... opposite Minister Zulu's Cinderella. The DA has the experience and finesse to fit the slipper of enterprise and opportunity onto the hon Minister's delicate foot. Instead of the clumsiness displayed by her sister, the DTI, the new Ministry has an opportunity to tread boldly along the path of small business development. Her inheritance is mixed. On the report scorecard we might say: Good intentions. Short on delivery. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the hon Davies would have us believe he is a very modest man. Indeed, he has a lot to be modest about. [Laughter.]
The FinScope Small Business Survey found that only 4% of small businesses had heard of the DTI's flagship small business support agency, Seda. By its own admission, Seda had to refocus its strategy after years of mediocre performance. We will be scrutinising it closely in the coming years and expect a dramatic improvement. We need a massive upscaling of support for small business and co-operatives in South Africa. Brazil, for example, has over 400 business incubators. The DTI's target is 250, but it has not yet set a date for the implementation of this.
Nearly two years after the incubator support programme was announced, reportedly only eight are up and running, of whom only two have received the promised funding. That is just not good enough. Perhaps the most urgent priority for Minister Zulu is to lead the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in South Africa. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 Report, arguably the most authoritative of its kind, rate South Africa below our SADC neighbours and other emerging economies in all the major markets of entrepreneurship.
In South Africa it is more attractive and lucrative to get a comfy job in government than to start a business. This has to change for the country to create the jobs we so desperately need. By rigorously pursuing the strategy outlined in the National Development Plan, NDP, the Department of Small Business Development can reduce the cost of doing business, make it easier to hire employees, boost local procurement and greatly expand instruments for financing and marketing small businesses and co-operatives. This includes implementing the latest recommendations of the Davis Tax Committee.
With regard to the issue of local procurement, let this be interpreted to mean not just South African products, but also those produced by small and informal township and rural enterprises for local retail and wholesale outlets. If hon Zulu sticks to this plan, we can make history by voting in unison on the new department's budget later this year. I look forward to constructive engagement in the coming months with that end in mind. But please, Minister, no more flirtations with the national democratic revolution - that is the ugliest sister of them all.
Ngiyabonga. [Thank you.] [Time expired.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]