Address by the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Jane Sithole, on the occasion of delivering NCOP Budget Vote on Small Business Development
Honourable Chairperson and Members of the NCOP
Chairperson of the NCOP Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade
Minister of the Department of Small Business Development
Director-General, and senior managers of the Department of Small Business Development
Entrepreneurs present here today
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honour to stand before you today and to take part in this budget debate as we reflect on the journey of economic transformation through medium, small and micro enterprises.
The Government of National Unity is hard at work, united in purpose, unwavering in our commitment to building an inclusive and prosperous economy. At the centre of this effort lies our responsibility to create an environment where small businesses do not just exist but are supported and truly empowered to thrive.
Our small business sector holds immense potential to drive job creation, reduce poverty, and spark innovation across every corner of our country. But this potential is being choked by an over-regulated system that continues to entrench inequality, hinder entrepreneurship, and stall meaningful economic growth.
As a department, we are placing regulatory reform at the top of our agenda. We are committed to overseeing transversal support across the entire small business ecosystem, to make it easier, not harder, for entrepreneurs to succeed.
Time is not on our side. Every procedural bottleneck is a barrier to someone’s dream. And every restrictive law we fail to repeal is a direct blow to our shared economic future.
According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)’s, South Africa ranked 47th out of 49 economies (2023), placing it near the bottom among peers in terms of policy, support, culture, and infrastructure.
South Africa also has the highest business discontinuance rates. Businesses are shutting their doors, making it the third worst in the world.
Hon. Members, the reality is that it is harder for small businesses to survive beyond early years, hence although the department has been in existence for more than 10 years now, we are unable to showcase businesses that we supported 5, 6, 7, 8 or 10 years ago, we bring the ones we supported either in 2023, 2024 or just recently. Because majority of businesses we supported did not survive. We are unable to tell how many jobs we've created through our existence of over 10 years.
Honourable Members, despite rising entrepreneurial motivation among our youth, corruption consistently weakens the entrepreneurial environment.
No one in this house can deny or question the need for redress. However, policies that force race-based compliance have already failed, and they have increased business failures too, and have produced the highest unemployment rate amongst the youth in the world. Our policies must focus on enabling and not punishing economic participation and expansion.
Our policies must give a fair chance to those in need to participate meaningfully in our economy. By fostering exclusion instead of inclusion, we are not airing on the side of economic justice, we are fostering economic gatekeeping.
We, the lawmakers of this country, have a duty to build a truly inclusive ecosystem, one that enables all South Africans to rise, not by lowering others, but by lifting everyone in need.
We stand at a crossroads. We can continue down a path of polarisation and exclusion, fighting over crumbs while the economy shrinks. Or we can forge a new consensus: one that affirms redress without racial punishment.
If we want a South Africa where small businesses grow, where jobs are created, where dignity is restored, then we must stop legislating division and start governing to unite South Africans.
We must build an ecosystem where transformation and fairness walk hand in hand.
Our entrepreneurs, our township traders, informal vendors, and young innovators are being crushed by endless regulations and corrupt officials.
Honourable Members, red tape is not just an inefficiency, it is state-sanctioned sabotage.
Let me be clear: some laws were designed with the intention to empower. But for many small businesses, especially micro-enterprises and startups, these laws have become a barrier, not a bridge.
These laws have given rise to racial fronting, which has corrupted the spirit of entrepreneurs.
Compliance burdens are driving many informal and township businesses further into the shadows. This is not transformation. This is distortion.
If we are serious about job creation, if we are serious about economic growth, and if we are serious about healing this country, then we must build an economy that allows all small businesses, to thrive based on fairness, merit, and opportunity.
The day that we begin to meet small businesses where they are, not where the cameras are, maybe, just maybe, we may start to make real progress.
You see Honourable Members, we can sugarcoat reality but South Africans are watching.
When mediocre is elevated to virtue, the results are visible.
In conclusion Hon. Members, we are here today fully cognisant of the central role that provinces and local government play in driving socio-economic development, particularly through the engine of small businesses.
Let us be bold enough to remove all regulations that impede small business growth. Let us be committed enough to reform systems that exclude. Let us be visionary enough to build a small business ecosystem that works for many, not only for a connected few.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, is founded on principles of non-racialism, equality, and human dignity.
Let us move forward together, not in denial of our past, but in pursuit of a future where inclusion means everyone.
I thank you.
