Speech by Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) Conference, Durban
Treasurer General of the African National Congress, Mr Zweli Mkhize,
Minister Senzeni Zokwana, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,
The President of NAFCOC, Rev Joe Hlongwane
Provincial President of NAFCOC, Ms Pinkie Mkhize,
Leaders of government,
Friends and comrades,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Representing the ANC-led government, I am honoured to be part of this historic and momentous occasion as we mark the 50th anniversary of NAFCOC. We are here to celebrate fifty years of dedicated and selfless service in promoting and defending the interests of black businesses in our country - a responsibility that needs to be intensified by a strong and united NAFCOC.
As we congratulate NAFCOC on this significant milestone, we must take a step back and appreciate what NAFCOC has historically meant to the oppressed and dispossessed masses of our land.
Ladies and gentlemen, the story of NAFCOC is a story of a people’s resilience and inevitable triumph over racial exclusion and economic injustice. It is a story of a people who decided to take their destiny into their own hands. A story of vukuzenzele! This is something South Africans need most in today’s world which is faced by acute socio- economic challenges. The world is no longer waiting for us. Those who used to assist us now see us as their competitors.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us continue to tell this story with pride and fond memories to empower present and future generations about real stories of resilience and determination by ordinary men and women who forged their path and lay claim to an economic legacy once viciously denied them and their many of their compatriots.
With the laws of the land and economic policies heavily stacked against them and policies destined to squeeze them out of economic activity, members of NAFCOC rose and rose to become business icons of our nation. As we celebrate this milestone and as we look back to 50 years of NAFCOC’s history, we salute the black business icons and stalwarts like Dr Sam Motsuenyane, Mr Richard Maponya and many others who made their mark in pursuit of black economic emancipation.
By putting their collective shoulder to the wheel, the founding fathers of NAFCOC have helped to lay a solid foundation for economic justice and broad-based black economic empowerment at a time when the environment was just too hostile to any form of progressive business engagement.
The National Confederated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NAFCOC) has been an integral part of our liberation struggle. In this regard, I am humbled to be sharing this platform with stalwarts of this organisation who bravely confronted the harsh realities of apartheid and the policies that sought to keep our people in economic bondage.
We learn from history that NAFCOC, the organisation whose 50 years of existence we mark today, had its origins in the 1940 when informal black trader organisations in and around Johannesburg decided to improve their business knowledge and skills.
During subsequent years, more of these trader organisations began to emerge around the country. With the emergence of these and the need to survive and build economies where communities live, these traders became aware of the need to organise themselves. For they knew that unity is the only formidable weapon in the hands of any oppressed and dispossessed people. As a result of this unity, the regime was unable the break the back of organised black business in pursuit of its archaic racist policies.
During the difficult years of apartheid, black people were thrown into the periphery to run insignificant businesses outside of the mainstream economy. Despite all this, the 70s and 80s were marked by NAFCOC’s increased struggles for black business people to obtain their space in the mainstream South African economy and they continue to do so to date. Since the advent of democracy, the scenario has changed significantly.
Both NAFCOC and government proceed from the same premise - that black economic empowerment should form a critical component of our national effort to banish poverty, joblessness and inequality. We must continue to ensure that our model of black economic empowerment does not have too narrow a base of beneficiaries, and that its reach extends even to the most vulnerable in our society, the poor, the youth, rural women and people with disabilities.
As partners in the radical economic transformation of our society, we must continue to prioritize job creation and poverty eradication over self- enrichment and uncontrolled greed. This we must do, because joblessness and poverty constitute the obstinate remnants of the apartheid legacy we all seek to undo.
The democratic government inherited an economy that was in a state of paralysis. Carefully designed to serve the interests of the minority to the deliberate exclusion of the majority in our country – as a consequence, the economy we inherited was unable to respond to the developmental challenges of the new democratic order. It is for this reason that after the demise of the system of apartheid in 1994, our country began a new struggle. This was a struggle to transform the political economy to enable it to serve the needs and aspirations of all South Africans. We did all of this because we were aware that the democratic breakthrough would be meaningless if it is not accompanied with a vibrant and growing economy that can benefit all our people.
Together with our partners, we will do whatever it takes to promote access to economic opportunities for all historically marginalised people of our country in order to give practical meaning to the pledge we made during our struggle for liberation that we will never consider our mission complete and our liberation achieved, if the people of our country are still not freed from economic exclusion and deprivation.
