You see, it's much more difficult when you have to talk facts and you cannot throw slogans around, hon Minister. Millions have been wasted by the ministry with this contract. In total, that contract will be more than R50 million, and it is not giving the support to small businesses the way it should be. In theory, the online system should have made it easier for small businesses, but in practise, it has become a cumbersome process, adding more red tape to small businesses.
The owners have to spend precious hours and resources trying to sort out this mess that has been dragging for months and months, and the service provider is still being paid. Now, there is even anecdotal evidence that in a town called Colesberg, the officials from your department that's supposed to deal with it say listen, we don't even know how to handle this system, we didn't get the necessary training. Small business owners must now pay outside experts to help deal with this red tape that has been put in front of them. This is costing them thousands of rands every single month. In fact, this is costing job opportunities, hon Minister.
What recourse are there for that small businesses that have to spend thousands of rands or millions if you had to add it out across the country, to fix the system or get around the system that you should
have made sure it's in place, yet a service provider that is not providing a proper service gets paid every single month? It's the same thing that small businesses are not being taken seriously by this government.