Chairperson, hon Minister, members of the provincial executive committees, permanent delegates to the NCOP, hon members, despite my advanced years I am one of the two new kids on the block in the Ministry collective of the Department of Trade and Industry. However, my association with the DTI stretches back several years as a member of the portfolio committee.
I am therefore fortunate to have some insight into the challenges that face this huge department, whose primary role is to promote employment and equity through economic growth within a developmental state. As the ANC we will make no apology for this. This is the mandate endorsed by the majority of the electorate in April when we were returned as the governing party for the next five years. Therefore, if this is our mandate, it stands to reason that we must increase the pace and quality of delivery to our communities in order to realise our goals of creating decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
I'm pleased to note that the Enterprise Organisation, the division at the DTI that deals with grants and other incentive schemes, has an increased allocation in the current budget. The rationale for this is that expenditure on incentive schemes for small and medium enterprises will increase, and my wish is that it does so significantly.
Angisho ke njengalaba bantu abahlabelela le culo elithi: Ngimile ngimile eJordane, abanye bayawela ngithi abantu sesikhulise lemali ukuze bafike eJordane bawele. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[I do not want to sound like those people who are singing the song that says: I am standing on the banks of the river Jordan while others are crossing it; I am saying that we have increased these funds so that people can reach the river Jordan and cross it.]
This is a good sign and indicates that the development of small enterprises remains one of our top priorities. In the same light, the South African Micro-Finance Apex Fund has had an increase in its budget. This is a fund that assists vulnerable communities, mainly those in the rural areas.
Our budget shows impressive figures of businesses that have been assisted by our agencies, which are the Small Enterprise Development Agency, Khula and the National Empowerment Fund. While I acknowledge the role of our agencies and divisions in assisting communities, we dare not claim easy victories about our achievements. There are still challenges that need our attention, and one of them is the issue of procurement.
The reality is that we are not always getting value for the money spent and we have not successfully measured the impact of our programmes on the lives of the most vulnerable. We need to monitor our spending patterns much more closely, and here I would appeal to the select committee to exercise their oversight role robustly, if necessary.
It is the members of this Chamber who, via their provincial responsibilities, are closest to their communities and who I expect to confront us, as the DTI, with the realities. Continue to be our moral compass and redirect us, where necessary, to the path of economic upliftment and empowerment of our constituencies, particularly women and the youth.
On the matter of provinces, I have committed to meeting all the nine MECs to gauge what programmes they have prioritised for those who are currently operating outside of the mainstream economy. I also asked the MECs to form a better partnership with us, in order to enhance each other's work and prevent duplication.
So far, I have met the MECs of Gauteng and the Western Cape and will complete all meetings before the end of July. I must say that what I have heard so far has given me considerable hope that together we can do more. There is no "one" in teamwork.
We cannot escape the fact that we present the budget against the backdrop of an economic crisis that has and will continue to affect all of us. Therefore, the matter of resources will always be an issue. We have to look at creative ways to make our budgets stretch. One of those I mentioned earlier; we are asking our provincial colleagues to partner with us in joint programmes.
Last night, I opened our National Co-Operative Mega Expo and Conference in Pietermaritzburg. The event will run until Saturday, 4 July, and it will be attended by 500 co-operatives from all over South Africa. [Applause.] The Department of Economic Development of KwaZulu-Natal, together with the municipalities of Msunduzi and uMgungundlovu, generously co-financed this event with the DTI.
I wish to convey my sincere thanks to MEC Mabuyakhulu, and the mayor of the two municipalities for their visionary thinking. Other provinces also provided logistical support to co-operatives from their regions, making it possible for them to attend the event. Of course, we would like to see the private sector partnering with us in this initiative. Maybe my next round of meetings after the MECs should be with the CEOs. In this way we are trying to co-ordinate our work better, and also free up resources that can practically and materially benefit co- operatives and other small enterprises.
We also need to grow the number of registered co-operatives. Besides the 17 000 registered co-operatives, there are more than 800 000 informal structures such as stokvels, burial societies, rural women's organisations, church women, and so on. As we know, many of these informal saving societies and buying clubs are in the rural and peri-urban areas, and their membership has largely been women. I'm sure there are hon members of this House who, like me, are also members of such clubs.
I aim to intensify the work started by my predecessor in making sure that communities know what it is that the DTI can offer. To those who want to start or grow their businesses, my focus will be on rural, peri-urban, mainly women and youth formations. This, as always, will be done in conjunction with our provincial departments and local government counterparts. We will also explore the possibility of public-private partnerships for these events, because together we can do more.
Regarding enterprise development, our experience has taught us that there are challenges facing SMMEs, including managerial skills, access to finance, technological expertise and the overall capacity to deliver products and services to the market.
We will strengthen our response to these challenges through the further roll-out of the integrated small business strategy. This strategy aims at supporting small enterprise development through a matrix of programmes guided by five key strategic areas of intervention.
