Broadening economic participation is a critical part of economic policy as well as of social justice and equity, said the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies yesterday. He was speaking at the launch of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (the dti) Incentive Performance Report for the 2012/13 Financial Year which took place in Pretoria.
Minister Davies reiterated that the emancipation of people who were economically discriminated in the past is still government’s priority.
“We need to broaden participation in the economy. We need to ensure that people who were historically disadvantaged have their rightful share of opportunities created by our economy. So broadening participation is a critical part of economic policy as well as of social justice and equity,” said Davies.
He stated that about 65 percent of the department’s R9 billion annual budget was delegated to the provision of incentives. The total incentive grant value approved by the dti during the period 2012/13, amount to more than R7 billion.
Davies also indicated that incentives were important, as they can enable new players to successfully break into certain industries, while they could also bring about a change in behaviour. He emphasised that above all, integrity should be a guiding principle in the administration of the incentives.
“We need to maintain a high level of integrity in the processes of awarding the incentives. What we do in the ministry and in the leadership of the department, we set the policy framework only. We do not dictate who should benefit and not benefit from the incentives. We have to maintain high standard of integrity in terms of administering these incentives,” he stated.
Minister Davies also warned members of the public about unscrupulous people who are impersonating him on Facebook. These unscrupulous people are falsely promising people that they will receive the dti incentives after depositing money into their accounts. Minister Davies made it clear that he was not on Facebook.
The Incentive Performance Report for the 2012/13 financial year is a detailed explanation of what has been achieved, the impact the disbursement of incentives has had on our economy and on our citizens, and the number of jobs created.
The report is structured according to the incentive clusters, namely the Broadening Participation Cluster, Competitiveness Investment Cluster, Manufacturing Investment Cluster, Services Investment Cluster, and Infrastructure Support Cluster.
Some of the delegates who attended the launch of the Incentive Performance Report for the 2012/13 financial year.
To obtain a copy of the incentive report log on to:
http://www.thedti.gov.za/DownloadFileAction?id=815
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
