Davies unapologetic about Black Business Council funding
Cape Town – Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said in Parliament on Wednesday that he would not apologise for providing funding to the Black Business Council.
Davies was responding to a question asked by Dean MacPherson from the Democratic Alliance (DA) who wanted to know what processes his department followed when awarding R7m to the organisation over a three-year period.
The minister said according to the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), National Treasury approved the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) transfer to the BBC to support its business development activities.
The DTI has in the past supported Business Unity South Africa (Busa), but when it split in 2011, a decision was made to provide funding to black businesses, which now resort under the BBC, Davies said.
He added that the BBC, which has received R5m in the 2014/15 financial year and R1m in the two subsequent financial years, did extensive preparatory work for the Black Industrialists Programme.