizens. The informal economy must be used as a catalyst to boost manufacturing and production of goods in South Africa.
There must be strides to ensure products in all the shelves of informal traders are produced in South Africa and in the respective regions. This will ensure that money circulates amongst the economies in those regions.
An economical ecosystem will be created where locals benefit from the economy. The department must look into the oppression South Africans are subjected to in the sector. Currently,
South African traders are expected to comply with all by-laws, but non-South Africans freely trade in this sector without being legal in the country; without being registered; without employing South Africans, without paying taxes and without investing the required R5 million. It can’t be that these China malls are trading in cash and these cash leaves our country instead of being reinvested.
In Limpopo, almost all hardware stores are owned by Pakistani who are funded by their governments to open businesses here. How can poor black South Africans compete with people with government backing. Poor black South Africans are not protected from being displaced in the economy. The department must work with all law enforcement agencies to ensure that all laws in relation to small businesses are complied with. We can’t allow South Africa to be a banana republic where people do as they please and the rule of law is ignored. I thank you.
Ms K B TLHOMELANG: Hon Chairperson, this day is of a very special significance to us as African people. As 57 years ago, the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, was brought to life.
From its inception, this organisation was dedicated to the fact that through the unity of all African states, the
continent could unlock its full potential as well as safeguard its independence.
It is therefore not a coincidence that Budget Vote 36 of the Department of Small Business Development is heard on Africa day, as it is one of the departments of our country that are driving the course to building an inclusive economy in order to uplift the lives of the black majority.
Equally, all the time when I am given an opportunity to address our nation on women, I remember the historic role played by the women warriors from Benin, known as the Amazons of Dahomey. These fearless women took it to the battle line and fought against colonialism in all its manifestations. They played a crucial role to build a nation and defended its sovereignty at all costs.
As we honour the Amazons of Dahomey and remember all our own women warriors, let me take this opportunity to honour women who are street-vendor entrepreneurs, who on daily basis are committed to capacitate and grow their small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and co-operatives amidst all setbacks stemming from racial, class and gender struggles.
Let me also take this opportunity to recognise the light bearers of our revolution, the young people who do not fold their arms and wait for employment in the public and private sector, but young entrepreneurs who are ‘hustlers’ amidst all systematic challenges the capitalist class has imposed including but not limited to the redundant bureaucratic red tape.
I would have done injustices if I did not recognise and affirm rural, township, enterprises and the broader informal sector. These vital sectors provide the base in which many of our people get opportunities to participate in the economy.
As the gallant titanic movement of African people – the ANC - we are cognisant to the fact that the National Democratic Revolution, NDR, is posed with a great threat known as the dual economy.
The concept of dual economy is premised on the fact that our economy is polarised into modern and traditional sectors. The struggle to reconcile the dual economies into one economy - the peoples’ economy - remains a vital priority for the ANC.
To reconcile the dual economies, we have entrusted the Department of Small Business Development to be a catalyst that will lead to a ‘transformed and inclusive economy driven by sustainable, innovative SMMEs and cooperatives.’
The ANC, is not trapped into big and meaningless theories without a revolutionary mandate, to achieve our plan the department established four key programs with the focus on: administration, sector and market development, development finance and enterprise development.
The township, rural and informal businesses headed by women, young people and persons with disabilities are paramount to the plans I have mentioned. For instance, the department, through its initiatives known as Improve Informal Business Support implemented by Seda, is targeting to capacitate and support 9 276 spaza shops, and 638 fruit and vegetable vendors situated in the township and rural areas in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, for 2021-2022.
With this initiative, the Department of Small Business Development through its entity, Seda, aims to have a far reaching impact in rural areas and townships. These areas
remain a point of concern for the department as rural areas, in particular, struggle to access the department’s offerings. The department aims to alleviate this by working closely with municipalities in implementation of the District Development Model by localising services of its agencies Small Enterprises Finance Agency, Sefa, and Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda.
The ANC understands that building an inclusive economy will not be effective only through quantitative means, but real transformation is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative means.
