Dear Editor
A DA-led oversight visit to three industrial parks in Soweto and Johannesburg revealed continued neglect by the ANC-led departments, province and metro. Negligence by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, Department of Small Business Development, Gauteng government and City of Johannesburg is slowly killing the businesses that operate there, rather than making it easier for them to grow and create jobs.
The DA calls on Minister Parks Tau to initiate a comprehensive review of the state of all 14 industrial parks built in the 1980s by the Small Business Development Corporation, and to table this before Parliament.
This was a follow-up to a visit to these same parks we paid in January where we listened to the tenants’ grievances and reported them to the relevant government departments and agencies for them to take action.
It became quite clear, during the oversight, that nothing has been done to improve the working environment at the parks. Dilapidated and collapsing buildings (many of which had been gutted by fire), over-crowding of tenants, absence of cleansing and sanitation services, pot-holed and flooded roads, broken electricity connections and the smell of decay were palpable. What we saw was symptomatic of Johannesburg’s tragic political decline, and an indictment of a local government with no interest in supporting small businesses.
Over the years, corruption, incompetence and under-investment have resulted in the parks falling into disrepair and being captured by criminals. Occupation by illegal immigrants who pay protection money to mafia landlords or self-appointed property managers is apparently rampant.
The Gauteng Township Economic Development Act of 2022, signed into law when Minister Parks Tau was the MEC for Economic Development, was meant to streamline inter-governmental collaboration including the industrial parks, but it has been an unmitigated failure.
What became clear during the oversight visit was that years of passing the buck between government entities and failing to take responsibility has left the tenants in despair that their grievances will ever be heard.
After sustained pressure from the DA, a stakeholders’ workshop, convened and led by the DTIC, has been scheduled for September 11th-12th, where we expect substantive progress to be made on resolving the issues.
The DA is committed to turbo-charging South Africa’s economy to stimulate enterprise and create jobs. Allowing township entrepreneurs access to improved facilities and services that will let them grow is key to job creation.
Through our public representatives both in government and in the relevant legislatures, we will continue to champion the cause of the downtrodden tenants, whose rights and entrepreneurial initiative have been trampled on for far too long.
It is time for action and not more talk.
Regards
Toby Chance MP
DA Spokesperson on Trade, Industry and Competition