The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) was on Thursday criticised by its parallel Portfolio Committee for failing to arrange a strategic planning session aimed at creating a “platform to develop a shared vision and direction” for the newly established department, in good time.

“This session is long overdue. It is not happening and we are concerned,” Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development chairperson Ruth Bhengu said of the meeting that would require the attendance of the committee and the entities the DSBD had inherited from the departments of Trade and Industry and Economic Development at its formation.

Further, the committee set a deadline of October for the department to undertake an assessment of its inherited programmes to ensure an alignment to the needs of small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) and cooperatives and the broader mandate of the DSBD.

“The DSBD should [also] conduct self-assessment with regard to its capacity and capabilities to carry out the mandate of developing effective and sustainable SMMEs and cooperatives. The department is expected to report back on its progress in the third term of Parliament,” Bhengu added.

The committee reiterated that the department should draw lessons from the model adopted by Mondragon Cooperatives, a federation of workers’ cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain, which the committee planned to study during a tour following the 2016 local government elections.