The qualitative aspects of the departments work are evident on that fact that through the key programs I have mentioned Seda will facilitate, amongst others, the establishment of 27 new incubators, mainly in townships and rural areas, establish approximately 1 290 new enterprises through incubation, create over 25 000 new jobs and sustain 86 000 jobs within the SMME ecosystem partners.
The programs of the department are not only focusing on traditional mechanisms of business, but the ANC is cognisant
of the fact that various technological advancements and revolutions are taking place in all sectors of the economy.
Thus, the department has provided business infrastructure support, financial assistance through loans and blended funding, facilitating routes to market, and assistance with technical skills, product certification, testing and quality assurance. This is conducted in all the incubators the department established.
As the President succinctly put it in his state of the nation address, Sona, the ANC led government is also fast-tracking reforms in the telecommunications sector that will see the allocation of high demand spectrum. This will speed up the rollout of 5G, enhance the country’s economic competitiveness, lower data costs and boost the operation of SMMEs, cooperatives, as well as small and large firms.
The department is supporting SMMEs to participate in the manufacturing value chain by targeting specific products to be manufactured by them for both the domestic market and for export. This will be done in accordance with the seventh priority identified in the seven priorities of the Medium-Term
Strategic Framework, MTSF, known as mainstreaming of Youth, Women, and Persons with Disabilities, with minimum 40% target for women, 30% for youth and 7% for persons with disabilities in the SMMEs and co-operatives sector. This is also in line with the ANC’s plan on reindustrialisation and localisation.
Hon Chairperson, let me remind this House that we need to support this budget on the basis that it is crucial in closing the gap between the existing dual economies, creating new role players in the economy and capacitate women, youth, and persons with disabilities.
If we do not realise the significant task before us, we will be turning a blind eye to the warning that former President Thabo Mbeki gave our nation in June 2008 when he said, I quote:
The immediate reality is that all of us know that the poor are knocking at the gate. If this gate does not open, because we who have the key are otherwise involved…the masses will break down the gate.
Hon Chairperson and members, let us open the door while our people are still cordial with us! Chairperson, the committee recommends that the House adopt the Budget Vote Report of Vote
36 of Small Business Development. I thank you.
Mr A M SHAIK EMAM: Hon Chairperson, I think you can hear me now. The NFP will support the Budget Vote... [Interjections.] The NFP will support the Budget Vote tabled here today. Now I do hear some of my colleagues talking about foreign businesses in the country. And; I think the question we need to ask is: How is it that foreign businesses in South Africa, particularly in the informal sector, are so successful, while local business in South Africa are not successful.
One needs to ask, but that has to be mindful of the fact that foreigners in this country make a lot of sacrifices and so on. You know, they build and sleep in their businesses. They open very early hours of the morning, and the work until late hours. So, these are some of the important things that we must not forget. Now, we all know that if you want to boost the economy, then of course you need to touch on small business in the SMMEs. There is no doubt about it.
I think the Deputy Minister has alluded to the fact that there is a problem or a challenge in terms of securing funding in terms of the red tape that exists, particularly for small businesses. And, if these people who want to apply for this funding have what is required - the requirements as put by financial institutions - then clearly they don't even need these financial institutions.
However, over and above that, if you want to enhance the local manufacturing industry and also enhance the small and medium enterprises, then you're going to have to deal with the issue of the cheap imports that are coming into the country. Let me go one step further: It's not just the cheap imports that are coming; countries like China, give their suppliers, producers and manufacturers incentives in the countries to export textile stuff to South Africa.
So, number one, the import come here as cheap goods. Secondly, the problem you're sitting with here is that they pay your labor is just R60 per day. They look at the stringent labor conditions you’ve got on local businesses compared to what the foreigners are doing in the country.
So, I think we need to be mindful of all these things. I mean, almost everything in this country is imported, even your PPEs, your textiles, your leather goods and your plastic. Everything is being imported! So how are you leveling the playing field in giving the small businesses an opportunity to thrive in South Africa? I think we need a more holistic approach. I think you're looking at me because my time is up. If it is, thank you very much. The NFP will support the Budget Vote.
