President Zuma to follow up on issues raised by BBC
12 September 2016
President Jacob Zuma has undertaken to follow up on the issues raised by the Black Business Council (BBC) at the meeting on Friday, 09 September 2016. The discussions at the meeting focused on various issues relating to economic transformation and in particular the need to accelerate the transformation of the ownership, control and management of the South African economy.
The BBC welcomed the progress made in advancing black economic empowerment in the past few years. These include the establishment of the Small Business Development Department; the Black Industrialists Programme, which is a positive development that has put paid to the negative narrative of painting black people as tenderpreneurs; the participation of South Africa in BRICS and participation of black business in the BRICS Business Council and others. The Council also stated that a lot still needs to be done to fast-track transformation, which needs to be supported by swifter action and responsiveness from government departments.
The BBC mentioned a few areas of concern that should be attended to; including the following:
- The need for the recapitalisation of and independence of the National Empowerment Fund, which is an important vehicle supporting black business.