Masina says help for black industrialists balances power

DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (dti) Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina has defended the government’s black industrialists programme, saying it was a practical plan to ensure the demographic transformation of economic power.

Masina said the plan also wanted to achieve spatial development within industrial strategy as outlined in the industrial policy action plan, as well as the objectives of the National Development Plan.

Masina said the dti’s Black Industrialists Programme referred to “black people directly involved in the origination, creation, significant ownership, management and operation of industrial enterprises that derive value from the manufacturing of goods and services at a large scale”.

He said these people should unlock the productive potential of South Africa’s capital assets for massive local employment.

“The continued economic dominance of the white minority, demonstrated through the patterns of ownership, management and control of strategic resources within the economy, directs almost all economic opportunities and benefits away from the majority black population,” he said.

The dti’s plan was introduced last year, with 28 black-owned companies registered to develop black industrialists.

The department said it would provide R1 billion in grants and cheap loans to create large and competitive black industrialists.

It said funding was expected to attract an estimated R10bn to R20bn from funders like the Industrial Development Corporation, the National Empowerment Fund, the Public Investment Corporation and banks.

Masina said there was a need to align the functions of the country’s development finance institutions towards a black economic empowerment output that would alter the racial balance of industrial ownership.

Incentives would be given to enterprises the dti identified in sectors like plastics and chemicals, automotives, agro-processing, metal fabrication and mineral beneficiation.

He told an economic development forum in KwaZulu-Natal that the dti had a Small Enterprise Development Agency to help with access to finance and business plans.

“For company registrations, there is the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission,” said Masina. “Those agencies are there to serve you. Make use of them.”

Last month the dti signed a memorandum of understanding with SAA to address the inclusion of black industrialists in the industry.

Masina said helping black industrialists had to be done deliberately to overcome historical barriers to entry for these people.