Lindiwe Zule urges greater support for local SMMEs

stopped doing business with its companies, according to Independent Media.

The SA Reserve Bank has demanded that shareholders come up with a R152 million recapitalisation plan by next year as the bank was in financial difficulties.

On labour relations, Sipunzi said the rift between the union and mining companies was forever growing. An enemy He charged that it was common cause that many of these companies regard the union as an enemy rather than an important stakeholder.

Earlier this month, the NUM declared a wage dispute with Anglo Platinum after the wage negotiations deadlocked. The union demanded a wage increase of 14.5 percent while Anglo Platinum was offering 6.75 percent.

“They have waged an all-out war against the NUM,” Sipunzi said. “Those NUM leaders who have been seconded to the NUM on the full-time basis are being recalled just for them to be retrenched. This is a compelling reason for the NUM to review its strategies on engagement with the mining companies.” MINISTER of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu said yesterday that the journey of transformation still had a long way to go.

The minister said this while addressing the fourth annual conference of the Black Business Council.

Small black businesses were still struggling after 22 years of democracy, she said. Zulu called on economic clusters to support small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs).

“Since I got in my office two years ago, I have realised that there is a weakness in the system to support SMMEs. We need to try to enable the imbalances of the past,” she said.

“There is a gap between the government, society and black businesses and we must ask ourselves how we bridge that gap,” she said.

Zulu said one of the reasons why SMMEs were not moving forward was because they were afraid to start doing business in other African countries.

“Many think the pie is only in South Africa. Yes, there is a pie in South Africa, but people should not be afraid to travel to other African countries.” Many think the pie is only in SA, but people should not be afraid to travel to other African countries.

She said black businesses should take responsibility for revolutionising the economy.

“We also need to recognise things that we did in the past, which have been hampering transformation.”

Duma Gqubule, the founder of the Centre for Economic Development and Transformation, said SMMEs were looking to create about 9.9 million jobs, which would be 90 percent of jobs created in the National Development Plan.

According to the construction industry 2014 report, which was released yesterday by Statistics SA, the SMME sector had created 62.7 percent of new employment in the industry, whereas large enterprises had contributed only 37.3 percent of new jobs over three years, the African News Agency reported.

Sandile Zungu, the chairman of Zico African Rainbow Minerals Representatives, said black people were still the economic minority.

“We are still minorities that literally own nothing and that narrative still continues. We are happy to control 5 percent to 10 percent (of the country’s economy), which we can do better,” Zungu said.