Xenophobic anger directed at foreign business owners misplaced
01 February 2015
Note to editors: The following remarks were made by Mmusi Maimane MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, to residents of Dobsonville, Soweto, as part of his Power to the People tour, to consult South Africans on the real state of the nation. Maimane was joined by DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Solly Msimanga MPL.
I am very happy to be back in my home town this morning. Soweto has a unique energy that always inspires me.
This community has always been a melting pot of South African cultures, as people from across our country headed to the city of gold in search of opportunities.
Today South Africa faces the challenge of dealing with a global trend of immigration, exacerbated by our lack of proper border control. With unemployment in South Africa hovering around the 35% mark, many locals see these immigrants as a threat.
Residents here feel frustrated as they do not have jobs, and cannot afford to support their families. We must reject criminality in all its forms while also recognizing the frustration and socio-economic conditions that manifest themselves in violence and looting.
The recent xenophobic attacks and looting in this community must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Looting and lawlessness is not the answer to unemployment. South Africans have a right to be angry because government has not done enough to grow our economy and increase the number of real job opportunities.
It is the hopelessness that results from unemployment that drives drug use and criminality in these communities, and underlies xenophobic attacks.
But instead of acknowledging these socio-economic root causes of the tension in our communities, those in power are attempting to shift the blame and even condone criminality and xenophobia.
Small Business Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, and Rose Nkosi, President of the South African Spaza and Tuck Shop Association (Sasta), are attempting place the blame on foreigners who do not share their business experience with locals.
Minister Zulu should know better than to suggest the responsibility to grow small businesses lies with foreign nationals. The problem lies with the failure of her department to reduce the red tape that bounds the South African economy, and to support new businesses owners and entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.
It is worrying that top ANC-officials, including Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe, have failed to condemn these attacks as xenophobic, while others have seemingly endorsed them, like Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
Mokonyane presided over the failed Township Enterprise Hubs programme, which effectively wasted millions of rands without providing any real support to township businesses.
Those in power would do well to recognise that the real recipe for disaster in our society is the continued failure of government to support the growth of small businesses and create jobs.
Small businesses owners are key to growing our economy, but we need to make sure that they are given the support to do so. It must be easier for those with good ideas and ambition to get their enterprises off the ground.
In order to succeed, small businesses require capital to allow them to get off the ground, and the skills needed to manage a small business.
That is why the DA has advocated for the establishment a National Venture Capital Fund to provide initial funding for start-ups and early-stage businesses. This will allow those who do not have property to leverage for loans to get access to capital to fund their endeavours.
We also need to empower entrepreneurs to be able to put together business plans and budgets. We can begin by teaching business skills in our schools. We must equip the young with basic knowledge of maths, accounting and economics, and educate them on how to maximise the power of collective buying.
On a more formal level, there needs to be a greater rollout of small business incubators where entrepreneurs can access and share resources in a supportive environment, and empower them through assisting with the cost of training and advisory services.
And instead of a weak Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) that does not benefit the informal sector, we need a real Youth Wage Subsidy that alleviates the wage bill of small businesses.
I understand the frustration of people on the ground. In the end it is part of a desire to work hard for a better life.
But regardless of the problems we face, we cannot allow our country to descend into lawlessness.
Foreign business owners are not the enemy. The real enemy is a corrupt government that has taken the power from the people in order to make themselves rich.
Instead of resorting to violence and looting, we must direct our efforts to holding those in power accountable, and we must use our votes as weapons.
Power to the People! Amandla!
Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, February 1 2015
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