Press statement: Minister not appointing SEDA CEO will affect potential jobs

Democratic Alliance press statement by

Toby Chance MP

DA Shadow Minister of Small Business Development

Minister not appointing SEDA CEO will affect potential jobs

12 April 2016

Release: immediate

Today’s SMME Summit in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) chaired by Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has ignored the fact that the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) has been without a permanent CEO for over two years. Her inaction in this regard has contributed to the stagnation in the stimulation of small to medium enterprises. This is despite her assertions today that “small business is big business”.

The DA calls on Minister Zulu to urgently give effect to these remarks and address this situation by appointing a qualified and committed professional as permanent CEO of Seda. Minister Zulu must appoint a permanent CEO within the next 30 days as well as ensuring that the new incumbent prioritises the creation of jobs – of which small business plays a crucial part.

Minister Zulu should have used the summit in NMB to tackle the fact that the metro has the worst unemployment rate of any of the 8 metros. The first step to doing this is prioritizing strong leadership within Seda. This is especially considering that Seda is the biggest entity taking up 51% of her department’s budget and therefore needs to work optimally and funds channeled to the places of greatest need.

The lack of decisive leadership contributes to Seda's ineffectiveness and indifferent record in creating jobs since its inception in 2004. 

The absence of a permanent CEO leads to strategic drift and this is certainly the case with Seda, reflecting a similar situation in the Department which was without a permanent Director General for the first year and a half of its term.

The Department, Seda and its other agency, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, have all conducted strategic reviews in the past six months but as yet there is no evidence their strategies have been aligned. This is severely hampering the Department’s capacity to make a real impact in support for small businesses and appointing the correct leadership should be an apex priority.

This is the conduct we have come to expect from the ANC in government and it is time for South Africans to vote in a DA government in the upcoming elections. One that puts the egos and self-enrichment of the few after the 8.2 million South Africans desperate for jobs that Minister Zulu’s department can help create if she gets her priorities right.

Media enquiries: 

Toby Chance MP

DA Shadow Minister of Small Business Development

083 251 5613

Luvuyo Ndlangisa

Press Officer

061 738 0812