The National Informal Business Upliftment Strategy will not support illegal businesses – Davies
The Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies said the newly unveiled National Informal Business Upliftment Strategy will not support informal businesses which sell illegal and counterfeit goods. Minister Davies was addressing hundreds of informal business people gathered at the Port St Johns Sports Ground to hear how government will assist them to better their conditions and grow their businesses.
"People doing legal business find themselves in unfair competition from those trading with illegal goods camouflaged as informal businesses. The strategy states that government will work with legal businesses to participate in Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE)," said Davies.
He added that informal business people will be assisted to register their businesses, grow and become formal so that they can participate in the formal economy.
According to Davies, there will be a register which will exclude businesses which are found to be conducting illegal economic activities. He said these businesses will be excluded from doing business for some time and if found continuing, they will be arrested.
"We will clamp down on you and put you in jail," warned Davies. He emphasised that the strategy will focus on providing training in partnership with the Wholesale and Retail (W&R) SETA to businesses in the retail sector and with other SETAs in the prioritised sectors which are Manufacturing, Services, Agriculture (and Agro processing) and the Construction and Maintenance sectors.
Davies further explained that the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) together with the W&R SETA will roll-out the pilot project to 1 000 informal businesses throughout the country where informal traders (retailers) will be supported with skills development and infrastructure to enable them to be more competitive.
The MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the Eastern Cape, Ms Zoleka Capa expressed her gratitude to the dti for the strategy and programme that she said will change the lives of the people, especially in rural areas.
"This strategy together with its instruments will transform the lives of those informal businesses, which have been neglected, some of them having been in this sector for over forty years," she added.
She highlighted that this effort will move informal business to become formal and enable them to participate in the economy of the country and be able to sustain their own businesses.
The pilot project which is already being implemented has so far assisted eight informal businesses in the Eastern Cape province alone.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
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E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
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