By: Amy Musgrave
Small businesses and cooperatives will be bolstered over the next five years as the ANC transforms the economy through a radical shift to broad-based industrialisation, employment, and empowering the youth and women. This is according to the party’s election manifesto. In a 58-page document, the governing party lists six priorities to transform the economy and create jobs. It notes that the country’s current economic model, which relies on exports and imports and has high levels of inequality, stifles job creation and inclusive growth. “As a middle-income country, South Africa needs to industrialise and reduce its reliance on primary commodity exports and the import of luxury and capital goods.
Monopoly concentration inhibits the growth of small businesses, cooperatives, and new entrants into markets,” the manifesto reads. The party believes that it has laid a “good” foundation in its endeavour to radically transform the economy. It highlights a number of interventions achieved over the last five years, such as R1.5 trillion in new investment commitments, and accelerated land redistribution, with around 25% of farmland now owned by black South Africans.
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“These interventions will be complemented by infrastructure development, procurement policies, skills development, and innovation, which will support small businesses and cooperatives in township and rural economies,” it says. Its priorities to transform the economy include:
- The party’s job creation plan
- Building industries to achieve an inclusive economy
- Investing in infrastructure
- Transforming the financial sector to support employment and industrialisation
- Pursuing a developmental macro-economic framework
- Creating more opportunities for young people
“While job creation has shown positive growth since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate, especially among young people, remains extremely high. There is no shortage of work to be done to make South Africa a better place. “Through public and social employment programmes, industrialisation and support for small enterprises and cooperatives, we can create jobs at a much faster pace,” the manifesto reads.
It says that over the next five years, the state’s procurement budget will be leveraged to bolster local businesses producing goods and services, and the private sector will be incentivised to follow suit. Industrialisation will include active support for localisation and labour-intensive industries. “[We will] ensure small businesses, cooperatives, and enterprises owned by women, young people, and persons with disabilities – especially in townships and villages – are included across all value chains through set-asides in the public and private sectors.”
Entrepreneurship, innovation, and investment will be promoted in emerging industries like renewable energy, sustainable tourism, e-commerce, and agriculture technology. The local digital sector will be developed and expanded through universal access to broadband, and investing in infrastructure, skills development, small enterprises, and entrepreneurs. And, small-scale fishing cooperatives will be supported by developing small harbours, allocating a viable basket of species, and expanding alternative livelihoods through eco-tourism and aquaculture.
The party has also committed to ensuring that development finance institutions are well-capitalised to provide concessional lending to small enterprises and social enterprises. On closing the gap between the manifesto’s commitments and concrete action, it says this will be achieved by beefing up effective government planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and timely corrective measures to ensure accountability and deliver tangible results.
