Government has in the past failed to invest in small businesses and as a result, there is no use of good policies if people continue to go to bed hungry.
These were the remarks by Small Business Development Minister, Stella Ndabeni Abrahams. She was speaking at the inaugural Chris Hani District Municipality’s (CHDM) economic development and investment summit at the Queen’s Casino and Hotel in Komani on Wednesday, June 15. She said it was good to be in the presence of businesspeople who know the importance of investment.
“There is a tendency of business leaving communities out of the value chain programme. By 2030 we must have created 11 million jobs and 9 million of those must be from small business,” she said. Ndabeni Abrahams said there were high levels of unemployment, as a result, the question was what was government doing wrong.
“We have failed to invest in small businesses. There’s no use of great policies if people still go to bed hungry. To address unemployment, we need to address how government functions.” The minister said government, the private sector and civil society, as well as labour needed to cooperate to address unemployment.
She said national government needed to find a way to complement the work done by local government. But, she said, local government needed to do its job of infrastructure development. She urged municipal leaders to have “deliberate and pointed” approach that will make a difference.
Among those in attendance was Chris Hani Development Agency chair advocate Andile Mini and finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko.
Mvoko said his department was ready to support the outcomes of the summit, which will be held on July 13 and 14. He said the province had two special economic zones (SEZ). “We need a third SEZ that will deal with agriculture. But I’m not creating an impression that it will be here. But agriculture is a contributing factor,” he said.
Opening the event, CHDM executive mayor, Wongama Gela, said the event was meant to unleash the district’s potential and level the playing field. “We have converged in pursuit of social compact among role players to create opportunities for our people. This platform is given to business, labour, government and civil society to improve local economic development,” Gela said.
He said his administration has set a new narrative on investment and the district was open and ready for investment.
Gela told the gathering that the district was a great food basket for the province, and even the country due to its potential.
“Small scale farmers must benefit from land redistribution. Land owners must participate in land redistribution. We need to improve our dilapidated infrastructure to attract investors,” Gela concluded.
