Gauteng premier David Makhura used his umpteenth State of the Province Address to assure small businesses and township enterprises that they have his administration’s full support.
Makhura, who is also the ANC chairperson in the country’s economic hub, said between 2014 and 2019, his administration spent more than R20-billion procuring goods and services from township-based enterprises.
“A total of R5.6-billion was spent on women-owned enterprises; R5.3-billion was spent on youth-owned enterprises and R470-million was spent on enterprises of people living with disabilities,” he said.
“Our ongoing work of supporting township businesses is borne out by the inspiring stories of township entrepreneurs that have triumphed over the Covid-19 pandemic. In the past year alone, 56 township businesses were incubated successfully at the provincial government eKasiLabs.”
The provincial government has also prioritised the Township Economic Development Bill that will set up procurement rules and programmatic support which will allow government and its main contractors to buy from large groups of township-based firms.
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