The matter you are referring to is the challenge of red tape that confronts businesses, but it is burdensome to SMMEs because large businesses have the ability to navigate around that. Together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, we are working to make sure that alleviate the burden or the cost of doing business in South Africa.
As we speak, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has launched a base portal that allows businesses wanting to register in South Africa to be able to register in a matter of a day. They also have access to apply for tax, the UIF and all these other applications that are there.
However, on our part, we are launching a national database that gets all the SMMEs to register on that database so that they can access not only the service that are on the base portal but also additional services that makes it easier for them to do business in the country. That database will be used to publish opportunities available both in the private sector and public sector which our SMMEs can utilise.
It also allows us to be able to trace gaps in terms of supporting them. For instance, you find that the SMMEs that are now manufacturing or producing food need to be certified. The ones that are producing goods also need to be certified by the SA Bureau of Standards or some health certification authority.
However, it takes SMMEs months, if not years, to get certifications. So, we want to see what the impact is through that database so that we can then propose intervention mechanisms. We are looking at mechanisms that will include a special dispensation for SMMEs to get certification or accreditation by the SA Bureau of Standards. Thank you.
Question 231: