This is yet another example of the ANC failing to deliver on its mandate to change society.
When it comes to getting their hands on government contracts or dishing out tenders to friends, the ANC’s top brass in government and in the parastatal sector can move with blinding speed.
But, when it comes to using taxpayers’ money where it can actually do some good – supporting small enterprises – then matters move at a pace which could be described as glacial.
That’s the view of Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille, who is upset that deserving entrepreneurs in her sector have to go through a “painfully slow” process to access money from the Tourism Equity Fund from the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa), which administers the R1.2 billion pot.
And we agree with her.
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Tourism is, economically, the gift which keeps on giving… because it is sustainable and not a finite resource.
It also has the potential to generate significant numbers of jobs – particularly in deprive rural areas close to scenic destinations.
The slow work rate of Sefa not only jeopardises job creation but, according to De Lille, also hampers transformation of the tourism sector, which is still largely dominated by white individuals and companies.
This is yet another example of the ANC failing to deliver on its mandate to change society.
