Chairperson, the National Development Plan correctly identifies entrepreneurships and the success of small business as the one all-important factor in whether we can create jobs and beat unemployment in South Africa. This view is reflected in the Budget Review document released last week, and it is a view that the DA endorses.
Small businesses are the engine of growth and job creation in any economy. In China and India small businesses account for 90% of employment. Already more than 65% of South Africans who are employed work in small, medium and micro enterprises. It could and should be so much more. As Clem Sunter said:
If we want to create five million new jobs, we need one million new small businesses.
To achieve that, we need a government with a single-minded focus on making it easier, more attractive and less risky to do business in South Africa, a government that does not hamper innovation and gives small businesses every chance of success.
Sadly, the fact is that small businesses that do succeed in South Africa do so despite this government, not because of it. Instead of harnessing the potential of our citizens to start their own businesses, this government strangles people's entrepreneurial spirit by never-ending red tape and bureaucracy.
The DA wants to make it easy for people to start their own businesses and to create jobs for others. Of course, we recognise that there are some fundamental structural changes that will take time to properly consider and consult with labour about and then implement. The Budget Review document, the National Development Plan and the DA's plan for growth and jobs - which all of the Ministers should read - outline some of the labour market reforms, tax policy changes and comprehensive incentive programmes that are necessary.
However, in the meantime there is a lot that the government can do right now to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit in South Africa and get small businesses growing. We should start with the low-hanging fruit. Let's look at the facts. South Africa ranks 44th in the world for ease of starting a new business. It takes 19 days and 5 procedures to start a business in South Africa. In New Zealand, for example, it takes one procedure and less than one day. It's not good, Minister Davies, to have a one-stop shop when it still takes 19 days and 5 procedures even at that one-stop shop.
In this regard there is much that we can do now. Firstly, we can reduce the time, bureaucratic complexity and red tape involved in starting a new business by establishing proper one-stop shops where entrepreneurs can register all of their documentation with a single online form and with a single fee.
The DA-led Western Cape government understands this. That is why our administration is tackling this head-on through its red tape-to-red carpet initiative, which identifies and removes unnecessary red tape starting and running businesses, and streamlines government processes. [Applause.]
Secondly, and this is crucial, Chairperson, government departments must pay their bills on time. For small businesses cash flow is paramount. For a small business to have to wait months and months for clients to pay for goods or services that have already been delivered is a death sentence for that small business. Government spends billions of rands with hundreds of thousands of small businesses in every corner of South Africa. If we could just get this one simple intervention right, to pay our bills on time so that entrepreneurs could rely on the government as a customer, small business and entrepreneurship would be markedly less risky and more attractive in South Africa.
Yet, out of all the departments here there are not more than two or three that pay their bills within the 30-day target. Most take more than 90 days - three months - or more. This is an intervention that the government can make right now. There should be no delay. It is something that has been announced and committed to by the President and by the Minister of the Department of Trade and Industry many, many times and over and over again.
Yet, I wonder how many times the President or Minister Davies has called up his fellow Ministers on their failure simply to pay their bills on time. I wonder how many Ministers have this explicitly included in their performance contracts. If they all have this in their performance contracts, I wonder how many of them are enforced. I think not many. Perhaps, instead of the ANC speakers and the Minister speaking, we should have heard the Minister of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who takes on average 109 days to pay her bills, to come and explain to this House why she is killing small businesses in South Africa.
Perhaps we should have heard the Minister of Basic Education, who takes on average over 100 calendar days to pay her bills. She should explain why she is killing small businesses in South Africa.
One cannot feel confident that this government will effect the fundamental changes this economy needs if it trips up over basics like these. There is one government that is making it easier to start and run a business and is paying its bills on time, which is the Western Cape provincial government, led by the DA. It is the only government in the country, in addition to the Department of Trade and Industry, which pays all of its bills in less than 30 days. [Applause.] We may not be able to effect fundamental, structural reform yet, but we are doing what we can where we are to help small businesses succeed and create jobs for all South Africans. Thank you. [Applause.]