Cooperatives and Small Macro Medium Entreprises (SMME) remain the only hope for the creation of jobs in the province, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Sikhumbuzo Kholwane said.
MEC Kholwane was addressing the Provincial Supply Chain Management Roadshows targeting women, which was held at Civic Centre, Msukaligwa Local Municipality, Ermelo on Monday the 25 August.
The roadshow was held as part of the provincial programme for the celebration of the Women's month.
He said business and government should provide an enabling environment for women to participate in and to grow the local economy.
"Most of the big companies have reached a saturation point in terms of creating jobs for our people. The available data indicates that entrepreneurship and SMMEs are capable of delivering an increased number of jobs for our people," MEC said.
MEC Kholwane emphasised that the Cooperatives and SMMEs will not succeed in creating jobs unless they get the necessary support from the Government.
He said the Provincial Government will continue to support the establishment of the cooperatives, especially for women and youth, adding that there is however a need for a total shift on how the cooperatives are supported to sustain themselves.
"We must not be satisfied with the number of cooperatives that are established. We can only be satisfied with our work when there is a market for the services and goods produced by the cooperative in the province.
We must therefore engage business to establish a market for the cooperatives that are established in the province," said MEC Kholwane.
He said the government is determined to make local economy grow, including through direct support to the small businesses.
As I have already articulated during the Departmental Policy and Budget Speech, we are going to name and shame all the departments that do not pay the service providers within 30 days," said the MEC.
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