Mr H G APRIL: Chairperson, gone are the days when the African people were subjected to be producers of wealth, they produce this wealth not only for their benefit but for its appropriation by the white population and they were permitted to consume some of the wealth in the proportion which will give them the maximum amount of work on a continuing basis.
In a nutshell, hon Chairperson, what I’m saying is gone are the days when black people were slaves in their land. Today, black people are participating in the economy through SMMEs and co-operatives, small and big firms. The arduous task to create new role players in the economy has been strategically placed in the capable hands of the Department of Small Business Development.
In executing its mandate, which includes but is not limited to lead and co-ordinate an integrated approach to the promotion and development of entrepreneurship, SMMEs, co-operatives and to ensure an enabling legislative and policy environment to support their growth and sustainability. On a daily basis, the department executes its mandate with great challenges which include the fact that our department is operating on a start- up structure. This calls for the need for the department's organisational structure to be given primacy as the Minister has already started talks with the Minister of Public Service and Administration in resolving the foundational basis of the department.
As you are aware that in our country colonialism of a special type was enhanced through legislation and ultimately our jurisprudence. The ANC aims to redress the legacy of colonialism and apartheid of a special type through a legislative mechanism. This means that the department has a task to play a significant role in enhancing policies that will enable an environment that is suitable for an inclusive economic framework.
In doing this, the department plans to undertake comprehensive amendments to the National Small Enterprise Act. The progressive amendments will focus on the need to establish the Small Enterprise Ombuds Service, deal with the unfair business practices and review the definition of SMMEs to ensure uniformity, fairness, and provide one single definition. It is a known fact that societal changes have an impact on the nature and framework of existing institutions. There are current developments in the SMMEs and co-operatives space we are aware of. There are many informal businesses that exist and as a result, they are unlicensed while some are owned by foreign nationals. This calls for the need to align the Business Act of 1991 with the current societal changes. The current legislative framework with regards to the agencies of the department also needs to be aligned with the current realities.
Take, for instance, the difference in the legal framework between the two agencies established to perform exclusive tasks of the department known as the Small Enterprise Development Agency, Seda, and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa. The Small Enterprise Finance Agency is incorporated as an entity in terms of the Companies Act of
2008 and section (3)(d) of the Industrial Development Corporation Act of 1940, and thus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation, which is the IDC while Seda, on the other hand is a schedule 3 entity.
The Public Finance Management Act has no provision that deals with subsidiaries as a corporation separate from the parent entities. In terms of the Public Finance Management Act, the Minister of Small Business Development is not legally the executive authority and therefore her ability to exercise oversight responsibility for the agency as prescribed in the Public Finance Management Act is lessened. The ANC supports the decision by the Cabinet to amalgamate the two entities into one to ensure the delivery of integrated business development services to small businesses. We will ensure that the amalgamation process does not hinder service delivery and ultimately that one entity that will be created will offer both financial and nonfinancial support to small businesses and co-operatives.
It is important to highlight some of the magnificent achievements of the department and the entities. Programme 1 of Seda is title, Township, Rural and Informal Business.
Through this program, the department has an objective to promote entrepreneurship and provide targeted support to the township and rural-based SMMEs and co-operatives to be competitive and create decent jobs.
Through this programme, the number of SMMEs and co-operatives reached through the department's entrepreneurship awareness sessions amounted to 37 104 in the current financial year.
When we capacitate and support SMMEs and co-operatives, we are also facilitating critical job creation in the sector. The process of facilitation of job creation is diametrically related to skills development and localisation.
The department is looking forward to supporting 2 500 SMMEs and co-operatives to be competitive in the local markets.
During the current financial year, Sefa is allocated
R247 million. The ... [Inaudible.] ... of funding is used by Sefa to fund some of its operational expenditures and may be used to lend the SMMEs and co-operatives.
This is done on the basis that we know that capital injection is a prerequisite to most SMMEs and co-operatives to keep them afloat through difficult financial times. When the ANC works,
we improve the lives of our people. It is guided by the values of Sefa which includes but not limited to ...
IsiZulu:
... kuyasheshwa!
