A tale of two festivals

This weekend the annual Soweto Festival Expo once again provided an opportunity for small businesses from Soweto and Gauteng to sell their wares, network, and contribute to job creation and economic growth in South Africa. The three day event also showcased hundreds of musicians and performing artists, all contributing to the creative economy of Gauteng. 

This same weekend the City of Tshwane was due to host the Tribe One Festival, purportedly at a cost of R65 million. It was cancelled at the last minute, amidst accusations and counter accusations by the City and the event organisers.  

Department of Small Business Development: quo vadis?

The task ahead

”If countries fail at creating jobs, their societies will fall apart. Countries, and more specifically cities, will experience suffering, instability, chaos, and eventually revolution. This is the new world that leaders will confront. 

What would fix the world – what would suddenly create worldwide peace, global wellbeing, and the next extraordinary advances in human development, I would say the immediate appearance of 1.8 billion jobs – formal jobs. Nothing would change the current state of humankind more.”

– Jim Clifton in The Coming Jobs War.

This message should act as a stern warning to the ANC-SACP-COSATU alliance and Jacob Zuma’s government. Unless they design and implement measures friendly for creating jobs, the National Democratic Revolution so many of them are wedded to will end up being very undemocratic and threaten South Africa’s future as a nation. Instead, we will become a failed state.  

How to create jobs, therefore, is the most pressing problem the country faces today. This is highly contested political as well as economic territory.  

Visting small businesses in Soweto with Mmusi Maimane

Today I visited the Emdeni Industrial Park in Soweto with DA Parliamentary Leader, Mmusi Maimane. This was the first leg in the DA Small Business Tour which my deputy, Henro Kruger (who also came along today) and I will embark on over the coming few months. Its purpose is to meet small business owners all over the country and learn more about the conditions they are working under, the challenges they face and what government and big business are doing to support them.

You can  read the statement Mmusi's office issued today here

The murky waters of Soweto politics

On Wednesday I got a call from Cecil Molopo, Chairman of the DA branch in Ward 53, Johannesburg. This is one of the 10 wards that make up my constituency, Soweto West. It's enormous, nearly the size of the whole of Soweto, extending from Doornkop Extension 1 westwards to the borders of Randfontein. Most of the ward is veld, hence its size, and is home to several gold mines. Cecil sounded very distressed and wanted to meet me as soon as possible. So we arranged to meet on Friday morning.

Letter to Business Day - Minister needs to break from past

My letter to Business Day is the lead letter in today's edition.

Dear Sir

Leon Louw (Preference for small business not productive) makes suggestions for how the Department of Small Business Development can avoid being “potentially superfluous”. The DA broadly agrees with his suggestions. 

Minister Zulu has a choice: she can restrict her mandate to the narrow bounds of what is possible to achieve in her department, or she can go beyond that and become the government’s first business-friendly minister and advocate among her cabinet colleagues for the liberalisation of the economy. While the first is not easy, the second is nigh impossible unless she has the support of the President and Deputy President, and an unflagging commitment to the overall strategy embedded in the National Development Plan.

Nedbank Small Businesss Friday a worthwhile initiative

I support the spirit and intentions behind Small Business Friday, which was yesterday. Initiated by Nedbank in association with the National Small Business Chamber, Small Business Friday encourages people to buy from local small businesses every day but especially on Fridays. 

Russian retirement? - letter to Business Day

Published today - read the newspaper version here or below

Russian retirement?

Sir - Has President Jacob Zuma gone to Russia to negotiate the terms of his exile in preparation for his soon-to-be-announced recall as president?

Perhaps he is inspecting some comfy dachas and looking at a time-share option with President Vladimir Putin. I think we should be told.

Toby Chance
Via e-mail