In short, the first strategic area of intervention focuses on improving access to business support information; the second will focus on increasing access to business finance, particularly micro and small enterprise finances. The third area of intervention lies in creating opportunities that provide small businesses with access to markets. The fourth strategic area focuses on forging partnerships for the establishment of business support infrastructure. Lastly, the fifth strategic area focuses on creating an enabling regulatory environment for the development and growth of SMMEs. The details related to these five strategic areas are well documented in the DTI Medium-Term Strategic Framework for 2009-12.
Next year our country will host one of the world's premier sporting events, the Fifa Soccer World Cup. Our small business entrepreneurs must benefit from this and other global events staged by our country. The implementation of the five aforementioned interventions must be fast-tracked, especially the one regarding access to finance.
In this regard, I am pleased with the move by Khula to provide direct lending to the underserviced market for amounts between R10 000 and R250 000. But please, Khula, watch the interest rate that you will charge. Keep it as close to the repo rate as possible or Governor Mboweni will have to investigate you as well! [Laughter.]
Regarding our programmes for the economic empowerment of women, I am disappointed that we have not managed to increase the budget for the work of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network, Sawen, significantly. However, I'm sure that, with discussions, we can be creative in making our resources stretch. Sawen remains the primary organisation for women-owned, mainly small enterprises, to access DTI services. We will increase our focus to assist women in rural areas.
I just wanted to say one thing that our women must know: A woman is not a "nobody"; a woman is a somebody who is capable of developing herself.
Ngiyabonga Mhlalingaphambili siyaluxhasa olu Hlahlo-lwabiwo Mali. [Thank you, Chairperson; we support this Budget Vote.] UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sihlalo, ngibonga ithuba onginikeza lona, ngithi Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe iqembu lakho lakunikeza umsebenzi omkhulu, wokuthi ubhekelele umnotho kuzo zonke izakhamizi zalelizwe.
Izakhamizi zalelizwe-ke ikakhulukazi lezi ezisemakhaya njengoba nami ngiyindoda yakwaNongoma. Laphaya KwaNongoma impela ubuphofu bumi ngenhla kunjalo nje kwavala nezimayini ezinjengoHlobani nako Coronation. Kofuneka ukuthi uMhlonishwa uNgqongqoshe, ake ayibheke yonke leyondaba ukuthi kulezikhungo ezikhona kungezame kuvuleke ukuze sikwazi ukuba impilo yethu yasemakhaya ibengengconywana.
Ngiyazi ukuthi umsebenzi obhekene nawo ubhekene nezwe lonke, kodwa angeke neze ngakukhohlwa ukukhulumela isizwe sikababomkhulu iKwaZulu-Natali. Kufuneka ubhekisise lezindawo ezisemakhaya ukuthi kungenziwa njani ukuze kuphucuzeke, ngoba ubandlululo lwalumi ngenhla lubashaya abantu bakithi zinkalo zonke sigijima sohlala eThekwini.
Mhlawumbe ngaleyondlela singeze saya eThekwini naseGoli futhi imijondolo iyophela kulezi zindawo uma uNgqongqoshe noMnyango wakhe bengakwazi ukusibhekelela noma bekwazi ukuqeqesha labantu basemakhaya ukuze bekwazi ukuzisiza ngalezi zikhungo ezikhona ngoba lezi zikhungo zicosha imali eningi kakhulu kuhulumeni okufuneka ngabe isiza abantu.
Bengicela Ngqongqoshe, kusabiwomali sakho sonyaka njengoba umusha, ufake izicathulo ezintsha, ukahle unomama naye ufake izicathulo ezintsha useshilo. Ngocela mam ungagcini ngokwenza eMaritzburg lapho sasiqotshwa khona ngobandlululo. Wohambela emakhaya eNkandla, KwaNongoma, eMahlabathini eMashonangashoni uyobona khona izindawo zasemakhaya ukuthi zinjani lezindawo okuthiwa izilali ngokwase Mpumalanga Koloni. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Chairperson, thank you for the opportunity that you have given me. Hon Minister, I would like to say that your political party gave you a big task of taking care of the economy of this country.
The citizens of this country, especially those who are in the rural areas like KwaNongoma, where I come from, are poverty-stricken , and what makes matters worse is that the mines like Hlobani and Coronation have closed down. The hon Minister must revisit this issue and check if the existing facilities can be reopened so that our lives in the rural areas can improve.
I know that you are catering for the whole country, but I will never forget to speak on behalf of the people of my ancestral land, KwaZulu-Natal. You must focus more on the rural areas and look at means of developing these areas. Apartheid caused a lot of harm to our people in all the regions, which resulted in them flocking to the urban areas.
There will be no need for us to flock to the urban areas, and shanty towns will be a thing of the past if the Minister and his department can cater for us, or train people in the rural areas so that they can fend for themselves through these existing facilities. These facilities take a big chunk from the government's budget which should be used to help people.
I appeal to you, Minister, to utilise your budget allocation for this new fiscal year to make a significant change, just like Madam has said. Madam, you should not only concentrate on Pietermaritzburg where we were brutally killed during the apartheid era. You should visit the rural areas like Nkandla, KwaNongoma, Mahlabathini at Mashonangashoni so that you can see the condition of the rural areas. Thank you. [Applause.]]