House Chairperson, like we have said that, one very important thing that must happen is that, first of all, there should be legislation that will enforce registration of any business that is happening in a township or village. There should be bylaws that are promulgated by all our municipalities around small businesses that are trading in the jurisdiction of a municipality.
That will give certainty - first of all - of who is doing business in the municipality, in the township. Now, when
you know who is doing business in the township, in the municipality, you are then able to register all those businesses because some of these businesses require support from the government on how to run their businesses, that is why we speak of incubation, some businesses must be supported to grow.
Now, the second step, depending on what type of businesses, the government must assist to find markets because the government itself is a market. We are using bricks every day to build houses; we are feeding our children; we are feeding our patients, and we are buying goods and services on a daily basis as government.
So, we can stand as the first market that can be available to small, medium enterprises as long as they are registered and supported. But of course, the Competition Act will also allow government, provinces and municipalities to deal with monopoly. All the items that are being sold in a mall in a township, space must be deliberately opened for small, medium enterprises to also to sell their goods whether it is vegetables, a Shoprite in a township must buy the vegetables as long as these
vegetables will meet a certain standard. Of course, people must eat food that is acceptable therefore it is the role of government to ensure that these small, macro and medium enterprises, SMMEs, produce products that are up to a standard that they can be certified and be consumed in the market.
So that is our role, that the first fundamental question that must be addressed is that, who is trading? Who is this SMME? Where? You will then be in a position to support that SMME through infrastructure if there is an industrial park in that township or that village.
Now, the government is going to dedicate itself, its energy and time to support small, medium enterprises in our townships, in our villages. That is why, as the government, we have a department entirely focused on small businesses.
There is a Minister of Small Business Development to support and we are thinking of creating a fund that will support these small and medium enterprises. They must trade. We have got an Act that would discourage monopoly,
will open space for these small, medium enterprises also to trade. Thank you very much