Informal traders under Mnquma Local Municipality were the latest to benefit after receiving working equipment from the Eastern Cape Department of Economic development Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT), through its entity, the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) informal business support (ISB) programme, on May 9.
This was the latest in a series of handover events that have taken place across the province as part of the ISB programme roll-out.
Express reported last week on a similar handover of working equipment to informal traders, under Port St Johns Local Municipality.
The handover, held at the Butterworth Town Hall, was led by the DEDEAT through its entity the ECDC, as well as the local economic development directorate of the Mnquma Local Municipality.
“Today’s handover will go a long way towards economic independence of women in Mnquma. When you empower a woman, you empower a nation. An economically independent woman will take her children to school, put bread on the table, create jobs and be freed from gender-based violence because too often they become victims because they depend on men for money.”
“I will be the first customer to place an order to show that we are serious about empowering women,” said Mnquma executive mayor, Tunyiswa Manxila-Nkamisa.
DEDEAT said that the intervention was also aimed at mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and would help informal businesses that suffered losses due to lockdowns to recover and get back on their feet.
The ISB programme, according to the ECDC, is meant to also help informal businesses quickly transition into formal enterprises.
The programme further prioritises informal businesses in the manufacturing, welding, clothing, and textile sectors, which the ECDC views as having the potential to create jobs on a large scale.
The handover, however, has been met with unhappiness by informal traders’ associations who are alleging that the equipment handed over was way below the R30 000 quotations they submitted when applying for the support.
“When we were applying for the informal business support programme, we were told that each approved business owner would receive working equipment to the value of R30 000. The equipment that was handed over is way below that amount and, in some instances, people received equipment that was not on the quotations they submitted,” said Nonkanyiso Voyi, who serves as the secretary of the Butterworth Hawkers Association and Mnquma Hawkers Forum.
Voyi further said that they were not happy as only eight out of 161 business owners who were approved to benefit from the programme received working equipment on the day.
DEDEAT spokesperson, Ncedo Lisani, acknowledged that the programme roll-out has experienced problems, attributing this to budget cuts.
“In the midst of administering the procurement process for the acquisition of tools and equipment requested by the successful applicants, a notice was issued by the National Treasury applying a moratorium on all public sector procurement with a rand value of R30 000 and more.,” said Lisani.
He further said that the Informal Business Sector Support Programme roll-out was unfortunately affected by this moratorium, as bulk procurement from various service providers is in excess of R30 000.
“It is the intention of both DEDEAT and the ECDC to resume this programme as soon as the moratorium is lifted. The department and the ECDC extend an apology to all of the successful applicants of this programme whose requests have now been delayed. Due communication shall be issued as soon as the moratorium is lifted,” Lisani concluded.
