Hon Chairperson, I think the entire nation, including Luthuli House, literally heard the hon Tsopo tonight! [Laughter.]
The Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry is surely one of the most important committees in Parliament as it is tasked with the responsibility of setting the tone of and course for industrialisation. It is similarly tasked with creating an enabling environment for investment, both foreign and local, and ensuring that regulatory institutions tasked with the mandate of protecting citizens' rights in a consumer market work effectively. Against this backdrop, we have to take stock of where we are in order to know where we are going as a committee, as Parliament and as a country.
Of the proposed budget of R9,8 billion, 45% of the budget, or R4,4 billion, is used as incentives to support sustainable and productive economic growth. This is a good thing. However, we have government departments that are working against one another, because we know that the ANC as a whole does not support the NDP. [Interjections.] We can see that the ANC and its alliance partners are pulling in opposite directions to the NDP and only pay lip service to it, with devastating consequences for investment and development.
The strike by the National Union of Mineworkers of South African, Numsa, which has now shut down the automotive manufacturing sector, is one such example. This department invests heavily in the sector through the Automotive Investment Scheme, yet it is prepared to stand back and watch the industry collapse and, in turn, the investment of South Africa's tax rands, because the Minister is unwilling to engage stakeholders - more specifically the unions and the Minister of Labour - on the matter.
Labour unrest is one of the biggest challenges facing South African manufacturing. Today, the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers' Union, Sactwu, issued strike notices to employers of a strike in the textile industry commencing on Thursday. Should this happen, factories will close, jobs will be lost and government will lose its investment through its incentive scheme in the industry. Where is the Minister to be found? What is his plan? The manufacturing sector certainly doesn't know and neither do I.
Instead of ensuring an enabling environment for investment and manufacturing - which this department is tasked with - it would appear the department is hellbent on doing exactly the opposite. I refer to the Government Gazette of 15 July 2014, which is set to revoke corporate visa applications for those wanting to participate in the hospitality industry, fast food outlets, and franchises in the cosmetic and beauty industry. How can this be a good thing for our economy, hon Minister? How will this create jobs?
What is more worrying is how the Minister could have agreed to such a recommendation with Home Affairs when it was not even discussed in our committee. Even worse, it would seem that no regulatory impact assessment study to determine the effects of this decision on these industries was completed. If this is indeed true, then this must be one of the worst examples of this Minister and this department speaking with a forked tongue on investment and job creation, and then doing the exact opposite.
The National Empowerment Fund, NEF, is supposed to promote and facilitate black economic participation through the provision of financial and nonfinancial support to black-empowered businesses, as envisaged in the National Empowerment Fund Act, Act 105 of 1998. Regrettably, this is no longer happening due to budgetary constraints, depriving aspirant black entrepreneurs from contributing to the economy and creating much needed employment.
To date, the NEF has created 46 000 jobs and, should the agency be fully recapitalised, it could support 21 strategic projects that have been identified and support job creation for 80 000 people. The sad reality is that for the last 12 months up to April 2014 the NEF was unable to finance a single project because it did not receive sufficient financing from the DTI. However, the DA's Western Cape government gave R18 million to the NEF, while not a single ANC province in this country did the same thing. [Interjections.]
A request to Treasury for R2,3 billion was turned down, rendering the fund paralysed, with entrepreneurs being the biggest losers. Access to affordable finance is at the heart of emerging entrepreneurship, and the very entity that should be doing this can't, because it does not have the support of the DTI.
What has the department done to help them? Very little, only further showing how little the DTI is willing to engage in cross-departmental discussions, which is now at the expense of black businessmen and women. How do we grow black industrialists, hon Fubbs, when we can't even finance them? The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, NRCS, is another example of an entity under this department that is failing the people of South Africa who are trying to create jobs. It has come to my attention that the NRCS has unilaterally decided to change the procedures around letters of authority to the electro-technical industry. The lead time for applications has now gone from 21 days to 120 days. [Interjections.]
From what I understand, inadequate notice of this revision was given to stakeholders and it appears that very little, if any, consideration was given to the effects which this decision would have on the industry. We now have a situation in which goods are being held up by customs at ports because letters of authority are not issued. Where is the good story to tell? Minister, these are just a few examples that clearly need your attention and leadership.
On the whole, incentives in key sectors are working, but more can be done. We all agree that South Africa must industrialise on a scale that creates millions of real, sustainable jobs. We simply cannot pay lip service to the National Development Plan, NDP, and the Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, which is currently happening.
There are no quick fixes to South Africa's jobs crisis, hon Minister, but you can either be remembered as the man who heeded the call of the 34% of unemployed South Africans to take urgent action, or you can be remembered as the man who ignored them, bound by an ideological fantasy, determined to go it alone, fighting a zero-sum game of political economic populism with your former Red revolutionaries.
I would just like to draw attention to two things that the hon Zulu raised. She said that by 2030, 11 million jobs would have been created. But this is not going to happen with growth of 1,7%. You truly have to be living on planet Nimrod to believe such a thing. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] In fact, we have lost 122 000 jobs just in this quarter. How on earth are you going to create 11 million jobs?
The hon Fubbs talks about manufacturing going up, but let me tell you, there are only three things that have gone up this year and they are interest rates, the petrol price and unemployment. Those are the only three things that are on the up. Employment is not one of them. I thank you. [Applause.]