Sihlalo, Mphathiswa wezoKhenketho neSekela lakho, maqabane, manenekazi namanene ... [Chairperson, Minister of Tourism and your Deputy, comrades, ladies and gentlemen ...]
... the ANC's vision of economic transformation takes, as its starting point, the Freedom Charter's clarion call that "The people shall share in the country's wealth," hence our support of Budget Vote 34 in terms of the development, empowerment and transformation of small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs. This is a sensitive topic indeed.
This transformation process has, over the past 16 years, undergone a number of phases, each building on what has gone before, but with the necessary continuity and change, as demanded by the ANC and by the objective conditions that face our economy. We are entering a new phase, that of a growth path and it is this new growth path that today's Budget Vote debate must speak to.
For far too long tourism has lacked the necessary economic transformative components of building broad-based black economic empowerment, BBBEE. In particular, the sector has lagged behind in the building of the most important component of broad-based black economic empowerment, namely that of social capital in terms of which the broadest sections of our communities become both economically empowered and collectively have wealth.
We are striving to strengthen our economic philosophy of a mixed economy that can thrive, be a motor of growth and development, and ensure that, whilst we have and build an integrated economy, the state must both drive the direction and set the broad framework within which our growth path will develop.
The strides that the department has taken now are applauded. Our objective therefore is to create decent work, break the back of unemployment and eradicate poverty. Today's debate on tourism will be assessed on whether it has been able to contribute to this perspective or not.
The skewed patterns of ownership and production, the spatial legacies of our apartheid past and the tendencies of the economy towards inequality, dualism and marginalisation will not recede automatically as economic growth accelerates. Decisive action is required to thoroughly and urgently transform the economic patterns of the present in order to realise our vision for the future.
The Constitution of the Republic - and the ANC's vision and mission, which largely influenced the content of the Constitution - requires that we pursue economic programmes to redress the inequalities of the past, and tourism has a definite role to play in this.
Tourism is the largest and most rapidly expanding economic activity throughout the world, and in South Africa the tourism industry has been growing at an unprecedented rate, as we heard in the previous speeches by the hon Minister and his Deputy. It is globally accepted and acknowledged that tourism has unrivalled potential to create sustainable jobs and grow the economy faster than any other sector.
The jobs and business opportunities created in tourism have special significance for an economy such as ours. They help to spread opportunities beyond our major metropolitan areas to the provinces. We need to create job incentives which remain in the rural areas, assist in the development of these areas and bring the richness of our cultural heritage to our nation and beyond. Through this, SMMEs are set to grow in the nine provinces.
Broad-based black economic empowerment and the development of small, medium and micro enterprises are crucial elements in the ANC-led government's plan to redistribute wealth, boost economic development and, in this way, drive gross domestic product growth.
The strategy of BBBEE and the Public Preferential Framework Act must undo the legacy of apartheid that excluded the majority of South Africans from proper participation in the economy. Broad-based black economic empowerment in the tourism sector is aimed at addressing a number of systemic problems in our economy, like the narrow base and concentrated nature of ownership and control, inadequate investment in skills development, low levels of entrepreneurship and limited investment in underdeveloped areas. In addition, the juxtapositioned tourism curriculum meant that there was high unemployment, something which the hon Deputy Minister has promised will be rectified, transformed and redressed.
For the tourism sector to thrive and grow, it is very important that the issue of transformation is taken very seriously. The gazetting of the Tourism Charter as a code of practice is one step towards achieving the ultimate goal of transforming this sector.
Transformation of the tourism sector will be facilitated by ensuring that, in line with the 2014 Millennium Development Goals, 70% of the tourism industry complies with the Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard by 2014. It is commendable that this budget makes ample provision to facilitate the transformation of the tourism sector through the implementation of the Tourism BEE Charter and Scorecard; to support the development of SMMEs through the Tourism Enterprise Partnership with funding that will be used for developing and promoting new enterprises, products and investment packages and for improving existing products; to promote opportunities for transformational tourism development; and to promote transformational ownership opportunities and support the necessary verification and monitoring processes.
Even more important, in order to transform this industry in a meaningful way, it is necessary to equip our people with skills and knowledge to manage tourism business enterprises for meaningful, participatory engagement.
What is critically lacking is that the tourism sector has not shown an appreciation for the development of tourism co-operatives in terms of which the redistribution of resources and finances can have a much larger impact upon our communities. Far more effort and resources need to be ploughed into this area: training in managerial skills, market analysis, finance management, etc, so that transformation is felt in a much wider and broader collective and is not just the pursuit of a narrow path of wealth redistribution, retarding the anticipated accelerated growth.
As alluded to by the Minister and other participants in the House, South Africa is on the brink of one of the most significant events in its history, the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Ke nako. [It is time.]
We have witnessed not only huge public-sector investment in stadia and precinct development, transport, telecommunications, safety and security, and ports of entry infrastructure, but also in massive new investment in the hospitality industry, like hotel and resort development by the tourism industry itself.
These investments will leave a lasting legacy beyond the 2010 World Cup. Likewise, the 2010 World Cup brings a myriad of opportunities for small, medium and micro enterprises, as well as for emerging tourism entrepreneurs, thus resulting in their growth and development.
Whilst bigger businesses stand to benefit from the World Cup, one wonders, however, if SMMEs such as guest houses, bed and breakfast operators and taverns, as well as the informal sector that plays an important, although often unrecognised, role in the economy, will really benefit that much from this mega event, because certain areas of commercial activity are limited to Fifa and its sponsors.
This is because there are strict restrictions on sales, marketing and advertising in designated areas such as stadia. Small, medium and micro enterprises have found these areas impenetrable, particularly by our rural communities and enthusiastic entrepreneurs. What the Deputy Minister has promised in terms of rural-based development is commendable.
In the hospitality industry there are clearly a number of challenges where entrepreneurs are concerned. Included in those problems are the unrealistic licence fees many local entrepreneurs have to pay in order to form part of Match Services, and the protection rights imposed by Fifa to protect its sponsors' rights to do business in areas surrounding match locations.