English:
We act with urgency. On this day that we call Africa Day, it is funny we find the Europeans wishing us a happy Africa Day while they forget that we had given them the warmth of Ubuntu and they came to our country, stole our land and our resources and have the audacity to call us names. Cape Town, where the majority of the coloured people are living these coloured people are excluded from the mainstream of the economy by this so-called ... [Inaudible.] ... good government. The is no good government in Cape Town. And it should be noted that the suffering of the people in Mitchell's Plain, the suffering of the people of Reiger Park, the suffering of people in Eldos is noted. And that's why the DA got a beating by the coloured people. They are losing in all these areas because they have never delivered anything. Our people's eyes are open and in this coming election, they will show the DA that the ANC
remains the only hope for our people. I thank you. We support the Budget Vote.
Mr M G E HENDRICKS: Hon House Chair, Al Jama-ah supports the Budget Vote for the Small Business. Whilst the Small Business got a challenging budget, it is set to do the most over the next few years. One million a year jobs will be created. We have the Minister in the Presidency, she whispers in the ears of the President and looks at the Finance Minister in the eye. So money will come into the Small Business Development budget.
The department moved from just getting hybrid finance which includes a nonrepayable grant. On the radar, if Al Jama-ah gets its way, is interest-free microloans like in Indonesia where 4 million women are funded and repayments are at 99%. They do not give the allowance to men. They do not pay back well. In my constituencies, a Zakat, a charity tax, is paid rising into millions and I want some of that money that belongs to the poor to introduce interest-free microfinance at our constituency parliamentary office. That five municipalities boasted about earlier would be the worst nightmare for small business. We took away their right to keep business licenses. And the Small Business Department will now
issue licenses. You see those five municipalities don’t want trading near the white areas where the money is so trading spaces is far from the foot traffic. Rylands micro traders, Gatesville are harassed because of this license oppression like ... [Inaudible.] and the occupation. A day with the Deputy Minister in Mitchells Plain, our constituency parliamentary office got 20 business opportunities just in one day while we were active, we got the boat for ... [Inaudible.] in a village in the rural area near Mthatha
The President asked us to assist the rural villages, the Minister lobbied the Deputy Minister implements ... [Inaudible.] ... keeps everything together. We now have a permanent director-general. I think there is a sense of excitement in South Africa. Well, this dynamic team that we have in the Small Business Development. Al Jama-ah supports the Budget, hon House Chair.
Mr H C C KRUGER: Chair, it is an honour to serve the business community in South Africa. Unfortunately, it is hell to do so under the ANC-led government. They don’t get things done. The constant mere lip service on the part of the President and his Cabinet on the importance of small, medium and micro
enterprises, SMMEs, as the engine room of this economy has transformed our small businesses into limping step children of government. This is evident if we examine the budget. Maybe the Minister of Finance, in his self-proclaimed yet misguided wisdom, thinks that the Department of Small Business needs a small budget. Year after year we must witness the decline of the ease of doing business for entrepreneurs both old and young. Red tape is slowly but surely wiping out the business community.
The department, Small Enterprise Development Agency, SEDA, and Small Enterprise Finance Agency, SEFA, are examples of a highly unfriendly business environment. The handling of the support to the small business community during the hard lockdown and the period after that is atrocious. From start to finish there was no leadership from the Minister and they executed the process on a trial and error basis. All to the disadvantage of small businesses. The process was a textbook case of … on some bureaucracy and the administrative burden.
Rural and informal businesses were hit the hardest by the irrational decisions of the National Coronavirus Command Council during lockdown.
Chair, if you study the budget you will understand that there is no light at the end of the tunnel for small businesses.
This ANC-led government is moving towards a disabled business environment because of the after effects of the pandemic, the three decades of unnecessary regulatory burdens have hindered the starting and running of small businesses, and subsequently, also hindered economic growth and creation of jobs. Policy uncertainties and the reluctance to challenge the red tape problem has resulted in tragedy and embarrassment from which there may be no return.
Chris Darroll of SBP once said that “red tape is a symptom of failing regulatory governance and broken systems of the administrations, capacity in service delivery.” Chairperson, you will agree with me that this shoe fits the ANC-led government 100%. A DA-led government will create capacity to measure control and reduce the impact of regulatory measures on business and ensure that due consideration of multiple options by organs of state to achieve the objectives of the government; measure and reduce red tape and the cost associated with red tape when conducting business in the Republic of South Africa on all levels of government and create a business friendly government.
There is the importance of the ease of doing business Bill that seeks to provide for the establishment of an administrative unit to assess the executive Members of Parliament, committees of the Houses and self-regulatory bodies. The Bill also seeks to assist business in overcoming red tape and other counterproductive challenges in the business environment.
If the the President is serious about the survival of our small business community, he will convince his Cabinet to work with the DA to make this Bill a reality and reallocate the Ministry of Small Business to his office to the benefit of entrepreneurs. Mr President, please save our small businesses by helping bureaucracy to step aside and let business do what they do best and create jobs.
Chairperson, it is inspiring to be alive in the season of change. Change is a reality and the business community needs change now. Thank you, Chair.
Mr F JACOBS: Chair, I greet you today on this Africa Day and dedicate this speech to the spirit of solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters. Africa Day symbolise the
strength of our continent and its resolute actions that contributed to our freedom and our development. This Africa Day we call on our government and peoples of Africa to stand united and in firm solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Hon House Chair, allow to take the House to Amilcar Cabral text when he said, and I quote: “Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.”
Cabral’s assertion stems from the universal truth that above anything else, we human beings need material benefit such as food, water, shelter and land to survive. The ANC is implementing Cabral’s words by building a developmental capacitated state, and this department is there not in terms of the ideas in heads but is also a beacon of hope for new players in our economy, including women, young people, people with disability, township and rural communities.
It is through this department that today many township restaurants, rural areas have attracted tourists and South
Africans from affluent suburbs to spend their holidays and weekends in our townships. Hon Chair, the real Commander in Chief, His Excellency President Ramaphosa in the state of the nation address encouraged us to prioritise localisation in order to support the implementation of the country’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan.
We are not claiming easy victories or not telling lies as warned by Cabral in the afore said text. Take for instance the construction that is underway in the Tshwane automotive special economic zone. The project has created several jobs training and development for both communities and SMMEs in this region. Thirty-two out of 34 target infrastructure work packages have been reserved for local SMMEs to the value of a R170 million. The reality that many SMMEs face necessitate a supportive, well-oiled financial infrastructure that is characterised by sustainable, viable and significant improvement to access to capital for SMMEs and cooperatives.
Hon Chair, our SMMEs and cooperatives support extends beyond money to social capital, social relations including mentoring, developing, nurturing, supporting and promoting small business and harmonising this with other stakeholders. The ANC advanced
the agenda of economic freedom for our SMMEs so that our people can be independent, produce their own goods, participate in the mainstream of our economy and compete with both local and international markets.
Most of the leading and corporates in the global market started out as SMMEs. Therefore, the ANC-led government prioritise SMME work as a critical path to build inclusive economy. We salute the excellent work done the Minister and our team for turning this goal into reality. Local is lekker. We say buy South Africa; buy local. We are glad that this in not negotiable. We appreciate the commitment to see and support small business and informal traders. We welcome the commitment of big business to lend a hand to small business. We appreciate the target of 15 000 youth entrepreneurs by 2024 and the sea trade platform will go a long way to create a gender empowerment.
Hon De Villiers, whilst the DA can only blame and complain, we are delivering. This department is doing more with less. They forget to mention that InvestSA from Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has its office in Cape Town, and that tech industry in Cape Town is supported by our national
government and Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. The DA only cares for and maintain white privilege. Ask any informal trader in Denver in Mitchells Plain who are constantly harassed instead of being supported by the DA City of Cape Town. Our township economies are dying under the DA administration here in Cape Town. There is no dedicated broad base black economic empowerment, procurement policies. Black businesses are struggling to be service providers in DA run municipalities.
Don’t get me started on water. Many of our people on the Cape Flats suffer from the unconstitutional water dip system that we have to endure under this DA administration. They do not care. Just look at how they treat the homeless, the informal traders and the poor. But we know change is coming in Cape Town and indeed across the Western Cape. Capetonians are looking forward to be part of a renewed and united ANC, and we welcome everybody into the ANC family.
