South Africa has been experiencing severe decline in the manufacturing sector and in its employment levels. This can be attributed to the importation of high value added products into the country and the importation of fuel, amongst others. This was said by the Chief Director of Industrial Procurement at the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Dr Tebogo Makube. He was speaking at the National Small Business Summit that ended in White River, Mpumalanga yesterday. Makube was delivering a presentation outlining government procurement programme on designated sectors for local suppliers at a breakaway session that was themed “Creating Demand for Small Enterprise Products and Services”

“As a way to arrest this decline government will be using procurement to leverage gains. We also aim to increase business’ participation in the procurement value chain through the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP),” said Makube.

He added that arguments for government procurement designation revealed that it would leverage public expenditure and will increase the buying of locally manufactured goods. This will lead to a circulation of money in the economy, and if money circulates locally households will definitely become better.

Makube also said that government intended to spend R130 billion on infrastructure development in the next 20 years and that sectors ranging from the manufacturing of buses, textiles, and rolling stock will be allocated percentages according to their size and demand.

Mr Liso Steto from the dti said that the new revised Broad Based Black Economic (B-BBEE) Codes of Good Practice, which will be gazetted by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies today, will benefit Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). He was presenting on the Revised B-BBEE codes of good practice.


Steto indicated that the new legislation will put more effort on regulating the industry and the monitoring will strengthen the application of the B-BBEE codes which will benefit the SMMEs amongst others.


More than 500 entrepreneurs, 50 exhibitors, small business financiers, academia, consultants and experts, as well as small business policy-makers from the three spheres of government will attend the summit. The theme for this year’s summit is The Role of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises in South Africa’s Industrialisation Path.