Day: June 29, 2022

Remarks by the Minister of Small Business Development, Ms. Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams during the SheTradesZa Youth Seminar

Moderator Ms Mavimbela;

NYDA CEO Mr Carrim;

Ms Cherian;

Fellow participants;

Ladies and gentleman

Over the past few months, my department and I have been cress crossing the country, Conducting roadshows and meeting owners of small businesses and aspiring start-ups.

Some of you, including the NYDA have been a part of us on this journey in some of the provinces we have visited. So far, we have conducted roadshows in eight provinces.

KwaZulu-Natal is the last province we are going to visit. In each and every province we have gone to, we have met mostly young people who are eager to contribute to the growth of this country’s economy.

Too often we are given the impression that youth are a lost generation, who are lacking in direction and a drive to contribute meaningfully to society. It is therefore pleasing and immensely exciting to participate in events such as this one, And to see young people and women who are bursting with fresh ideas on how we can take our country forward

In my department, we have several programs, aimed at empowering small businesses, The Department of Small Business Development and SEDA formed a partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC),

In order to bring the SheTrades programme to South Africa, and create a SheTradesZA hub. The programme aims to empower women-owned enterprises to trade locally, regionally, and internationally.

The hub supports strengthening the business skills and competitiveness of at least 10,000 South African women entrepreneurs over a four year period. Currently, nearly 3000 South African women entrepreneurs are already registered on the SheTradesZA Hub, And receive free e-learning and capacity building.

The SheTradesZA Hub will also improve access to investment for women-owned enterprises and promote business opportunities.

DSBD’s and Seda’s involvement in the She-Trades Hub demonstrates our commitment to developing and ensuring economic empowerment of women in South Africa.

My department, its agencies and our partners International Trade Centre’s (ITC), European Union and the-EDSE programme, seeks to increase and enhance the meaningful participation of youth and women in this economy.

The Township and Rural Entrepreneurship Programme (TREP) is a dedicated programme to transform, and integrate opportunities in townships and rural areas into productive business ventures. The focus is to create platforms that provide the business support infrastructure and regulatory environment that enables entrepreneurs to thrive.

We also have the Youth Challenge Fund (YCF), which is a youth start-up support programme intended to stimulate the establishment and growth of youth-owned businesses, promote digital skills, grow the economy and foster job creation.

A couple of months ago, I presented the department’s budget speech for the financial year 2022/2023. We are confident that there will be an equitable fund flow across provinces. The R2 billion SEFA funding envelope, will see over R200 million disbursed in each province, And slightly more for the poorer rural provinces such as Limpopo, the Free State, the North West, the Eastern Cape, Mpumulanga, and the Northern Cape. We are deliberate about redress. This R2 billion is expected to support 84 831 SMMEs and co-operatives creating 104 968 jobs.

I’m mentioning all the above to illustrate the kind of work we have put in to assist in getting the small business sector to grow and create much needed employment. If small businesses succeed, the country succeed. The National Development has given us a task of creating 11 million jobs by 2030.

9 million of these employment opportunities have to come from small businesses. Often as government, we are accused of throwing money at problems. Without much care and oversight on whether or not the cash we disburse is put into good use and contributes to service delivery. From my department, we are not just disbursing funding, we are taking our processes further.

We are currently in the process of merging SEFA and SEDA, and the Co-operative Banks Development Agency to form one agency so that our funding processes are seamless and user friendly. As many of you noted, during his State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa announced the appointment of a red tape Tsar, to assist us to coordinate between stakeholders to make it easier to start and conduct business and to grow our economy. Although misunderstood by some, we support this initiative and we believe that it will go a long way to remove some of the obstacles encountered by small businesses.

President Ramaphosa made another remark that for no apparent reason, was made controversial. He reminded us that government doesn’t create jobs, the private sector does and that the role of government was to make it easier for entrepreneurs to do business. It is therefore incumbent on us, to harness the hunger and the drive of small businesses to succeed the success of small businesses will lead to a significant reduction in unemployment.

Once again, I appreciate your invitation for me to participate in this important event. My door is always open, for us to collaborate in making this country a better place for our youth, women and all of its citizens.

I thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa

Salvokop flagship development to bring about spatial integration and will be the first of its kind bringing government departments, business and mixed residential development into one precinct

Today I was joined by the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu and Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and various stakeholders as we launched the flagship integrated Salvokop Precinct Development in Tshwane.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, in partnership with the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and National Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Centre, is currently undertaking the installation of bulk and internal infrastructure works at the Salvokop mixed-use precinct project which is within the ambit of the Tshwane Inner City Regeneration Programme.

The Salvokop mixed-use precinct development includes the construction of five National Government client departments to be permanently accommodated, with the finalisation of the StatsSA head office already achieved in 2016.

The development will see the remaining four government head offices constructed in the precinct: the Department of Social Development and its agencies, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the National Development Agency, the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Correctional Services and Constitutional Development.

The precinct will be developed in three phases:

• Phase 1 (A and B): Installation of the bulk and internal infrastructure services and development of the 4 Public Private Partnership (PPP) Head Office Buildings

• Phase 2: Development of the Business Erven by the private sector

• Phase 3: Development of the mixed-income residential component

The development will be a first of its kind for South Africa aimed at achieving spatial integration by bringing government departments to a central location in proximity to mixed typology residential developments and various amenities supporting economic development for households and various income streams.

The construction of Phase 1A: Bulk Civil and Internal Engineering works is currently in progress with a number of local residents and SMMEs from the nearby community already employed on the project.

Key benefits of the project to the community and region at large include:

• Economic transformation and job creation: An estimated 3,215 jobs during construction of phase 1:

• Spatial integration, human settlements, and local government: Mixed-use precinct with land use rights in place for Government, Business 1, Institutional and Private open space creating equal access to schooling, housing, work opportunities, transport and recreational facilities

• Social cohesion and safe communities: Contributes to the NDP 2030 and sustainable development goals by responding to the Green Economy with sustainable buildings and precinct design, maximising on solar power, rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling etc. and planting over 700 indigenous trees and establishing public parks.

The Salvokop Precinct Development was also gazetted as a Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) as part of the Infrastructure Investment Plan approved by Cabinet in May 2020.

This project is one of the projects demonstrating government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure development which enables sustained economic growth and job creation and bringing the construction sector back to life.

Project progress

The civil and engineering works currently taking place on site include:

Preparations for new roads to be constructed, the construction of electrical substations, storm water trenches and other bulk infrastructure works including the construction of a 30 mega liter reservoir at Freedom Park.

The bulk and electrical infrastructure works amounts to R377.3million with R41million spent to date.

The bulk infrastructure works started in October 2021 and is expected to be completed by October 2023.

Economic Empowerment

The projected SMME sub contracting is R98, 6 million with R744 000 spent to date on SMME sub contracting and another R1.1millionon local labour.

Some of the work sub contracted to SMMEs to date includes:

Site camp fencing to a 100% black female owned company, on site security, plant hire, equipment and construction materials.

Job creation

The project is expected to create an estimated 3,215 jobs during construction of phase 1 and more than 80 0000 jobs over the life cycle of the project from 2021 – 2030 for the phases which includes formal jobs in professional sectors, the built environment and labour, also informal sector as well as material manufacturing, transport and supporting services.

The project will be the first of its kind and aims to address the spatial disparities by reversing the legacy of apartheid spatial planning by bringing government departments in proximity to business development and mixed type residential developments to cater for diverse household income levels.

The project will be an example of how developments need to be constructed in our democracy by ensuring people live in well-located spaces, close to transport and economic activities.

The DPWI has been working closely with the community to ensure the success of the project together with other stakeholders including GTAC in National Treasury and the City of Tshwane.

A project steering committee has also been formed which includes representatives from DPWI, the City of Tshwane, the local councilors and community leaders and members.

My appeal to the community is to work with government to ensure the success of this project which has great benefits for the community through sustained job creation, sub-contracting for local businesses and ultimately a new integrated development that will bring economic developments, safety for families and community and more jobs for years to come.

Threats by the so-called “construction mafia” will also be dealt with in a serious manner by the South African Police Service as we cannot allow community projects to be delayed and held hostage through intimidation tactics. We must work together within the respective structures and co-operate with one another keeping the best interests of the community at heart.

Source: Government of South Africa