NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBER STATEMENT ____________________________________
Internal Ref Number:
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028
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-
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2018
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Date:
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24.04.2018
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Member: Mr Toby Chance
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Statement:
GAPIPA / OWIPA
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Honourable
Speaker
The
tenants of the Gauteng Industrial parks, representing several hundred small
businesses, are getting a raw deal from their landlord, the Small Enterprise
Finance Agency.
More
than thirty years after they were established, tenants’ rights are being
denied, by an ANC government which has demonstrated a callous and
discriminatory attitude towards these businesses.
The
tenants presented their plight to the Small Business Development Portfolio
Committee in Parliament in 2015. Since then, negotiations with SEFA over the
transfer of ownership of the parks have reached a stalemate.
They
last met in February 2017 and in May 2017 SEFA unilaterally stopped payments to
a supplier of cleaning services to the parks, resulting in their conditions
deteriorating to the point of becoming a health hazard.
Minister
Zulu, in a written response to questions I posed to her in August last year,
dodged the crucial questions of what her department and SEFA are doing to
provide technical and business support to the tenants to facilitate the
transfer of ownership.
Continued
delays in resolving the Gauteng industrial parks impasse places the
sustainability of the businesses in danger. This is yet another example of the
ANC government’s promises on job creation by small business being hollow and
meaningless.
END
Minister Zulu was in the House when I read this statement yesterday and put up her hand to be included in the 6 ministers the House Chair selected to respond to member statements but sadly she was number 7 on the list so no answer was forthcoming. This does not leave her off the hook, though, and I will pursue this matter through other channels.
