GEP continually fails to provide support to small businesses in Gauteng

1 June 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes with great concern that the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) has once again failed to meet its targets set for the fourth quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year.

This information was revealed in the fourth quarter report of the Department of Economic Development for the 2019/2020 financial year.

GEP consistently performed below the 80% threshold. In quarter one, the performance of the entity was 78%, quarter two 32%, quarter three 47% and quarter four 63%.

Furthermore, GEP also failed to meet targets in the following areas:

Providing support to small enterprises through the provision of loans

Youth Accelerator Programme

The acquisition of GEP automated business development support and investment management business

The constant underperformance of this entity has a negative impact on its core mandate which is to promote, foster and develop small enterprises in the province.

It is clear that GEP is failing to provide services to small enterprises in the province by not meeting the targets set for the 2019/2020 financial year.

Entities like GEP play an important role in boosting the economy and helping particularly the youth to establish their own businesses, which in turn allows them to create job opportunities in their own communities.

The DA will be tabling further questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to ascertain what interventions will be put in place to ensure that GEP starts fulfilling its core mandate.

Issued by Makashule Gana,DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Economic Development, 1 June 2020