DA welcomes the positive inputs on our Ease of Doing Business Private Member's Bill
25 June 2021
This week, the Portfolio Committee on Public Services and Administration met to hear the submissions of organised business and civil society on the Ease of Doing Business Private Member’s Bill (PMB) tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Representing the Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMME) sector was the Small Business Institute (SBI), Sakeliga, and South Africa Small Medium and Enterprises Association (SASMEA). The presentations were done by John Dludlu, Piet le Roux, and Howard Johnson, respectively. The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Chris Hattingh also presented their opinion on the bill.
All the presenters agreed that the bill's execution is crucial to rectify the disabling environment in which SMMEs must operate.
The bill seeks to create a unit in the Presidency that will:
Review regulatory impact assessment practices and methods;
Assess the effective and efficient implementation of regulatory measures;
Consider the impact of regulatory measures on the business community; and
Measure and reduce regulatory burdens.
The Ease of Doing Business PMB aims to save our small businesses so that they can create jobs that will lessen poverty. The DA wants to put it on record that this bill has no political intentions. SMMEs and the unemployed will be the winners if the bill is passed.
ANC MP Makhoni Nthuli, a member of the committee, pointed out that the committee hopes that the business fraternity’s contributions in supporting this bill will help small and developing businesses to sail “as smoothly as we are all expecting.”
In light of the severity of the government-induced unemployment crisis, the DA urges the President and the ANC to come out in full support of the Bill, so that Parliament can show South Africans what it truly means to represent and work for the people, instead of against them.
Statement issued by Henro Kruger MP - DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, 25 June 2021
