DURBAN - AGGRESSIVE and intimidating militant business forums disrupting high-value infrastructure projects would face the full might of the law.
Ravi Pillay the MEC of Economic Development, Tourism And Environmental Affairs said this when he presented a report at the KZN Legislature on Thursday on progress made regarding economic recovery efforts and the plan to support localisation in the province.
Pillay said that the struggle for opportunities has recently led to the emergence of various militant business forums in the province.
“Although the principle of advocating for economic transformation is noble, the aggressive nature of the forums often leads to disruption of high-value catalytic infrastructural projects and closure of business operations.
“This is unacceptable. Our provincial government has drawn a clear line against those who engage in unlawful activities including blatant intimidation,” Pillay said.
He said empowerment would include twinning arrangements between main contractors and local companies, sub-contracting, shareholding, joint venture and partnerships.
The department disbursed R250 million to more than 953 SMMEs creating 1 285 jobs through the Enterprise Development Fund. A further 217 jobs were created through the co-operatives support programme.
A total of 1025 applications were approved by the Operation Vula Fund. Pillay said 178 of these had already received business instruments to the value of R29.7million.
“It is encouraging to note that approved applications were equitably distributed across all the 11 districts of the province. We received 4 229 applications. Putting in appropriate due diligence checks and balances meant a significant delay in concluding. We have now broken the back of this challenge. Roll out will be completed by July 2021,” Pillay said.
Daily News