Chairperson,

Since the last Trade and Industry budget vote on 22 July 2014, the ANC has assured us that things are slowly coming right, that our economy will improve and the land of milk and honey is within sight. In fact, I could give the exact same budget speech as I did last year. Why is that? Because absolutely nothing has changed.

We are still in the midst of an economic crisis while neighbouring economies continue to grow at rates of 5% and upwards. Sadly, we will barely grow at 2% this year, as load shedding continues without any real solutions in sight. In addition to this, our labour force is on perpetual strike while Minister Davies and his lefty-communist entourage continue to throttle the economy with policies that have destroyed every country they have been implemented in.

In fact the only people who believe this economy is working are employed at Luthuli House. Minister you can’t fool the man on the street and you certainly can’t fool the opposition.

There are however quick fix solutions to our economy which can get South Africa working again.

One such government entity which is hopelessly under-resourced and poorly supported is the National Empowerment Fund (NEF). Regrettably this is still not happening due to budgetary constraints depriving aspirant entrepreneurs from contributing to the economy and creating much needed employment.

Should the NEF be fully funded, it estimates that 80 000 jobs could be created. That could potentially uplift 400 000 people. Instead the Minister and Deputy Minister keep telling us about 100 industrialists they want to ‘create’. Since the programme was launched in 2014, not a single industrialist has been created – instead 400 000 South Africans continue to live without a job, an income, or any hope.

It is only after the DA proposed that an NEF venture capital fund, guaranteed by the state and supported by the private sector, be instituted that hundreds of thousands of South Africans can now believe in tomorrow. The NEF has a well-intended mandate, however Minister Davies’ priorities are so skewed, he couldn’t back a winner in a one horse race.

It is now incumbent on Minister Davies and the economics cluster to ensure that this proposal is implemented without fail, delay or political meddling by Minister Davies and his entourage.

Last Thursday, I travelled to NAMPO in the Free State. It is the largest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere. It is truly remarkable to see a trade and agricultural show as big as this function and thrive without the support of government. In fact, while I was there I couldn’t find a DTI stand or a single person from the department, which is extremely odd considering President Zuma in his 9 point SONA plan said he would ensure that the focus would be on “Revitalizing agriculture and the agro-processing value chain”.

Agro-processing is a R49 billion industry in South Africa and according to StatsSA’s latest QLFS, the manufacturing and agricultural sectors together employ 2 491 000 South Africans, which is 16.2% of South Africa’s labour force.

Agro-processing has been the largest recipient of the MCEP with R1.5 billion being spent in 564 projects since its inception in 2012.

So then why on earth has the Minister lost his voice in relation to Minister Nkwinti’s pronouncements on land capping – which bizarrely have now gone down from 12000ha to 5000ha for commercial farms.

The Minister as far as I can tell, has not said a single word or spoken out against how devastating this would be for the 2.5 million people who find employment through agriculture and its supporting industries, which is odd given that in 2014 he said:

“Agro-processing is important because when you have an existing agricultural activity and you add value to the crops produced through agro-processing, that’s where the real income and real job opportunities lie,”

This example goes to the core of what we are seeing in DTI under Minister Davies.

He can’t talk about the economy because it’s failing.

He can’t talk about jobs because they’re being destroyed.

He can’t talk about Minister Nkwinti because the ANC have told him he’s not allowed to.

He has no real, credible plans and that is why he doesn’t want to talk to us about these issues.

All we see today is a budget that funds the same old tried and tested programmes. The problem is they’ve been tried, tested, and the result is clear – they are sending our economy into a downward spiral.

Honourable Members, 66% of all unemployed South Africans are young people. We must fight for them on a daily basis. That is why we must ensure sectors like our agricultural sector and supporting industries succeed.

The ANC just cannot understand this simple premise – government does not create jobs. The private sector does.

We need to restructure our economy from our state sector being too big and our private sector being too small, to a smaller government with a bigger private sector – the sector which will create more jobs and push our economy to prosperity by growing at 5%.

I thank you