Twenty years since our freedom, the participation of black people in the country’s economy is still less than adequate. That is why the African National Congress has made a commitment to set the country on a path of radical economic and social transformation in order to accelerate our onslaught on the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Consistent with the ANC’s commitment to place the economy and job creation at the centre stage, the President established the Department of Small Business Development (and Cooperatives). This new department will unapologetically advance the needs and aspirations of small businesses and co-operatives in South Africa, the majority of whom are NAFCOC’s core constituency.
We are clear that through this intervention, we will be able to unlock economic opportunities and thus achieve inclusive economic growth and sustainable employment, particularly for women, youth and people with people with disabilities.
We now have an opportunity to move with speed on the critical question of de-racializing the economy and opening up opportunities for women, youth and people living with disabilities. The time is now for us to intensify our efforts aimed at broadening participation in the economic mainstream of our country.
The Ministry of Small Business Development was established as part of a recognition of the important role this sector plays in contributing to the social and economic development of the country. In fullfilling our mandate, we will seek to promote a co-ordinated and integrated support across government spheres and institutions for SMMEs.
We will pursue an aggressive entrepreneurship drive and create an enabling environment that will make it easy for South Africans, particularly the youth, to start and sustain their businesses. We will continue to look up to NAFCOC to help us reignite the spirit of entrepreneurship that refused to surrender to the viciousness of apartheid and its determination to make black people permanent drawers of water and hewers of wood
We will pay focused attention on providing effective support to small businesses. Our ultimate goal is to reduce obstacles to doing business wherever possible and to expand access to economic opportunities for historically excluded and vulnerable groups.
Our interventions will be in the area of: access to finance, business skills development, market access, competitiveness, easing the regulatory burden and advancing localisation, particularly through leveraging on public procurement. Indeed, the country’s high rate of unemployment and extreme inequality call for bold and far-sighted interventions.
In addition, we will focus on enhanced support for small and informal businesses development as well as cooperatives through entrepreneurship and also to foster financial inclusion, create market access for small business and cooperatives. Within this context government will endeavour to create a platform to enhance partnerships with the private sector in relation to procurement opportunities for SMMEs as well as cooperatives.
We are the first to concede that more needs to be done with regard to sustainable markets for SMMEs and cooperatives, and it is in this regard that government has designed programmes such as the Incubation Support Programme (ISP) to foster partnerships between small and big businesses. In addition to this, government has also considered additional support measures such as the SEDA Technology Programme, aimed at improving quality of products manufactured by SMMEs and co- operatives.
Ladies and gentlemen, an occasion such as this affords both of us a platform and an opportunity for advocacy with government as well as other relevant stakeholders on policy matters as well as regulatory burdens that limit the aspirations of SMMEs and cooperatives.
I am pleased to reiterate that my department is embarking on measures that deal with red tape reduction at all levels of government and NAFCOC is an important partner in achieving this.
Collectively, we must spread the understanding that the economic empowerment of black people is not synonymous with less economic efficiency and lower returns on investment. Overtime, we must engender the understanding that it is natural that an economy of any African country, as with South Africa, should in its ownership, management and skills reflect the active and meaningful participation of Africans in particular and Black people in general.
We must remind antagonists of BEE that the de-racialisation of the South African economy not only makes good business sense but is also a critical prerequisite for political and economic stability in our country. We must remind those who are skeptical about broadening economic participation that empirical evidence shows that egalitarian economies tend to experience greater economic growth.
As we celebrate, we must reflect on the current landscape and commit to engage and address the challenges within our chamber movement. Government stands ready to work with NAFCOC to build greater unity for we are of the view that your strength lies in united action and unity of purpose. A united NAFCOC has the capacity to effectively drive the radical economic and social transformation that we are all determined to see.
On this 50th anniversary of NAFCOC, we reiterate our call to business broadly, to partner with government. It is this partnership that holds the key to unlock our country’s economic potential, thus affording us a golden opportunity to launch a sustained onslaught on poverty, unemployment, inequality and underdevelopment. Indeed, all of us must accept that we carry joint responsibility to redistribute the wealth of our nation. Government cannot be expected to be a buffer between the wealthy and the poor.
As both government and the ANC, we are committed to working together with a cadreship of progressive businesspeople who understand their roles in the reconstruction and development of our nation.
We need cadres in the business sector whose passion to rebuild our nation and to extricate our people from poverty, unemployment and inequality is beyond doubt. We need progressive businesspeople who will contribute to the radical economic transformation of our country and thus help achieve a national democratic society.
Lessons of the past fifty years cannot be ignored by the new Department of Small Business Development. We will continue to draw on these lessons as continue to implement the National Development Plan.
I thank you.
