Madam Speaker, perhaps it is important to say that our objective is to make sure that the contribution of small business to growth and employment creation rises beyond the level where it is at the moment. All our efforts are geared to ensure that we can create the right institutional infrastructure and provide the right services, but also create the right climate for small businesses to succeed because it is one thing to intervene on the supply side by providing various forms of nonfinancial and financial support, but it is quite another to create an environment within which there is enough demand for the goods and services that are provided by small businesses.
That is why we've had to also identify things that we need to do on the demand side to make sure that there is that environment for consumption of the goods and services that are produced or supplied by small businesses. This is the context within which we've got to examine the various things that are being done.
The identification of the need for government to set aside certain products to be bought from small businesses is one such measure, but also the work that we have done through the codes of good practice on black economic empowerment creates further room for greater demand for the services of small businesses.
Secondly, let me say that at the moment small business is growing in South Africa at a faster rate than the Gross Domestic Product, and I think that is a good sign, and it will always be an ongoing challenge getting the institutional mix right and getting the services right for small business. It is not a task that you tackle and finish. It is an ongoing responsibility. We worked very closely with the Indian government and institutions. They have been doing this for decades and it is an ongoing challenge all of the time to improve and perfect the institutions and the services that you provide to small businesses. So, we just have to keep doing it all of the time for a very long period of time.
Democratic South Africa is only 13 years old. So, I think that we should not despair; we should just keep up the work that we are doing and keep on carrying out the refinements that are necessary in order to support small businesses.
With regard to the issue around the forensic audit that has been done at the Small Enterprise Development Agency, well, for us it is not a new issue; we instituted that forensic audit. It may have come to light for yourself, hon member, just recently, but the issues emanating from that forensic audit are being handled between the department and the board of the Small Enterprise Development Agency.
I am satisfied that we moved in terms of identifying what went wrong and moved also to strengthen the systems of the organisation because, as I said earlier on, this is an organisation created out of various agencies that we amalgamated. We had to look at the issues around strengthening the systems of those organisations. Thanks.