Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) Minister Parks Tau has reiterated that transformation and economic inclusion are moral and economic imperatives central to South Africa’s democratic political order.
Tau was delivering a keynote address at the Black Business Council’s Annual Summit in Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
His speech focused on the Transformation Fund and other mechanisms aimed at addressing access to funding for black owned, women-owned and youth owned business.
“From the outset, let me state that transformation and economic inclusion are moral and economic imperatives, central to South Africa’s democratic political order. The return on investments made by this government is clear. Transformation is not a promise on paper. Instead, it is a measurable, growing reality in our economy,” Tau said.
He told delegates at the summit that the South African economy cannot grow sustainably if the majority of its people remain excluded, adding that Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) seeks to unlock the full potential of the economy.
Tau noted commendable successes that the country has achieved through the implementation of the B-BBEE policy.
“B BBEE has placed Black South Africans in corporate boardrooms. It has expanded the Black middle class, fostered growth of many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME), and injected sizeable economic inclusion through worker ownership schemes,” he said.
He said there was an overall positive trend towards achieving ownership targets, with Black ownership reaching 45.8% in 2023, well above the 25%+1 vote target, and Black female ownership surpassing 10% target, standing at 13.6% in 2023, illustrating the progress and positive impact of the B-BBEE policy implementation.
He noted a significant increasing trend in average scores for enterprise and supplier development, ownership, socio-economic development, skills development and management control elements of B-BBEE.
“As the dtic family, it gives me great pleasure to inform you that almost all of our Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are led by women, both as chairperson and/or CEOs. Allow me to zoom into the IDC, for example.
“The IDC facilitated R26.6 billion in transformation funding. Within this broader transformation portfolio, funding for women entrepreneurs and women-empowered businesses amounted to approximately R5.6 billion,” Tau said.
He said South Africa is entering an era of boldness and getting things done, describing the South African transformation journey as a story of boldness and willingness to change the status quo.
“The public and private partnership is important, especially given our present dire socio-economic context. Funding mechanisms are crucial to the success of transformation.
“It is for this reason we have introduced the Transformation Fund working with our social partners. It is only through partnerships we are going to win and ensure that economic transformation becomes a reality,” he said.
Tau underscored the importance of leveraging existing resources, and added that for the Transformation Fund, the dtic has partnered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (R500 million), Development Bank of Southern Africa (R250 million) Vodacom (R400 million) and IBM (R220 million).
“South Africa must defend its position in relation to our domestic policy sovereignty. We require society, and indeed black business to mobilise in defence of this policy against external pressures. The Transformation Fund is South Africa's Transformation Jet Engine. This is a jet engine that draws its power from every component working together. Capital provides the fuel, but it must connect to capability. Capability must connect to markets.
“And growing enterprises must translate into jobs, localisation, industrialisation and exports. This is how transformation policy becomes economic power,” Tau said. – SAnews.gov.za
