Black business leaders have lambasted the ANC for failing to prioritise the current economic crisis facing the country during the party's weekend national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
The larger part of the weekend meeting was, according to reports, consumed by internal battles between opposing factions over the implementation of its 2017 resolution for those facing criminal charges to step aside.
Black Management Forum president Andile Nomlala yesterday lashed out at what he said was the ruling party’s "obsession about its internal politics while the country is in an economic crisis".
“The focus for those guys is their political survival. You cannot tell me that those people can rip each other apart on Ace Magashule and then tomorrow have a united vision of what needs to be done in the country," he said.
“Eskom, the biggest business in the country, is in a crisis… All this is happening because no-one is paying attention. Everybody is on each other’s throat for political survival... The ANC is in a very difficult position to lead with confidence, especially when they play childish gymnastics like they did over the weekend...”
Black Business Council (BBC) CEO Kganki Matabane said its members are still concerned that government has not stipulated the economic opportunities of the vaccine rollout.
“There are still so many things that are not clear for black business on how they are going to participate in the value chain of the vaccine rollout … There are going to be opportunities in the value chain in terms of transportation, distribution and provision of venues for vaccination. We need to find clarity on how black business will play a part in these aspects,” Matabane said.
Matabane said businesses were also concerned about the underused R200bn loan guarantee scheme. The government introduced the scheme to enable businesses to access funding by allowing the state to cover the risk of bank loans to enterprises to help them through during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The loan scheme has actually not worked. We have made proposals to National Treasury which says we should include non-banking SMME funders. These funders will be better placed to provide the service as they deal with small business on a daily basis. Only R8bn of the R200bn has been utilised,” Matabane said.
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