The Gauteng Enterprise Propeller is sitting on R250 million that has been earmarked to assist small businesses in Gauteng that faced hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This amount was allocated during the budget adjustment in July. To this day, the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) has failed to spend a cent towards assisting small businesses.
Given the dire need of small businesses in the Gauteng, this inaction by GEP and the Department of Economic Development is unforgivable. The recently released unemployment statistics indicates that Gauteng has over 2,5 million unemployed people.
Small businesses are supposed to be front and centre of job creation but the entity that is meant to assist them get back on their feet is sitting on R250 million.
It’s high time that Premier Makhura reign in the MEC of Economic Development to ensure that the R250 million does go to assist small businesses in Gauteng.
I will be submitting questions to MEC Morakane Mosupyoe and Premier Makhura to get them to explain the delay and when the fund will be available to small businesses. If we are to reduce the high unemployment rate in Gauteng, it must be business unusual.