Hon Wessels, your negativity and doom saying will fail. Your continued fearmongering will fail. Your commitment to narrow white economic empowerment will fail. Your negative narrative does not speak to us as South Africans, we acknowledge our
mistakes and remain committed to our challenges. We chose to remain hopeful. We, the majority of South Africans believe tomorrow will be better than yesterday because we are doing something today. Our people are resilient; we are brokers of hope, we are problem solvers and we will continue to bring our people communities together.
Hon Thring, we support your call for increased budget, the need for integration, avoid duplication and the need for South African driven and owned business. We share and assure you our commitment to ethical and professional leadership. Minister, we can assure you of our continued support. The task has been tough but you have acquitted yourself well. Let me reiterate the words of Cabral, and I quote: “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.” I thank you. The ANC supports this Budget Vote.
The MINISTER OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, I
think my colleagues and comrades, hon Heinrich April and hon Faiez Jacobs have clarified the position of the DA. The DA knows nothing about equality, they know nothing about service
delivery except the protection of the white minority privileges. That’s why even the recent scandal of qualifications, black people were still treated unfairly whereas whites are protected when they misrepresent their qualifications equally. Therefore, the DA must first put their house in order. South Africans have woken up to the fact that the DA serves nobody except the protection of the white minority in this country and we will not let you frustrate us.
I think, hon Mathulelwa, we are not playing marbles, and we are not in hallucination. We are running a government. No matter how you repeat the lies, lies will remain lies and will not change at all. We were audited in terms of our work we have done around the small, medium and micro enterprises, SMME, COVID-19 Debt Relief support. And in that work, the Mvesande Trading CC that you referred about were approved in that support, but they needed to comply because the requirement for the draw down, they needed to comply by the cut-off date of 31 July. And they did not comply. They are in the list of the approved, but they are not in the list of the ones whose funds were distributed.
There were no families of the Minister or the Deputy Minister that benefited from the COVID-19 relief fund. No matter how much you repeat it, it will not make truth. But I don’t worry about your party because you are not going be here by 2024 postelections. The ANC is still going to be here and the ANC will continue to govern.
Indeed, hon Thring, we appreciate that you are raising the issue around the budget. We agree it is not sufficient, but when the priorities are between saving life and saving livelihoods. We needed to concede that we must prioritise saving of lives as we work to rebuild the livelihoods. It is our responsibility as government and those assigned the responsibility to serve in the executive to make sure that the minimal resources that we have go a little further. As Pareto has taught us to say get 80% of your output from 20% of your input. That is what is good leadership and optimising resources. We thank you for supporting our budget. We thank the IFP, Al Jama-ah and the NFP for supporting our budget.
The issues you have raised around how do we make sure that we continue to serve South Africans and that South Africans are not fairly treated because of the need to comply, was also
raised by the ATM. It’s why we are continuing to work and now we are bringing, as raised by hon Heinrich April, the realignment of the Businesses Act of 1991 to make sure that it responds to the material condition.
Hon Zungula, the continued formalisation of businesses in townships and rural areas is the act of those who sought to exclude us from the mainstream economy, is the act of colonisers when they want to minimise our role. Therefore, the work that we have commenced in 2019 of formalising majority of our businesses to become formal and contributors to our economy will also protect them from unfair completion of those who are in the country illegally. We must also note that it is not all foreign nationals who are in the country illegally and are not allowed to trade. But we must accept the responsibility that we must work with the Department of Home Affairs, Department of Employment and Labour and the DTIC to make sure that those who do business in the country are dully authorised and certified to do business in the country and not offer unfair competition to the people of our country.
Indeed, this year we mark 150 years of celebrating the legacy of Mam Charlotte Maxeke. We dedicate our work to the decade of women of Africa making sure that they participate in the mainstream economy of this continent as we seek to rebuild the continent and reassert the firm position of Africa as not only the next place of development, but as where the development and the leadership of the world will come from. The work that we continue to do is very important ... [Time expired.]
Debate concluded.
The mini-plenary session rose at 16:06.
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